Piglet's Big Movie

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Piglet's Big Movie
Piglets big movie teaser.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFrancis Glebas
Screenplay by
Based onWinnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner created
by A. A. Milne (Books)
Produced byMichelle Pappalardo-Robinson
Starring
Edited byIvan Bilancio
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures
Release date
  • March 16, 2003 (2003-03-16) (premiere)
  • March 21, 2003 (2003-03-21) (United States)
  • July 2, 2003 (2003-07-02) (Manila, Philippines)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUnited States[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$46 million[3]
Box office$62.9 million[4]

Piglet's Big Movie is a 2003 American animated musical comedy-drama film released by Walt Disney Pictures on March 21, 2003. The film features the characters from the Winnie-the-Pooh books written by A. A. Milne and is the third theatrically released Winnie the Pooh feature. In this film, Piglet is ashamed of being small and clumsy and wanders off into the Hundred Acre Wood, leading all of his friends to form a search party to find him. Piglet's Big Movie was produced by the Japanese office of Disneytoon Studios and the animation production was by Walt Disney Animation Japan, Inc. with additional animation provided by Gullwing Co., Ltd., additional background by Studio Fuga and digital ink and paint by T2 Studio.

Plot[]

Eeyore, Rabbit, Tigger and Pooh are working on a plan to get honey from a beehive. This involves getting the bees to move into a new hive by convincing them that Eeyore is a bee. Piglet comes up to them during the attempt, but is effectively told that he is too small to help.

The plan goes awry when the bees do not fall for it, but Piglet manages to divert the bees into the new hive using a funnel and then seals the hive shut, trapping the bees.

Unfortunately, no one has seen Piglet's heroism, having all been hiding from the bees, and they take all the credit for themselves. Piglet, feeling uncared for, wanders sadly away. After the bees break free, Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger, and Eeyore escape to Piglet's house. They eventually notice that Piglet is missing, assume that he has been scared off by, or kidnapped by the bees and decide to try and find him. They are joined by Roo and together the five friends search for Piglet. They are aided in this search by Piglet's scrapbook, in which he has drawn pictures of the adventures that he has shared with his friends. The characters use the pictures to tell the stories depicted therein, leading to several flashbacks.

One of the stories told is when Kanga and Roo first moved to the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Rabbit are afraid of the newcomers and Rabbit concocts a plan to use Piglet as a decoy so they could ransom Roo to force Kanga to leave. To teach Rabbit a lesson, Kanga pretends to believe that Piglet is Roo and gives him a dose of fish oil and a bath. She gives him a cookie afterwards and Piglet realizes that she is actually very nice. Roo and Rabbit have become friends and everyone agrees that Kanga and Roo should stay.

Another story told is the expedition to find the North Pole, where Piglet uses a long stick to save Roo (who has fallen in the river). His heroism is overlooked when he gives the stick to Pooh and tries to catch Roo, who has been catapulted into the air during the rescue attempt. Christopher Robin arrives as Roo is caught by his mother and then credits Pooh with finding the North Pole (the stick he is holding in his paws). Back in the present, the friends regret not sharing the praise with Piglet.

Another story told is the building of the House at Pooh Corner. Here, Piglet comes up with the idea to build Eeyore a house in an area that they named Pooh Corner and he and Pooh are joined by Tigger to build it. Tigger and Pooh do most of the work, whilst Piglet struggles to keep up. After finishing the house, Tigger and Pooh go off to tell Eeyore. Unfortunately, the house is being held together by Piglet, who eventually loses his grip and the house collapses. Tigger and Pooh go to inform Eeyore of the bad news, leaving Piglet behind. Then they learn that Eeyore has already built himself a house out of sticks, though it has gone missing. Pooh and Tigger realize that they are using Eeyore’s old house to build Eeyore’s new house. As they struggle to explain, Piglet arrives and leads them back to Eeyore’s newly completed house. Once again, Piglet’s contributions are overlooked as the wind gets the credit for moving Eeyore’s house, but the location remains as Pooh Corner, since Pooh "would call it Pooh and Piglet Corner, if Pooh Corner didn't sound better, which it does, being smaller and more like a Corner".

Back in the present, an argument between Rabbit and Tigger ends with the scrapbook falling into a river. Without their guide, the friends return to Piglets house and, after a time, start to draw pictures of Piglet and his adventures, some of which are new (which includes Piglet saving his friends from a swarm of bees, rescuing Roo from a sea monster, and confronting a living snowman). Then, the friends again resolve to find Piglet and go back out to find him. They come across several pages from the scrapbook, which have floated downstream, and then find the books bindings, suspended on a broken hollow old log, overhanging a raging waterfall. Pooh goes to retrieve it, but falls into a hole in the log. The others try to reach him, but the rescue attempt is just too short. Just as they ask who can help, Piglet arrives and helps haul Pooh to safety just as the log begins to break in half.

Eeyore, Rabbit, Roo and Tigger manage to escape, but the top half of the log falls far into the waters below. The survivors begin to cry and are joined by sad-looking Pooh and Piglet, who had managed to escape into the bottom half of the log just before the top half fell; unfortunately, the scrapbook has been destroyed by the fall. Despite this, the friends take Piglet to show him their new drawings, including a large one showing Piglet dressed as a knight in shining armor. The next day, they hold a party, but Pooh interrupts, taking Piglet to Eeyore's house, where he has changed the sign to read Pooh and Piglet Corner; the others follow shortly after. Pooh claims that "the least [they] could do for a very small Piglet, who has done such very big things." The camera pulls back to show a large shadow of Piglet casted behind them.

Cast[]

Production[]

Piglet's Big Movie was produced by Disneytoon Studios, Walt Disney Animation (Japan), Toon City Animation, Inc., Manila, Philippines, Gullwing Co., Ltd, Studio Fuga, and T2 Studio.

Music[]

Piglet's Big Movie (Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by
ReleasedMarch 18, 2003
Recorded2002–2003
Length43:02
LabelWalt Disney Records
ProducerMatt Walker, Carly Simon, Rob Mathes, Michael Kosarin
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic3/5 stars[5]

American singer-songwriter Carly Simon wrote seven new songs for the film, and performed six of them ("If I Wasn't So Small", "Mother's Intuition", "Sing Ho for the Life of a Bear", "With A Few Good Friends", "The More I Look Inside", and "Comforting to Know"), as well as recording her own version of the Sherman brothers' "Winnie the Pooh" theme song.[6]

"The More It Snows" features Jim Cummings and John Fiedler, as Pooh and Piglet. Simon was accompanied by her children Ben Taylor and Sally Taylor on many of the songs. Renée Fleming accompanied Simon on the song "Comforting to Know". On "Sing Ho for the Life of a Bear" Simon was accompanied by the cast.[7]

The soundtrack also features five tracks of the film's score by Carl Johnson, as well as five of Simon's original demonstration recordings.

Songs[]

Original songs performed in the film include:

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Winnie the Pooh"Carly Simon & Ben Taylor 
2."If I Wasn't So Small (The Piglet Song)"Carly Simon 
3."Mother's Intuition"Carly Simon 
4."Sing Ho for the Life of a Bear (Expotition March)"Carly Simon & Cast 
5."The More It Snows (Tiddely-Pom)"Jim Cummings & John Fiedler 
6."With A Few Good Friends"Carly Simon, Ben Taylor & Sally Taylor 
7."The More I Look Inside"Carly Simon 
8."Comforting to Know"Carly Simon & Renée Fleming 

Reception[]

Box office[]

Piglet's Big Movie was number seven on the box-office charts on its opening weekend, earning $6 million. The film domestically grossed $23 million,[4] half the amount of what The Tigger Movie earned,[8] and it grossed nearly $63 million worldwide.[4]

Critical response[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a "Certified Fresh" rating of 70% based on 77 reviews, and an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's critical consensus is "Wholesome and charming entertainment for young children."[9] On Metacritic the film has a score of 62/100 based on reviews from 23 critics.[10] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A, on a scale of A+ to F.[11]

Film critic Stephen Holden of New York Times called the film an "oasis of gentleness and wit."[12] Nancy Churnin of The Dallas Morning News stated that Piglet's Big Movie was "one of the nifty pleasures in the process", despite her belief that "Disney may be milking its classics."[13]

Accolades[]

Award Category Recipient Result
Annie Awards[14] Outstanding Effects Animation Madoka Yasue Nominated

Games[]

In 2003, Disney released Piglet's Big Game for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Game Boy Advance, as well as a CD-ROM game, which was also entitled Piglet's Big Game. The latter is developed by Doki Denki Studio and involves helping Piglet assist in the preparation for a "Very Large Soup Party." [15] In their review, Edutaining Kids praised various features including the adventure/exploration aspect (the game is linear instead of using a main screen) and many of the activities (such as the color mixing, which they said offers an incredible variety of hues), but noted that it is much too brief and that Kanga and Roo are absent.[16]

Sources[]

The film's plot is based primarily on five A. A. Milne stories: "In which Piglet meets a Heffalump," "In which Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest, and Piglet Has a Bath," and "In which Christopher Robin Leads an Expedition to the North Pole" (chapters 5, 7, and 8 of Winnie-the-Pooh); and "In which a house is built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore" and "In which a search is organized and Piglet nearly meets the Heffalump again" (chapters 1 and 3 of The House at Pooh Corner).

Releases[]

The film is released on VHS and DVD on 29 July 2003. Close captioned by the National Captioning Institute with the new Disney National Captioning Institute Close Captioning first used in Disney's Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure.

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Piglet's Big Movie (2003)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Piglet's Big Movie (2003)".
  3. ^ "Piglet's Big Movie (2003)". The Wrap. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Piglet's Big Movie 2003". boxofficemojo.com. May 29, 2003. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
  5. ^ "AllMusic review". Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  6. ^ "Carly Simon Official Website – Piglet's Big Movie". Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  7. ^ "Piglet's Big Movie". AllMusic. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  8. ^ "The Tigger Movie 2000". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
  9. ^ Piglet's Big Movie (2003), retrieved September 15, 2020
  10. ^ Piglet's Big Movie, retrieved September 15, 2020
  11. ^ "Cinemascore :: Movie Title Search". February 6, 2018. Archived from the original on February 6, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  12. ^ Holden, Stephen (March 21, 2003). "Film in Review; 'Piglet's Big Movie'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
  13. ^ Churnin, Nancy (March 18, 2003). "Piglet's Big Movie". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
  14. ^ "31st Annie Awards (2004)". Annie Awards. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  15. ^ "Disney Piglet's Big Game (CD-ROM)". Children's Software Online. Archived from the original on October 20, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
  16. ^ "Children's Software Review: Disney: Piglet's Big Game". Edutaining Kids.com. April 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2009.

External links[]

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