Piglet's Big Movie is a 2003 American animated film produced by DisneyToon Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures on March 21, 2003. It is based upon the characters in the Winnie-the-Pooh books written by A. A. Milne.
It is the second in a recent series of theatrically released Winnie the Pooh films, preceded by The Tigger Movie (in 2000) and followed by Pooh's Heffalump Movie (in 2005). In the film, Piglet is ashamed of being small and wanders off into the Hundred Acre Woods, leading his friends to form a search party to find him.
The three flashback sequences are the first adaptations of original A.A. Milne stories since "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" and "Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore".
The stories are modified to make Piglet the hero to include Tigger and to conform to Disney versions of the characters, but retain much of Milne's original plot.
Besides the Carly Simon songs, Sherman Brothers music is also featured.
Plot
| Spoiler Warning: The following contains important plot details of the entire film. |
Eeyore, Rabbit, Tigger and Pooh are working on a plan to get honey from a beehive. Piglet wants to help, but his friends tell him that he is too small. When the plan goes awry, Piglet saves the day by trapping the bees in a decoy hive; but nobody notices what Piglet has done. Feeling ignored and unappreciated, Piglet sadly wanders away.
Piglet's friends realize that he is missing, so they search for him by using a scrapbook Piglet has made of their past adventures as a guide. On the way to Kanga's house, they reminisce about when Kanga and Roo arrived in the Hundred Acre Wood. Everyone is afraid of the newcomers and Rabbit concocts a plan to use Piglet as a decoy so they could kidnap Roo.
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.
Back in the present, Roo joins the search party and they head to the next destination in the scrapbook: the North Pole. They remember the story of the expedition to find the Pole. Partway through the expedition, Roo falls into the river. Tigger, Rabbit and Eeyore try to save him but to no avail.
Piglet uses a very long stick to catapult Roo out of the river and hands it off to Pooh as he runs to try and catch Roo. Christopher Robin arrives on the scene, sees Pooh holding the stick, and declares that Pooh has discovered the North Pole; Piglet's role in both Roo's rescue and the Pole's discovery went unacknowledged.
Back in the present, Piglet's friends express their regrets for not celebrating Piglet's heroism. They become increasingly worried as a storm rolls in; to reassure Roo, Eeyore and Pooh tell him about the time Piglet built a house for Eeyore. Piglet has pointed out to Pooh that Eeyore did not have a house to keep him warm. Pooh decides that they should build Eeyore a house on that very spot, which he names "Pooh Corner."
Pooh briefly considers calling it "Pooh and Piglet Corner" before deciding that "Pooh Corner" sounds nicer. Tigger joins Pooh in trying to build the house while Piglet struggles to keep up; eventually, Pooh and Tigger give up. 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.
As the rain begins to fall, Tigger wants to skip to the end of the book to find where Piglet is, but Rabbit insists that they go through it in order; they begin fighting over the book which falls in the river.
The friends sadly return to Piglet's house to keep Roo from catching a cold. They draw new pictures of Piglet, then set out to look for him again. They find the scrapbook bindings, suspended on a hollow log, overhanging a raging waterfall; Pooh goes to retrieve it, but falls into a hole in the log.
Pooh's friends form themselves into a rescue rope, but it is not quite long enough and Pooh is stuck hanging precariously over the waterfall. Piglet appears and pulls Pooh to safety, but the log begins to break. Rabbit, Eeyore, Tigger, and Roo all make it to solid ground, just in time to see half of the log plummet to the water below. Tigger, Rabbit, Roo and Eeyore begin to cry and almost fail to notice Pooh and Piglet emerging from inside of the other half of the log.
Piglet's friends take him home and show him the drawings they have made of him, demonstrating their appreciation for everything Piglet has done. They have a party and Pooh shows Piglet the new sign for the renamed "Pooh and Piglet Corner."
Voice Cast
- John Fiedler as Piglet
- Jim Cummings as Pooh & Tigger
- Ken Sansom as Rabbit
- Nikita Hopkins as Roo
- Kath Soucie as Kanga and Christopher Robin (singing voice)
- Peter Cullen as Eeyore
- Andre Stojka as Owl
- Tom Wheatley as Christopher Robin
- Roy Dotrice as the narrator
Box Office
"Piglet's Big Movie" was #7 on its opening weekend, earning $6 million. Domestically, it grossed $23 million (which is half the amount of what "The Tigger Movie" earned) and $63 million worldwide.
Critical Reception
"Piglet's Big Movie" received a "Certified Fresh" 71% rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
Film critic Stephen Holden of New York Times called the film an "oasis of gentleness and wit."
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."
Edward Guthmann from the San Francisco Chronicle said in his review: "The animation, as always, is Disney-perfect, but somewhere the humor has been lost."
Trailer
Piglet's Big Movie (2003) Trailer (VHS Capture)