The Tigger Movie

MPA Rating: G-Rating (MPA)

Reviewed by: Douglas Downs
STAFF WRITER

Moral Rating:	Good
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:	Kids Family
Genre:	Animation
Length:	1 hr. 15 min.
Year of Release:	2000
USA Release:

The Tigger Movie (Copyright 2000, Disney).

Relevant Issues

Poster—The Tigger Movie (Copyright, Disney.

Lying in the Bible

Truth

Adventures in the rainforest! Learn about the Creator of the universe by exploring His marvelous creation. Fun for the whole family with games, activities, stories, answers to children’s questions, color pages, and more! One of the Web’s first and most popular Christian Web sites for children. Nonprofit, evangelical, nondenominational.

Featuring	Jim Cummings, Nikita Hopkins, Ken Sansom, John Fiedler, Peter Cullen
Director	Jun Falkenstein
Producer	Cheryl Abood
Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

I am not sure we need a lot of encouragement to see “The Tigger Movie”… it is always a delight as a father with two sons to recommend such family films. Tigger is my personal favorite of the Winnie the Pooh bunch. It was wonderful to see him receive full feature treatment. “The Tigger Movie” helps to bring out the child in all of us. (Tigger is that wonderful and sometimes annoying sidekick to the ever-popular Winnie the Pooh… the one whose “bottom is made out of rubber, and tail is made out of string”).

The plot is a simple but direct one. Tigger is lonely and wonders if he has a family (a theme recently explored in “Muppets from Space”). Tigger sets out to find his family… other Tiggers to bounce and play with. Even though he feels loneliness, his friends are still there to help him. It is not long before they find themselves in a snowstorm—a “snow day” at the 100 Acre Woods.

Parents and adults will be thrilled that friendship is the dominate theme of the movie. Children will be exposed to plenty of positive values throughout “The Tigger Movie”. It is good for young minds to see their favorite characters working together, caring for each other, and even showing respect. This parent welcomes such input as opposed to the themes often found in “Rugrats”—style stories. Children are also taught the consequences of lying. Yes, even a small fib can cause big trouble.

Some slang terminology is used. The avalanche scene may be frightening for some of younger viewers. The only negative element in this film is the controversy over Disney’s continued use of people in their films that are not good role models for our children. This time it’s Latin singer Lou Bega, whose music often contains objectionable lyrics. Parents may want to consider this before seeing the film.

I do recommend the film, especially if you have young children. Even if you don’t, you will not be alone in enjoying “The Tigger Movie”.

My family enjoyed this movie, as well, but one thing bothered me. The scene where Tigger thinks about who his family could have been goes all the way back in history, back to the ameoba stage. I didn’t find it overly stated (which may have made it be overlooked) but it still bothered me that they stuck in this evolutionary concept. It just shows that we have to keep our eyes and ears open to what our children see and be prepared to answer questions and point them to the truth found in God’s word. My Ratings: [4/4]

Denise, age 32

…OF ALL the Walt Disney movies, “The Tigger Movie” will be allowed for viewing for my children. My Ratings: [5/5]

Chandra Musclow, age 25

I thought it was sooooooooo good! I love Pooh Bear and Tigger, and Roo and everybody! I cried in many different parts! I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who has kids or who just loves Pooh! My Ratings: [4½/4½]

Kaley, age 13

Our family thought the movie very good, and it kept the interest of our two four-and-a-half-year olds throughout the film. How refreshing to have a film with no “sinister characters” (i.e. “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin”, “Sleeping Beauty,” etc.). A running time of 76 minutes was appreciated also. My Ratings: [5/5]

Jennifer Campbell, age 37

“The Tigger Movie” attempts a return to the original style of the feature-length movie “The Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh,” which was supervised by Walt Disney himself. The Pooh of “The Tigger Movie,” portrayed by Jim Cummings again, has that sweet and humble quality that I adore, instead of the dim-witted quality that Pooh in all of the “new” adventures of Pooh portrays. Many of the classic lines from “TMA” are repeated in “The Tigger Movie.” Even the presentation style (a book being read) and the opening sequence of Christopher Robin’s room is the same. And the Sherman brothers return to provide delightful musical score, that thankfully will not be recorded by pop music stars and played on sappy pop radio.

The storyline is not as charming in its simplicity as the original “TMA”—short stories about Pooh getting stuck in a door or tracking woozels around the spinney—which were taken almost directly from AA Milne’s books. “The Tigger Movie” storyline is not taken from Milne and is a little deeper in plot and emotion. It’s about Tigger’s search for a family (of Tiggers, that is). Little Roo plays a major role in helping Tigger on his quest. There is crying by Tigger and Roo, which was a little difficult for my very sensitive 5-year-old to cope with, but in her opinion the worst was the avalanche that nearly was “the end of Tigger.”

In spite of the heavy emotions it evokes (especially for little ones), it is the sweetest and most approved movie we have taken our daughter to see. The music (“Pooh’s Lullabee,” “The Soop-de-dooper Bounce,” and “The Tigger Family Tree”) is fantastic. Being a great Pooh fan, I think she’ll see it again! One teeny-tiny possibly offensive moment: during “The Tigger Family Tree” songm we are treated to a delightful romp through (mostly true) history Tigger-style; unfortunately there is brief reference to evolutionary Tiggers. My Ratings: [4½/4½]

Melissa, age 31