Rating: G
Starring:
John Fiedler as Piglet
Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh/Tigger
Ken Sansom as Rabbit
Peter Cullen as Eeyore
Andre Stojka as Owl
Paul Tiesler as Christopher Robin
Nikita Hopkins as Roo
Kath Soucie as Kanga
Special Features:
Piglet’s Big Book of Memories game
The World According to Piglet
Sing Along mode
DVD-ROM activities
Other Info:
Widescreen (2.35:1) Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Synopsis:
Piglet feels like he’s too little to be of help to anyone. However, when he thinks his friends Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, and Eeyore are missing, he goes on a quest to find them. Meanwhile, everyone else thinks Piglet is the one that has gone missing. As they scour the 100 Acre Woods looking for him, they reminisce about how he has helped them all in his own little way.
Three flashbacks feature various stories starring Piglet. The first goes back to when Kanga and Roo first moved to the woods. Suspicious and afraid of the new creatures, Rabbit leads a scheme to kidnap Roo and replace him with Piglet in an effort to blackmail them to leave. The second story features all of the characters going off in search of the North Pole. When Roo falls in a river, it’s up to Piglet to save him. The third story tells of how Piglet led the effort to build a new house for Eeyore. Of course, in all three stories, Piglet never gets credit for saving the day. Only when he is missing do his friends realize how important he is.
“Piglet’s Big Movie” is rated G.
The Movie:
Fans of Pooh and the gang will really enjoy this movie. The kids I saw it with in the theater really loved it. They laughed at all the jokes and danced in the aisles during the songs. If you need to entertain a child for a while with a movie, this will fit the bill.
The animation is pretty good. It’s in the traditional Disney Pooh style. While it doesn’t do anything groundbreaking, there is one nice sequence where some child-like drawings are animated and come to life. It’s some of the best animation in the film though it is very stylized.
The songs in the film are by Carly Simon. While you’ll probably forget them on the drive home, they’re good enough for the movie. Carly Simon fans may want to check this movie out.
As for the highlight of the film, a chase to save Roo from the river is pretty funny with all of the characters involved in various gags. A running joke about a fish in a tree brings about a good laugh at one point in the film.
This movie had a couple of really odd moments that made me knock this rating down so low. First of all, I didn’t like the plot of one of the side stories. Rabbit’s idea of kidnapping Kanga’s child in order to blackmail her into leaving the neighborhood seemed inappropriate. The fact that it was wrapped up in such an innocent package as a Pooh movie makes it even more twisted. Whoever thought this would make a cute idea for a movie like this needs a reality check.
The other thing that was really odd was the closing credits. The movie abruptly ends with the animation, then we see Carly Simon reclining in a tree in a sultry pose singing one of the songs from the movie. She then begins to dance and sing to the music along with movie flashbacks. It was really surreal. I’m also beginning to think Carly Simon and Steve Tyler are long lost siblings.
While kids will love the Piglet movie, there’s not much here for adults. I found the plot slow and boring and I was really checking my watch a lot towards the end.
The Extras:
This DVD is rather light on the extras. Theres not even a behind-the-scenes featurette talking about the movie. Here is what you will be able to find, though:
Piglet’s Big Book of Memories game In this game you go from house to house searching for missing pages of Piglets scrapbook. You select various areas around the room, click on them, then see what happens. A page will either fly out or youll be treated to some little animation. Kids will enjoy it.
The World According to Piglet This is a short video storybook featuring stills from various Winnie The Pooh cartoons from the past. (Many seem to be from their cartoon TV show.) Bits of text and audio give quick synopses of the stories.
Sing Along mode If you really want to, you can sing along with the musical numbers from the film. Yes, you too can be Carly Simon!
The Bottom Line:
Piglets Big Movie is really only entertaining for children. Ive sat my kids down in front of it for hours on end, so it has been worth having around. Otherwise theres no entertainment value in it for adults.
