Piglet's Big Movie


Piglet's Big Movie is a 2003 American animated adventure 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

, 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. Piglet, feeling uncared for, wanders sadly away. Eventually, Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger, and Eeyore notice that Piglet is missing, assume that he has been scared off by or kidnapped by the bees, 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.
One of the stories told is that Kanga and Roo first moved to the Hundred Acre Wood. Upon their arrival, Kanga was mistaken for a predator by Rabbit, Tigger, Pooh, and Piglet. However, after Rabbit devises a plan to replace Roo with Piglet in Kanga's Pouch, they come to realize Kanga's true nature and warmly welcomed her and Roo into their circle.
Another story told is the expedition to find the North Pole, where Piglet uses a long stick to save Roo 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 back in the present, the friends regret not sharing the praise with Piglet and they found a clue, Piglet's scarf.
Another story told is the building of the House at Pooh Corner. Here Piglet comes up with the idea to build Eeyore a house and he and Pooh are joined by Tigger to build it. Tigger and Pooh do most of the work, whilst Piglet, unintentionally, gets in the way. However, the final house, is a disaster, but Tigger and Pooh go off to tell Eeyore about the house. 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, but Piglet arrives to tell them all that the house is fine. It is revealed that he rebuilt the house himself, 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 apart and then falling into the river. Without their guide, the friends return to Piglets house and, after a time, start to draw new pictures of Piglet and his adventures, some of which are new. Then, the friends again resolve to find their missing Piglet and go back out to find him. They come across several pictures 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 collapse.
Eeyore, Rabbit, Roo and Tigger are now stood by the edge of the ravine, next to the waterfall, but the log inside which Pooh and Piglet were trapped has fallen far into the waters below. The survivors being to cry and are joined by sad-looking Pooh and Piglet, who have managed to escape. Happy, the friends take Piglet to show him their new drawings, including a large one of Piglet dressed as a knight in shining armor. The next day they hold a party, but Pooh interrupts, taking Piglet to Eeyores' house, where he has changed the sign to read Pooh and Piglet Corner; "the least could do for a little Piglet, who has done such big things!".

Cast

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

Soundtrack

American singer-songwriter Carly Simon wrote seven new songs for the film, and performed six of them, as well as recording her own version of the Sherman brothers' "Winnie the Pooh" theme song.
"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.
The soundtrack also features five tracks of the film's score by Carl Johnson, as well as five of Simon's original demonstration recordings.
;Track List
  1. "Winnie the Pooh" – Carly Simon featuring Ben Taylor
  2. "If I Wasn't So Small " – Carly Simon
  3. "Mother's Intuition" – Carly Simon
  4. "Sing Ho for the Life of a Bear " – Carly Simon featuring Jim Cummings, Kath Soucie, John Fiedler, Ken Sansom, Peter Cullen and Nikita Hopkins
  5. "The More It Snows " – Jim Cummings and John Fiedler
  6. "With A Few Good Friends " – Carly Simon featuring Ben Taylor and Sally Taylor
  7. "The More I Look Inside" – Carly Simon
  8. "Comforting to Know" – Carly Simon featuring Renee Fleming
  9. "Scrapbook Pages" – Carl Johnson
  10. "River Roo" – Carl Johnson
  11. "Roo Joins the Quest" – Carl Johnson
  12. "Losing the Scrapbook" – Carl Johnson
  13. "Pooh and Piglet Corner" – Carl Johnson
  14. "Winnie the Pooh" – Carly Simon
  15. "If I Wasn't So Small" – Carly Simon
  16. "Mother's Intuition" – Carly Simon
  17. "The More It Snows" – Carly Simon
  18. "The More I Look Inside" – Carly Simon

    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, half the amount of what The Tigger Movie earned, and it grossed nearly $63 million worldwide.

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." On Metacritic the film has a score of 62/100 based on reviews from 23 critics. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A, on a scale of A+ to F.
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."

Accolades

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."
In their review, Edutaining Kids praised various features including the adventure/exploration aspect and many of the activities, but noted that it is much too brief and that Kanga and Roo are absent.