Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Tigger Movie Blu-ray Movie Review

"You can't bounce the bounce if you can't even pronounce the bounce!"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown August 15, 2012

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...

One day, in a moment of sadness and reflection, bounding, bouncing stuffed tiger Tigger (voiced by Jim Cummings) begins to wonder whether there are any other Tiggers in the world. His curiosity leads to a search, followed by an unanswered letter and a misunderstanding of grand, Hundred Acre Wood proportions. In an attempt to cheer up their friend, Pooh (Cummings), Owl (Andre Stojka), Rabbit (Ken Sansom), Eeyore (Peter Cullen), Kanga (Kath Soucie), Roo (Nikita Hopkins) and Piglet (John Fiedler) write a letter signed "your family" but fail to write their names, leading Tigger to believe his real family is preparing to pay him a visit. Scrambling to spare Tigger from a broken heart, Pooh and the gang decide to dress up as fellow Tiggers; a ruse that inevitably goes terribly, terribly wrong but inevitably turns out incredibly well for their lonely but lovable friend.

The wonderful thing about tiggers, is tiggers are wonderful things... except when their rubber tops, springy bottoms, and bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy antics grow old. Fast. In small doses, the fan-favorite ball of joy is a jolt of good-natured comic relief and bumbling, energetic, impossible to contain enthusiasm. As the star of a feature film, though, with Pooh and the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood crew relegated to supporting roles, Tigger becomes a bit too overbearing and, when dealing with heavier issues like his place in the universe and his lineage, a bit manic depressive. There are moments of incredible sweetness and sincerity to be had, but ultimately a misunderstanding births a willful lie that somehow leads to a neatly packaged happy ending; a development that shouldn't sit well with Tigger or pensive Pooh purists. Even those who shrug off the iffy moral will take notice of other things that seem off. The music feels required rather than fun or essential, Pooh's slow-drip musings are lost in Tigger's off-the-wall bounciness, things race by much too quickly, and the story is slight, even by Pooh standards.

As a children's film? That's an entirely different story. While moms and dads may be less than enchanted, and older kids will be bored to tears, tykes under seven will have a blast watching Tigger rocket off trees, pout to a halt, and discover the true meaning of family. There isn't much substance or subtext -- what little there is gets hammered again and again ad nauseum -- but the film speaks to young children on their level, allows them to laugh and sniffle with full understanding, and doesn't leave them behind when it deals with Tigger's feelings of loneliness and abandonment. Those who've been adopted will forge an even tighter bond with Tigger, as will those who, even at six or seven, are beginning to feel as if the world is a bigger, scarier place than they once imagined. That only stretches so far, mind you, but it keeps Tigger's 70-minutes in the spotlight clipping along even when it threatens to run out of steam. For my high definition time and money, Winnie the Pooh (2011) is the only way to go. If it's already sitting on your shelf, though, you could do a whole lot worse than The Tigger Movie.

The Tigger Movie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

The Tigger Movie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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 Tigger Movie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Tigger Tale (HD, 6 minutes): The Tigger Movie filmmakers sit down for a much-too-short roundtable (or rectangular table) discussion about Walt Disney's love of Pooh, Tigger in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and the development of the second Pooh feature.
• Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (HD, 24 minutes): Ten Winnie the Pooh mini-movies (actually repurposed sequences from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and The Tigger Movie) narrated by John Cleese.
• Sing-Along Song (HD, 3 minutes): "Round My Family Tree," as sung by Tigger.
• Music Video (SD, 5 minutes): "Your Heart Will Lead You Home," by Kenny Loggins.

The Tigger Movie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.