“Piglet’s Big Movie” opens with chaos and closes with tranquility. The way filmmakers change the atmosphere along the way delights viewers, for Winnie the Pooh acts as their main tool of transformation. The moment Pooh opens that loveable mouth of his and speaks with his familiar lisp, entrapment is inevitable: the audience enters the familiar and comfortable world of Pooh.
Deep in the 100 Acre Wood where Christopher Robin plays, Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger and Eeyore hatch a plan for their spring honey harvest. They create a fake tree and beehive to lure real bees from their home. After capturing the bees in the false hive, the four will steal the honey from the real hive.
This goes predictably wrong, and just before the four suffer great bodily injury from the bees, Piglet strolls up and saves the day. The four rejoice in their salvation, yet forget to give credit to Piglet for his crucial role. Piglet, disheartened by his friends’ indifference, walks around the forest alone and dreams of playing an important part in his friends’ lives.
After feasting on the fruits of their honey harvest, the group realizes Piglet is missing.
“He’s so little!” Pooh exclaims. “He could be in big danger!”
The group wanders to Piglet’s house and finds an old scrapbook full of drawings of old adventures Piglet keeps in one of his desks. They use the scrapbook to as a guide to different locations Piglet may be, thinking of his true importance in their adventures the whole time.
The most interesting part of the movie lies in its characters. The tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff, Pooh, steals the spotlight. He is as irresistibly dim as ever, once even mistaking Roo’s voice for the sound of his own stomach and subsequently holding a conversation with what he believes to be his stomach.
As in all 100 Acre Woods adventures, the bare philosophy and message of Pooh’s world breaks through the simple plot, emphasizing friendship and strength through diversity.
None of these characters are perfect. Pooh is an ever-hungry, slow-witted bear with an eternally peaceful demeanor and a weakness for honey. Eeyore stagnates in his own depression, Rabbit fusses to no end, and Tigger’s boundless energy and endearing speech impediment provide a character impossible to hate.
The Pooh message of tolerance and togetherness blends well with that of the movie itself — wonderful, important things may come in small packages. Pooh, in his simple wisdom, refuses to quit searching for his beloved Piglet after his friends lose hope.
“My heart tells me we should keep looking for Piglet,” he defiantly tells his friends.
Enduring the film is not difficult. With a running time of a mere 75 minutes, “Piglet’s Big Movie” does its job quickly and efficiently. The songs, performed by Carly Simon, exude Pooh philosophy in their sheer liveliness and cheerfully push the story along. They’re delightfully easy to sing along to. “Piglet’s Big Movie” may be good entertainment for toddlers, but it also provides a perfect setting for some to reminisce. How could anyone resist Tigger, Eeyore, Pooh and Piglet at their cutest?