In PIGLET'S BIG MOVIE, Piglet (voiced by John Fiedler) is hurt when his friends
in the Hundred Acre Wood think he's too small to be of any help in trapping a
swarm of bees. After he goes missing, the rest of the underwritten story has
his pals using a scrapbook of remembrances to "remember" where he must be. This
allows the movie to retell old stories.
The movie's old-fashioned drawings, perfectly and lovingly recreate the look of
the Winnie the Pooh picture books. If you aren't going to use
computer-generated animation, this retro look is probably the best bet.
In-between styles, such as those seen in the recent and disastrous TREASURE
PLANET, are visually disappointing, lacking realism and beauty.
The bland script and songs -- with the exception of the stirring "Sing Ho For
The Life Of The Bear" -- are likely to have the little ones fidgeting. Only the
story's relatively few pratfalls got our packed, young audience engaged and
laughing.
As always in Pooh tales, the characters manage to be endearing even when working
with mediocre scripts like this one. The movie does contain one exceptional and
memorable sequence. Each of the characters take crayons and flips pads to
devise their own vignettes about Piglet. These crude animated movies are
especially cute. It's too bad that the rest of the movie wasn't at this same
satisfying level.
PIGLET'S BIG MOVIE runs 1:15. It is rated G and would be acceptable for all
ages.
My niece Liana, age 6, and her brother William, age 8, both liked the movie.
Liana's favorite part was when Piglet got lost, and William's was an optical
illusion of Piglet appearing in a large collection of bubbles.
Copyright © 2003 Steve Rhodes