THE TIGGER MOVIE

Heck, I'd paint black stripes on my underwear, too, if it meant making poor Tigger feel like he wasn't the only Tigger in 100 Acre Wood!

I was reluctant to give The Tigger Movie the time of day. Rereleased on DVD as a 10th Anniversary Edition, I found myself trying to remember if it ever got released in theaters, much less warranted being celebrated 10 years later. Regardless of its impact in the Disney pantheon (or lack thereof), The Tigger Movie is actually kind of sweet, and sends a nice "Love the One You're With"-type of message: that chosen family is as important, or even more important than biological.

Tigger, as we all know, loves to bounce. But since none of his pals are Tiggers, too, he just can't find someone with his same enthusiasm for bouncing... especially after he causes a bouncing ruckus by accidentally smashing Eeyore's stick house. Ooops. It is suggested that Tigger find someone like him that he can play with... like, there HAS to be other Tiggers out there, right?

Tigger is convinced that he has a long-lost family out there, waiting to bounce with him. But when he throws a party, the only ones who come are his woodland creature friends that are dressed as Tiggers to make him feel better. Humiliated and feeling like he was mocked (even though they were just trying to be friendly), Tigger slumps off into a snowstorm hoping to find his long lost family for good.

Well, you can see how this goes. This little parable could affect anyone from those with a biological family that doesn't satisfy them, to those with a makeshift family who think their biological kin must be inherently "better" by default (right?). When little Roo sobs (in Tigger's absence) that he just wanted Tigger to be his big brother, well, you know that they are gearing up towards an adopted-family happy end. And thank goodness for that! Unlike so many geared-towards-kids movies that show a kid reuniting with his or her biological deadbeat parent—who suddenly learns parenting skills and creates a happy-ever-after instant family—The Tigger Movie shows that your chosen family may be your true REAL family, and, well, that is actually a very nice message.

DVD NOTES

The 2-disc 10th Anniversary Edition of The Tigger Movie simply repackages most of the extras from the previous DVD edition, including a DVD storybook, a matching game, a "How to Make Your Family Tree" exercise, a music video by Kenny Loggins, and some trivia, among other extras. The only newbies in this collection are a couple of new-to-DVD episodes from the TV series "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh".