In two successive days last weekend, the entertainment world lost two artists who, while perhaps not known well as traditional actors, were loved by young and old for their voiceover talents in the Winnie the Pooh movies. Paul Winchell, original voice of the irrepressible Tigger, left the Hundred Acre Wood on Friday, and John Fiedler, the only movie voice of Piglet, followed on Saturday. Nevermind they were in their 80's, I can tell you it brought me down a couple notches when I found out.
And since recycling something is easier than creating it anew, here's the review I wrote in March of aught-three when the Piglenator (and Fiedler) got his big-screen moment in the sun...
* * * * * * * *
Movie Review: Piglet's Big Movie
Piglet's Big Movie - IN WHICH Piglet is missing and sought by his friends.
Piglet has long been my favourite Disney Character. Indeed, Piglet has long been my favourite character from A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh series even before Disney furthered its popularity. I can't really put my finger on why, but I think it has to do with his determination and perseverance combined with his unfailing (if not terribly fierce) loyalty to his 'top-banana,' Pooh Bear.
When my Dear Sweet Wife and I first brought the schmedlets to Disney World, they each decided which WtP character was "theirs" so they could embark upon their quests to find that character, get its 'autograph' and pose for a photo. Knowing full well that these quests would be seriously time-intensive and that, given the overall cost per day and the finite number of minutes during which fun could be maximized (a classic manifestation of Type-A Dad-on-Vacation Syndrome), I selected Piglet. The bonus was that at the time, WDW did not have an active (or very active) Piglet character roaming loose in the park.
The unintended consequences of this was that the schmedlets, having fulfilled their own quests, became increasingly concerned that Piglet had not been found. On the last day in-park, we inquired of an official looking Disney Dude the precise whereabouts and itinerary of said Piglet and learned we might as well be seeking the Grail.
There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth all the way home. Michael Eisner's name was used in vain many times and all the schmedlets repeatedly assured me that it would be OK, that even though we missed Piglet this time, Disney would HAVE to have a Piglet available next time.
Sure enough, in our recent trek to Orlando, Piglet was located deep in the heart of the Animal Kingdom on New Year's Day. Enchanted, we all waited on queue to complete the long-delayed quest. I must say I was a bit moved, and I played it up for all I was worth because, after all, schmedlets don't stay small forever unless you give them a venue or device to be your little kid whenever they want.
Get to the review, schmed!
I suppose I am digressing a bit.
A BIT? A mega-bit maybe.
Fair enough...
In this long-awaited movie, it seems that our hero, Piglet, is callously neglected by his friends. Suddenly (hey, it's only 75 minutes long), they realise Piglet is missing, and, since Owl has identified that an asteroid is hurtling through space right toward the 100 Acre Wood, they have to find him. Piglet begins to have these flashes of understanding astro-physics as well as exhibiting an innate talent for mentally computing target vectors and trajectory intercepts.
He also discovers latent martial arts and weapons skills which come in very handy when the Martians attempt to obstruct his efforts to design and build the rockets, vehicles and special gizmos to deflect the asteroid (in the movie, the deflection targets France, but since we're temporarily in a no-bashing zone, I'll leave that out).
Suddenly (75 minutes, remember?) a sleek, sultry sow tempts Piglet so as to distract him from his urgent task and to help him unlock the deep, dark secrets of his forgotten past. Fortunately for all involved, Piglet is not anatomically correct and therefore does not have the certain hormones necessary to make her evil efforts successful ('ray!).
As you might expect, Piglet IS successful with the help of his many friends who hold off the brutal final (and sudden) assault by the Martians. Eeyore is particularly heroic in the end by falling on a Martian plasma grenade to save his friends, sacrificing his tail. Christopher Robin collects it and pins it back on a very self-conscious Eeyore during a touching ceremony.
The special effects are awesome, with just the right balance of intense explosions to graphic portrayals of the fiercely pitched battle scenes.
REALLY, schmed? How very fanciful.
Well, that's not really how it went...
I called my DSW up yesterday from the office and asked her out on a date to go see Piglet's Big Movie.
Seriously, yes I did.
And to prove that she's almost as crazy as I am, she said she'd be thrilled.
Seriously, yes she was.
The movie is enchanting, if overly simplistical. As a special bonus, they had 78 year-old John Fiedler lend his vocal talents for the 19th (I counted) time since WtP's debut in 1968, to again give Piglet a voice. Don't sell Mr. Fiedler short (no pun intended) - he's got quite an extensive film career - check the link. Jim Cummings did an such outstanding job with Pooh's voice that I almost expected to see (original Pooh vocalist) Sterling Holloway's name in the credits, but sadly, he passed away in 1992 at age 87. Mr. Cummings also did a respectable job on Tigger.
Something to look for if YOU go see it: There's a flashback (there are several) to a bit where Pooh attempts to distract Kanga so that Piglet can be substituted for Roo in a nefarious scheme of Rabbit's. Pooh is very inept at deception, so all he can do is blurt out "Kanga! Is that a fish in that tree?" In the very next scene, look at the upper left part of the screen and see what the Disney Tokyo animators put in a tree.
Carly Simon does the music and it took a bit of getting used to. She reprised "With a Few Good Friends" in a music video during the credits and it's actually not a bad little piece of music. But at her age, and with that giant mouth, jawline and HUGE TEETH, she almost looks like she was done by the CG team. Her doing a jig reminiscent of the "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats was a little disturbing.
:star :star :star :star
(I'd rate it 5 stars, but it's only 75 minutes
long.)
Dave, there were a bunch of LBKs in that theatre. While they fidgeted a bit, not a one of them took a call on their sellphone.
Is it sad that my network hostname is the 100 Acre Wood and I currently have Pooh, Piglet, and Owl for hosts?
Posted by: Corey | Friday, July 01, 2005 at 11:51 AM
rabble.
Posted by: dave | Sunday, July 17, 2005 at 09:24 PM