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Piglet's Big Movie

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Piglet's Big Movie
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 Distribution
Release dates
  • March 16, 2003 (2003-03-16) (Premiere)
  • March 21, 2003 (2003-03-21) (United States)
  • July 29, 2003 (2003-07-29) (Disney DVD and video)
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 adventure comedy-drama film produced by the Japanese office of Disneytoon Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. 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. The film features the characters from the Winnie-the-Pooh books written by A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard and is the third theatrically released Winnie the Pooh feature. It was released on March 21, 2003, to generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $62.9 million worldwide. 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.

Plot

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Piglet has made a scrapbook containing pictures that depict all of the adventures he has went on with his friends. He soon finds Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, and Eeyore, who exclude him from a plan they're working on because of his small size, even after Piglet saves them from an attack by a group of bees. Disheartened, Piglet sets out to discover how he can be useful. Meanwhile, Piglet's friends discover his disappearance and decide to search for him; using Piglet's scrapbook as a guide, the four use its pictures to tell the stories depicted therein, leading to several flashbacks.

The first story 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 can ransom Roo to force Kanga to leave. When Kanga finds out about the plan, she plays along by pretending that Piglet is Roo, eventually causing Piglet to realize Kanga's kindness, which prompts his friends to accept the kangaroos into the Hundred Acre Wood. Back in the present, Roo joins the others in searching for Piglet.

The second story tells the story of how everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood went on an expedition to find the North Pole. During the search, Roo falls into a river, prompting Piglet to use a long stick to launch him out. Unfortunately, his heroism is overlooked when he gives the stick to Pooh to try to catch Roo (where he is caught by his mother), causing Christopher Robin to mistake the stick for the North Pole and credit Pooh for finding it. Back in the present, the friends begin to realize how much they have ignored Piglet's actions.

The third story concerns the building of the House at Pooh Corner. Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger get the idea of building Eeyore a house in an area they name "Pooh Corner", using some neatly stacked sticks for building. After many failed attempts, Pooh decides to offer Eeyore to move in with him only for Eeyore to reveal that the sticks Pooh, Piglet and Tigger found was his house. Piglet manages to rebuild Eeyore's house and shows it to him, satisfying the donkey.

Back in the present, an argument between Rabbit and Tigger ends with the scrapbook falling into a river. Without their guide and with a storm coming, the gang sadly return to Piglet's house, where they draw pictures depicting all of Piglet's heroic actions. Eventually feeling reinvigorated, the group decide to resume their search for Piglet.

During their search, the gang find Piglet's scrapbook suspended on a hollow log looming over a waterfall. Pooh goes to retrieve it, but he falls into a hole in the log, and the others are unable to reach him. At that moment, Piglet arrives and, with encouragement from his friends, helps pull Pooh to safety just as the log begins to break in half. Everyone manages to escape just as the front half of the log breaks off, but the scrapbook itself is destroyed by the fall. Although saddened by this loss, the group take Piglet back to his house to show him all of their drawings, much to Piglet's joy.

Sometime later, a party is thrown in honor of Piglet, where Pooh reveals that he renamed Eeyore's home "Pooh and Piglet Corner" to represent all the big things that Piglet has ever done. During this scene, the camera pulls back to show a large shadow of Piglet behind everyone.

Cast

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Main article: List of Winnie-the-Pooh characters

Production

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

The film was originally intended as a direct-to-video release, in February 2002 Disney announced that the film and The Jungle Book 2 would be released theatrically.[5]

Music

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Piglet's Big Movie (Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by
Carly Simon
ReleasedMarch 18, 2003
Recorded2002–2003
Length43:02
LabelWalt Disney Records
Producer
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]

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 which she previously recorded in A Very Merry Pooh Year.[7]

"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.[6]

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

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Original songs performed in the film include:

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Winnie the Pooh"Carly Simon, Ben Taylor, Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman2:53
2."If I Wasn't So Small (The Piglet Song)"Carly Simon1:57
3."Mother's Intuition"Carly Simon2:38
4."Sing Ho for the Life of a Bear"Carly Simon & Cast1:37
5."The More It Snows (Tiddely-Pom)"Jim Cummings & John Fiedler1:02
6."With A Few Good Friends"Carly Simon, Ben Taylor & Sally Taylor2:38
7."The More I Look Inside"Carly Simon4:22
8."Comforting to Know"Carly Simon & Renée Fleming4:37

Reception

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Box office

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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

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 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

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

Games

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Main article: Piglet's Big Game

In 2003, Disney released Piglet's Big Game for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance, as well as a game on CD-ROM that was also entitled Piglet's Big Game. The latter was 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

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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

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Marketing

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Disney released a teaser trailer of Piglet's Big Movie in May 2002 on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 25th-anniversary edition VHS and DVD home video releases and on the Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year DVD release in November 2002. The teaser was later attached to theatrical screenings of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Lilo & Stitch, The Powerpuff Girls Movie and Stuart Little 2. The next trailer for the film was released with the theatrical screenings of Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, Treasure Planet, The Wild Thornberrys Movie and The Jungle Book 2. The trailers for the film were also attached to other Disney home video releases.

Theatrical

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The film premiered on March 16, 2003 and opened in theaters on March 21, 2003.

Home media

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The film was released on VHS and DVD on July 29, 2003.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Piglet's Big Movie (2003)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on August 16, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Piglet's Big Movie (2003)". Archived from the original on February 28, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  3. ^ "Piglet's Big Movie (2003)". The Wrap. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c "Piglet's Big Movie 2003". boxofficemojo.com. May 29, 2003. Archived from the original on March 15, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
  5. ^ "Disney bets on Piglet's prospects". February 19, 2002.
  6. ^ a b Phares, Heather. "Piglet's Big Movie [Soundtrack]". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 30, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
  7. ^ "Carly Simon Official Website – Piglet's Big Movie". Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  8. ^ "The Tigger Movie 2000". boxofficemojo.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
  9. ^ Piglet's Big Movie (2003), archived from the original on June 5, 2020, retrieved September 15, 2020
  10. ^ Piglet's Big Movie, archived from the original on May 18, 2021, 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. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. 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. Archived from the original on August 14, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
  17. ^ "Video Releases". Chicago Tribune. July 3, 2003. pp. 5–7. Archived from the original on July 26, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
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