6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.1 |
Tigger goes looking through the hundred-acre-wood to find his family.
Starring: Jim Cummings (I), Nikita Hopkins, Ken Sansom, John Fiedler, Peter CullenFamily | 100% |
Animation | 87% |
Comedy | 48% |
Adventure | 47% |
Musical | 37% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Disney has long been one of the more conservative studios when it comes to releasing catalog titles on Blu-ray, especially its classic (and even its not-so-classic) animated films. The reasons are many -- some noble, others shrewd -- but chief among them is the sheer amount of time and level of care the studio invests in the restoration and remastering of its most treasured animated features. There's another big reason, of course; one that requires a healthy dose of corporate cynicism to discuss. You and I know it as the Disney Vault, that vacuous and abstract netherworld designed to drive demand, increase perceived value, provide marketing muscle, and bolster a film's legacy. It's a practice that has continued well into Blu-ray's life cycle, with only a small number of animated films being issued in high definition each year.
Apparently someone left the Vault door cracked open this month. August 21st sees the release of not one but seven animated films spread across five different Blu-ray releases. Included in the sudden, generous deluge: five theatrical features -- The Aristocats (1970), The Rescuers (1977), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Pocahontas (1995), and The Tigger Movie (2000) -- and two direct-to-video sequels, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998) and Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (2001). Brace yourself, though, Pooh fanatics. I don't have much affection for The Tigger Movie. (Or its off-shoot followups, Piglet's Big Movie and Pooh's Heffalump Movie, for that matter.) It wouldn't be until 2011's delightfully simple Winnie the Pooh that the willy nilly silly old bear and his forest friends would recapture my imagination. Tigger works well within Christopher Robin's furry ensemble but grows a bit irritating when thrust front and center.
The one and only...
The Tigger Movie springs past its DVD counterpart with a furiously fun 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer as bright and colorful as it is pristine and proficient. The film's storybook hues and playful palette are more spirited than they've ever been, with honey-pot yellows, bounding and bouncing oranges, Hundred Acre greens, golds and browns, lovely primaries, and deep, inky blacks. Every line and squiggle is tidy and sharp, every watercolor background and brushstroke is intact, a subtle paper-texture adorns the flipping pages of the narrator's book, and there isn't a single frame of animation that seems out of sorts. Add to that a complete lack of artifacting, banding, aliasing and other encoding mishaps and you have a near-flawless presentation sure to excite many a lifelong Pooh fan. Why only near-flawless? The Tigger Movie's brief live-action opening is plagued by a mix of pulpy grain and spiking noise (negligible as it all really is) and a faint vertical stripe that, at one point, runs down the length of the far right side of the screen. Worth mentioning? In the interest of being thorough, I suppose. Does it really matter, though? Not a bit. What few, blink-and-you'll-miss-em issues the presentation has are limited to the first minute and a half of the film. After that, not a blip. If our scoring scale was more precise, I'd go with a 4.95. Thank goodness for rounding. A 5.0 is so much simpler.
Disney's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is -- to quote a certain spring-tailed tigger -- jumpy, bumpy, clumpy, pumpy fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! Voices are crystal clear, bounces and boundings are energetic and explosive, and the quaint, quiet Hundred Acre Wood is full of sonic surprises. And with Tigger at the helm, those surprises are usually loud, unruly and naively mischievous. The forest inhabits the rear speakers, wrapping the listener in a comfy blanket of rustling leaves, gentle breezes, creaking floor boards, and buzzing bees. The LFE channel is naturally restrained but ever-primed and ready for those moments when Tigger's misadventures require its support. Come to think of it, the entire experience strikes a careful balance between the calm and the chaotic, following Pooh's friend from his lowest lows to his highest highs without stumbling, slipping or spilling on the floor. I couldn't ask for much more.
The wonderful thing about tiggers is... they stop singing and bouncing around after seventy-seven minutes. Sorry, friends, I'm not the biggest Tigger fan. Still, I'm not oblivious to the springy stuffed tiger's appeal, or even immune to it. I just prefer my Tigger in short, small doses. Children and striped fanatics will enjoy The Tigger Movie more than I did, but even those with an aversion to Pooh's friend will still find some measure of enjoyment from the rest of his Hundred Wood Acre family. Disney's Blu-ray release is a bright and bubbly one, with a colorful, near-perfect video transfer, a fun-filled DTS-HD Master Audio track and enough special features to keep the kiddies busy for a half hour. So coil up and bounce freely. The Tigger Movie will delight anyone who enjoys its particular breed of... Poohing. Yep, I just wrote that.
1977
DVD Packaging
2011
Hippity-Hoppity Roo Edition
2004
Special Edition
1970
1963
2004
2000
2014
1998
25th Anniversary Edition
1988
2014
10th Anniversary Edition
2004
2003
2005
2009
1981
The Signature Collection
1961
2005
1995
Anniversary Edition
2003