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.
Recent Comments