The Tigger Movie

The Tigger Movie is a 2000 American animated musical comedy film co-written and directed by Jun Falkenstein. Part of the Winnie-the-Pooh series, this film features Pooh's friend Tigger in his search for his family tree and other Tiggers like himself.

The film was the first feature-length theatrical Pooh film to not be a collection of previously released shorts.

This is also the first film in the series where Tigger is voiced by Jim Cummings (who also voices Pooh), replacing the retired voice actor Paul Winchell, who officially retired from the role in 1999 after A Valentine for You and died in 2005. Cummings had already substituted for Winchell as Tigger in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue and the final 2 seasons of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

The film features original songs from the Sherman Brothers.

The film was originally slated for a direct-to-video release until Disney CEO Michael Eisner heard the Sherman Brothers' score and decided to release the film in theaters worldwide.

Plot
The beginning of the story is interrupted by Tigger, who was tired of hearing most of the stories about Pooh and slams the book closed. The narrator asks him of who should the story be about as the book reopens. Tigger claims that he knows someone that is good (he is talking about himself) and attempts to change the title page, which causes him, the pieces of the title page, and the book to fall. Tigger puts the book back up and rearranges the letters, such as ripping a W and an N, putting the THE on a different spot, makes a new picture for the title page, turn the two O's into lower case g's, and giving the word Tigger some color to form the words: "The Tigger Movie". After remaking the title page, he leaps back into the book and the story continues.

While trying to find somebody to play with, Tigger gleefully bounces around the Hundred Acre Wood, disrupting his friends' attempts to prepare for the winter, such as making a mess at Pooh's house, using a chair as firewood for Piglet's fireplace (which isn't what Piglet expected to use), and finally visiting Kanga. Roo wanted to go play with him but by the time he came out, Tigger has already left. He continues to search for others to play with him and accidentally causing a huge rock to fall on Eeyore's house. Rabbit leads the others in trying to remove it with an elaborate pulley system (which doesn't work out well) but Tigger intervenes, knocking the rock away with his Whoopty-Dooper-Loopty-Looper-Alley-Ooper bounce which wrecks the machine and causes it and the rock to land in a mud puddle and getting everyone covered in mud, except for Roo and Eeyore. Rabbit becomes angry at him for ruining everything because of his habit of bouncing, with the others agreeing with Rabbit, expressing their disappointment. Heartbroken and lonely, Tigger sulks on a bridge and Roo, trying to cheer him up, asks if there are other Tiggers. Fascinated by the idea, Tigger talks to Owl, who explains about family trees while Tigger puts some of the portraits that he knocked over back up and sees an image of it over the portraits. Tigger, taking this literally, heads out to find a huge stripey tree and, after not finding one, return to Tigger's house. He then demonstrates the bounce the results him bouncing off a hammock, rolling around a record player, spinning on a string of lanterns, going through a basketball net, flying out the window and hitting a branch, and bouncing across the room. Roo later tries it, and hits the same hammock, record player, and string of lanterns from before, lands on a ball, gets launched on a springy stool, and flies into a closet. He stumbles out with a heart-shaped locket in which Tigger thinks his family's picture is inside it. After he uses a sword to open it, they realize it's empty. Roo suggest that Tigger should write them a letter and he does so. After he finishes the—illegible—letter, he lets the wind take it, hoping it would reach his family. No reply comes and Tigger feels more alone than ever. Meanwhile, Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore find frogs which have stripes and bounce, but were not Tiggers. The trio later find some bees that also have stripes and after Pooh tries to get honey from their hive, the bees give chase that results the bees throwing them into the air every time they run about a yard.

That night, the first night of winter, Roo, supposed to be in bed—after, causes a racket practicing the bounce indoors. He comes up with an idea and gathers everybody else at Piglet's house. Feeling sorry for Tigger, Roo announces his idea; they should write a letter to him. Everyone adds a bit of friendly advice before signing "your family" at the bottom of the page. Roo then slips the letter into Tigger's letter box. The next day, everyone is woken up by Tigger, who brandishes the letter. He shouts joyfully that his family has written to him and also that they are coming to visit the next evening. They are all shocked, as they had never written down anything that even resembles that; nevertheless, Tigger replies that he always reads between the lines and the other weren't able to tell him the truth. Tigger launches into a major production number about the Tiggers of the world.

Later, Roo gathers Pooh, Piglet, Owl, and Eeyore over to his home. He and his mother Kanga say they are going to charade as fellow Tiggers to attend the party and make Tigger feel loved. They are halfway through making the costumes when Rabbit bursts through the door, telling them that they should be gathering supplies (or should already have) for the impending snowstorm, before exiting in rage. Meanwhile, Tigger is preparing for his party—and trying to balance a nearly liquid cake—when somebody rings the doorbell. He opens the door to reveal a large number of "Tiggers" (his friends), who claim to be his family.

A party ensues with drinks, dance and games, and all the while Tigger, falls for it (although their cover was nearly blown after he sees Eeyore's tail, but doesn't bother); however, when Roo attempts the Whoopty-Dooper Loopty-Looper Ally-Ooper Bounce, he flies around the room, smashes into the same hammock from before, crashes into some balloons, falls on a chair, and is launched into the closet again and his mask falls off, Tigger becomes suspicious and unmasks the others. They are revealed as Tigger's friends. Tigger is dejected and angry after realizing that he is the one and only Tigger in the Hundred Acre Wood and that his friends hoaxed him and leaves, saying "TTFE, Ta-ta forever!!" and takes the letter and locket with him to search for his real family. He hikes through the snow, slips on a frozen lake, and falls down a cliff while attempting to retrieve his locket that he dropped until he finds a large tree on the cliff side which matches the description he gave of his family tree (A giant pine tree with the snow giving the illusion of Tigger stripes). He bounces across the branches and finds nothing, so he sits there, heartbroken and drops his letter.

Meanwhile, Pooh, Roo, Piglet, and Eeyore mount an expedition to find Tigger. They ask Rabbit to lead them, who initially refuses, but reluctantly agrees after seeing how much they miss their friend, especially Roo. When they find his letter they see him up in the tree in which he mistakes them for his family, they tell him to return home, with Rabbit saying he should "Forget about all this other Tiggers nonsense", infuriating Tigger, but when a sudden avalanche caused by his irate shouting occurs, he pulls them all out of trouble. Unfortunately, Tigger himself is still caught in the avalanche. Roo remembers the Whoopty-Dooper Loopty Looper Ally-Ooper bounce and travels down, literally flying like a rocket, through the wind and snow to Tigger and wakes him from unconsciousness just as they are pushed down a cliff. To get out of the avalanche, they perform the signature bounce together, dodging chucks of ice in the air, and flying through a log just before a stone smashes into it before landing back on the tree.

When the avalanche ends, Owl, Kanga, and Christopher Robin arrive and they tell him why Tigger left, Christopher tells Tigger he did not have to leave to find his family. Tigger objects and reaches for his letter that, until recently, he thought to be from his family, but finds it missing and thinks he lost it in the avalanche (unaware that he actually lost it earlier before the avalanche) and doesn't remember what it says. It is not until Owl, Kanga, Roo, Eeyore, Pooh, and Piglet recite the letter for him that he realizes that they sent the letter, not his hypothetical family. Hearing this, Tigger finally comes to realize what was true all along, that his family is right here and always has been: his friends.

Once they return home, Tigger gives everyone gifts: Eeyore gets a new house (the guest house meant for Tigger's "Family"), Pooh gets lots of honey, Piglet gets a stack of firewood, Christopher Robin gets a toy plane, Owl gets a yo-yo, Kanga gets a hat, and Rabbit is promised that he will watch where he's going. Lastly, he gives Roo his heart pendant, but it is still empty. Christopher Robin remedies this by taking a picture of Tigger's "family" and the movie ends with the camera slowly zooming back from the picture in the locket as it closes.

Cast

 * Jim Cummings as Tigger and Winnie-the-Pooh
 * Nikita Hopkins as Roo
 * John Fiedler as Piglet
 * Kath Soucie as Kanga
 * Ken Sansom as Rabbit
 * Peter Cullen as Eeyore
 * Andre Stojka as Owl
 * Tom Attenborough as Christopher Robin
 * John Hurt as the narrator
 * Frank Welker as Bees and Frogs (Additional Voices)

Production
The film was animated by Walt Disney Animation Japan. Tokyo Movie Shinsha, a Japanese animation studio, took part in some of the animation.

Paul Winchell, the original voice of Tigger, was originally set to voice Tigger for the film, but his voice had become too old and scratchy that he was replaced by Jim Cummings, the voice of Winnie the Pooh. After this, Winchell retired and Cummings continued to voice Tigger. Winchell died on June 24, 2005.

Release
The film was released theatrically on February 11, 2000.

Home media
The film was originally released on August 22, 2000, on both VHS and DVD formats. The VHS and DVD included the Kenny Loggins music video "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" as well as the DVD counterpart, which contained more special features. The film was then re-released on a 2-disc DVD on August 4, 2009 to coincide with the film's 10th anniversary. It includes a DVD and a digital copy. It contained all the 2000 DVD bonus features, but has more language tracks and special features. The film was also re-released as a Bounce-a-rrrific special edition on Blu-ray on August 21, 2012.

Critical reception
The Tigger Movie received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 62% of critics gave the film "fresh" reviews on 71 reviews with a 5.9 rating. The site's consensus states, "The Tigger Movie may lack the technological flash and underlying adult sophistication of other recent animated movies, but it's fun and charming."

Box office performance
The film opened at #4 at the North American box office making $9.4 million in its opening weekend. The film was a box office success, earning $45,554,533 in the United States alone while making $50,605,267 overseas and $96,159,800 worldwide against a budget of $30 million.

Accolades
The film was nominated for numerous awards in 2000 including the following:


 * Annie Award
 * for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production"
 * Jun Falkenstein


 * for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production"
 * Richard M. Sherman (music and lyrics)
 * Robert B. Sherman (music and lyrics)
 * For the song "Round My Family Tree"


 * for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production"
 * Nikita Hopkins
 * As the voice of "Roo".


 * Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
 * The Sierra Award for "Best Family Film"

It was also given an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award.

Soundtrack
The songs for The Tigger Movie were written by Robert and Richard Sherman who had not written a feature for Disney in over 28 years. Their last fully original feature film score was for the Oscar nominated film, Bedknobs and Broomsticks which was released in 1971. Originally slated for video or television release, the score was so well received (in demonstration form) by then Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, that the project's priority level moved up to feature theatrical release. This was due in great part to the perceived caliber of the song score throughout the studio. All the songs were created new for the film except for "The Wonderful Things About Tiggers" which was originally written in 1968 for the featurette, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (released in 1968). That song was also by the Sherman Brothers. The "punch line" of the song: "But the most wonderful Thing About Tiggers is I'm the only one..." provides the basis of The Tigger Movie's storyline. "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" was the last song written for the film and is a collaborative effort between the Sherman Brothers and singer Kenny Loggins. Richard Sherman described the song as "a song about the picture, as opposed to songs of the picture." It marks the only time the trio worked together on a song.

Song titles include:


 * "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers" – Tigger
 * "Someone Like Me" – Tigger and forest animals
 * "Whoop-de-Dooper Bounce" – Tigger and Roo
 * "Pooh's Lullabee" – Pooh
 * "Round My Family Tree" – Tigger
 * "How to Be a Tigger" – Roo, Owl, Piglet, Eeyore, Pooh and Kanga
 * "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" – Kenny Loggins