Western Animation / The Tigger Movie

♫ Your heart will lead you home... ♫

Narrator: But of all his animal friends, Christopher Robin's very best friend was a bear called Winnie-the-Pooh.
Tigger: WINNIE-THE-POOH!? Wait half a darned minute! It seems to me that most of these stories are about that silly old bear.
Narrator: Well then, Tigger, who should this story be about?
Tigger: Well, I happen to know someone who's extremely fascinatin'. Not to mention handsome and debonair-y!
Narrator: But the title already says Winnie-the-Pooh.
Tigger: Oh, that's easy to fix... [rearranges and modifies the letters into "The Tigger Movie"] There! Now that's a wonderful title!

The Tigger Movie is a 2000 Disney animated feature starring characters from the Winnie the Pooh franchise, mostly centered around Tigger and Roo.

Here, Tigger feels lonely about being "the only one" and decides to search for a tigger "family" with Roo's help. But when things get out of hand, will the others be able to show Tigger who his real family is?

This film is notable for being Pooh's first theatrical endeavor since 1983's Winnie the Pooh and a Day For Eeyore, and the first Disney film to feature songs by The Sherman Brothers since Bedknobs and Broomsticks in 1971.

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This film contains examples of:

• Adaptational Badass: The avalanche at the climax of the film is perhaps the most genuine peril the Pooh cast have ever got caught into. Tigger's response is to perform a Heroic Sacrifice and bounce them all to safety. Roo in turn, masters the Whoop-de-Dooper Loop-de-Looper Alley-Ooper Bounce to save Tigger.
• Anger Born of Worry: Rabbit expresses this when they find Tigger. He tells Tigger snappishly that forget about his family, they need to get back home and wait out the storm.
• Arc Words:
  • "Family".
  • "The more you try, the more you fly. And that's what really counts".
• Aren't You Forgetting Someone?: Roo until the end.
• Art Shift: The credits tell the film's story drawn in the style of E.H. Shepard's illustrations from the original Winnie the Pooh books.
• Ascended Extra: Roo starts to become a major character from this film onwards.
• Ascended Fridge Horror: This film takes a darker look at the implications behind the "punchline" of the lighthearted song "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers":
  Tigger: But the most wonderful thing about tiggers is I'm the only one!
• Award-Bait Song: "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" by Kenny Loggins.
• Big Brother Worship: Roo's idolisation of Tigger is put into spotlight in the movie, and why he looks up to him so. He wants a big brother.
• Big "NO!": Tigger shouts an angry one when his friends try to get him to come home in the snow, and Rabbit tells him to "forget this 'other tiggers' nonsense", hitting his Berserk Button.
• Break the Cutie: Tigger starts to feel more and more alone and crushed as he fails to find his family. Roo is also left in tears when Tigger storms off after he finds out the others' deception.
• Braving the Blizzard: Tigger braves a blizzard when he runs away to look for his "family tree," with his friends making their way through to find him.
• The Bus Came Back: Since around the middle of the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh series, Kanga and Roo had more or less vanished from the Disney franchise besides a couple minor appearances. This film marked their true return as mainstays, with Roo even becoming a more central character from this point.
• Butt-Monkey: Eeyore still can't catch a break throughout this movie. His stick house ends up getting demolished first by a boulder and then by Tigger.
• Character Development:
  • This movie brings some notable development for Tigger. He's always been a friendly, happy-go-lucky sort, but also rather self-centered, thoughtless, inconsiderate and Innocently Insensitive. In this movie he learns to be more considerate, and he not only starts putting his friends' well-being above his own, but also tones down his tendency towards Unwanted Assistance in favor of actually giving them the kind of help they need. This development sticks with him in later productions, leading to a notably kinder (if still very chaotic and accidentally destructive) Tigger. Roo's role as Tigger's Morality Pet would also be shown more frequently from this point.
  • This is also the first work to really give heavy spotlight to Roo's character, granting him a more insecure and precocious personality that clings onto Tigger as a Big Brother Mentor, and actually accepts consequences with heavy sorrow when things go wrong, compared to the oblivious Keet he often was before. This would be continued throughout the proceeding Pooh works, where Roo is often shown acting independently from his mother and sometimes even Tigger, and sometimes seems like the most level-headed entity of the main group (while similarly remaining very child-like like Tigger has).
• Chekhov's Skill: The Whoop-De-Dooper Loop-De-Looper Alley-Ooper Bounce. Roo is taught this skill by Tigger but fails every time he tries to do so. It's not until Roo attempts to save Tigger from an avalanche that he nails it.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Tigger says that his "family" is coming to see him, everyone gets an Oh, Crap! expression except Pooh, who says he can't wait to meet them.
• Crisis Makes Perfect: Tigger shows Roo the Whoop-De-Dooper Loop-De-Looper Alley-Ooper bounce. Roo can't do it at first, nor later when he's practicing before bedtime. At the end, he has to do it to save Tigger from an avalanche and nails the bounce perfectly.
• Cry into Chest: Roo does this to Pooh after Tigger left his friends because he felt betrayed.
• Darker and Edgier: Not to the level of Pooh's Grand Adventure, but still. It addresses the unfortunate implications of Tigger being the Last of His Kind, talks about loneliness, depression, and the virtue of family, and even has the title character nearly get killed by an avalanche!
• Darkest Hour: By the time the climax rolls around, Tigger has lost trust in his friends and ventures into a dangerous blizzard, hellbent on finding his family, Roo and the others are left distraught at his departure, and no one (except for Rabbit) has prepared themselves for the harsh weather.
• Death Seeker: Implied that Tigger plans this if his "family" is not coming.
  Rabbit: Are you crazy? It's not safe out here.
  Tigger: Exac-ti-cally! That's why you should all go home, where it is safe! But I've got to wait here in my family tree for my real family!
• Disney Acid Sequence: "Round My Family Tree" is not insane in visuals, but there are many pop-culture references taking place, quite unlike the series proper.
• A Day in the Limelight: As the title says, Tigger has the main spotlight for the film. Roo also plays Supporting Protagonist for a lot of the film.
• Family of Choice: The main plot of the movie is set in motion by Tigger desperatly wanting to find and reunite with his family, realizing in the end he already has found his family: his friends who always care for him.
• Fooled by the Sound: When Tigger's shouting sets off an avalanche, Piglet asks Pooh if his stomach is making that sound. Pooh nervously says it's not him this time.
• Gone Horribly Right: Tigger using one of those terrific bounces to move the rock off of Eeyore's house not only works, it also destroys Rabbit's contraption and leaves most of the gang covered in mud.

• Group Picture Ending: The movie ends with a shot of the group photo of everyone Christopher Robin took for the locket, which then closes up.
• Hair-Trigger Avalanche: Tigger shouting at his friends to leave him to find his family causes the avalanche in which the climax takes place.
  Piglet: Is that a rumbly in your tumbly, Pooh?
  Pooh: I don't think so, Piglet.
• Heroic BSoD: Tigger has one whenever he can't find his family tree, but it hits particularly badly before the avalanche, to the point of tearfully screaming at his friends to leave him alone.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Tigger gets caught in the avalanche after making sure every last one of his friends was safe up on his family tree.
• Incoming Ham: "WINNIE THE POOH?!? Wait half a darn minute!"
• Innocently Insensitive: The others just wanted to help Tigger stay happy; they had no idea how hurt he'd get when he finds out that his "family" are his disguised friends. So imagine their guilt (especially Roo's) when Tigger angrily storms off into a blizzard to find "them".
• Insane Troll Logic: When Tigger tells his friends that the letter from his "family" says they're coming tomorrow, despite it not being written in the letter.
  Owl: Now where did it say that exactly?
  Tigger: -ti-cally nowhere per se'', 'cause with us Tiggers, you got to read be-twixt the lines.
• Interactive Narrator: As is the standard for Winnie the Pooh stories, though due to the more sombre story, it's used more sparsely than normally.
• Ironic Echo: Pooh's "Lullabee" song. It would also count as a mild Shout-Out If you think about it, Winnie the Pooh is in a tree, singing the bees to sleep, while preparing to eat their honey...
• It's All My Fault: Roo blames himself for Tigger running away because it was his attempt of the Whoop-De-Dooper Loop-De-Looper Alley-Ooper Bounce that caused his disguise to fall off and Tigger realizing their deception. He even says it verbatim when he begs Pooh for help.
  Roo: (tearfully) You've gotta help me find Tigger! It's all my fault! He never would've left if it wasn't 'cause of me! I didn't mean to make him feel bad... I just... I just wanted him to be my big brother...
• Jerkass Has a Point: Rabbit is quick to call out the others for wasting their time instead of preparing themselves for a blizzard. They admit that he's right, especially Pooh Bear when he realizes he has little honey for the winter.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rabbit, as usual, can quickly lose his temper with the others and especially with Tigger, but he needs surprisingly little persuasion from the others to lead them in finding Tigger, in the middle of the winter blizzard he spent the film worrying about.
• Last of His Kind: Tigger's "The wonderful thing about tiggers is that I'm the only one" quote actually turns out to be true in this movie. And unlike the other films, it's genuinely Played for Drama.
• The Leader: Played with in a similar manner as the previous movie. During the climax when Roo begs for help finding Tigger, Pooh enlists the others in forming a search party, but immediately passes control over to Rabbit, insisting he is the only one smart enough to lead them.
• Liar Revealed: After several attempts to tell Tigger the truth about the letter fail, the others decide to pose as Tiggers so as not to upset. However, Roo's disguise falls off and Tigger realizes he has been duped. Played with, since he only gets as far as realizing the disguise is fake and still clings onto the letter as legitimate proof his family exists.
• Literal-Minded: Owl suggests to Tigger that he should 'look up his family tree' to find his family. Tigger goes looking for an actual tree full of Tiggers.
• Marilyn Maneuver: A Marilyn expy Tigger in the aforementioned Disney Acid Sequence has her skirt flipped upwards by a vent, eventually causing her to fly upwards and off to the horizon.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Tigger, Pooh and his friends panic when they realize that Tigger's shouting has caused an avalanche to come straight for them.
• Mood Whiplash: The jovial "How to be a Tigger" gets interrupted by an exasperated Rabbit who yells at them to prepare for the snowstorm.
• Melancholy Musical Number: "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers" gets a Dark Reprise when Tigger realizes that he might not actually have a family, and he's almost in tears during it.
  Tigger: Oh, the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm... the very only, last... lonely... (sniffles) single, s-s-solitary...one.
• Mood Dissonance: It's kinda odd to tell if one of Tigger's friends is feeling worried, nervous, etc. during the family reunion scene because their disguises have smiles on them.
• Music Soothes the Savage Beast: Pooh singing "Lull-A-Bee" to lull the bees to sleep so he can sample the honey unguarded.
• My God, What Have I Done?: The others, especially Roo, when their deception leaves a hurt and disillusioned Tigger trudging into the blizzard alone to find his family.
  Pooh: We only wanted to help, Tigger...
• Mythology Gag:
  • Eeyore mentions Pooh has a habit of getting stuck in places.
  • Later, Piglet nervously asks Pooh before the avalanche starts to hit, if he has a "rumbly in his tumbly."
  • Roo wants Tigger as his "big brother". In the original novels, Tigger was Happily Adopted by Kanga, so almost literally was Roo's big brother.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • A minor example, but Piglet inadvertently makes the bees chase Pooh and his friends by tapping on the bear's rump and causing him to fall into the hive, because he was worried his friend never came down and thought he got stuck.
  • Roo attempting the Whoop-De-Dooper Loop-De-Looper Alley-Ooper Bounce leads his disguise to fall off and for Tigger to find out about the others' deception.
  • Tigger using one of those terrific bounces to move the rock off of Eeyore's house not only works, it also destroys Rabbit's contraption and leaves most of the gang covered in mud.
• No Antagonist: The conflict of the movie comes from Tigger trying to find where his family is and the emotional struggle he and Roo face with that, rather than from a person.
• Not Blood, Not Family: Subverted. Tigger initially believes this when he comes to realize the implications of being ‘the only one’. But by the end of the movie, when he learns that it was his friends who wrote the letter to him, he realizes that this is not true and that a real family is the people who support him.
• Only Sane Man: Christopher Robin, as the end of the movie shows. When he appears to help find the others in the snow and hears about Tigger's quest, he gently tells him that Tigger's family is right here.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • In this movie, Tigger is incredibly sad about not having a family. Even his uniqueness, one of the things he most proud of, makes him realize that he's the only Tigger. Needless to say, Roo wants to make Tigger feel better as soon as possible.
  • When Tigger finds out the others pretended to be his family, he vents a very uncharacteristic moment of Tranquil Fury before storming off, making it obvious to the others they've hurt him in a very big way.
  • Roo himself usually can surpass Tigger as the wood's Keet. After his Big Brother Mentor turns his back on him however, he spends most of the climax very morose, when not outright crying.
  • Usually, when Rabbit scolds Tigger, the latter takes said scoldings in stride. When Rabbit pleads for him to come home, however, he's so fixated on finding his real family, as well as offended by Rabbit telling him to "forget this 'other tiggers' nonsense", that he outright snaps at him, making it clear that he's going to disobey him. This also applies to Rabbit, who normally hates being confronted or disobeyed, but is cowed by Tigger's refusal.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The gang's disguises as various Tiggers have parts of their real bodies still showing (ie. Kanga and Roo's ears, Piglet's legs, Eeyore's tail, etc.) yet they still manage to fool Tigger completely.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When he's told by Rabbit that it's not safe outside in the snowstorm, Tigger says:
  Tigger: Exac-ti-cally! That's why you should all go home — where it is safe. But I've got to wait here, in my family tree, for my! Real! FAMILY!!
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Roo to Tigger after the avalanche, with Tigger still lamenting over seeking his family.
  Roo: Please don't go.
• Please Wake Up: Roo to the unconscious Tigger when he lands on the rock he ended up on during the avalanche.
• Roger Rabbit Effect: The opening to the film has Tigger animated in the middle of the live-action setting of Christopher Robin's room.
• Roundabout Shot: During the family reunion, Pooh briefly has one as he dances with Tigger.
• Shout-Out: Unusually for a Pooh film, the song "Round My Family Tree" contains many pop culture references, from The Brady Bunch to Jerry Springer to The Seven Year Itch.
  • Some scenes are reminiscent of the original Pooh featurettes of the 1960s and 1970s.
  • The illustrations that accompany the end credits are reminiscent of E. H. Shepards's illustrations for the original Pooh novels, and the characters are depicted like Shepard drew them.
  • All through the movie Roo wishes for Tigger to be his big brother, and at the end Tigger calls him "my bestest little brother." In the original novels, Tigger does become Roo's big brother when Kanga adopts him at the end of his introduction chapter.
• Skewed Priorities: When the "How to Be a Tigger" sequence has been halted by Rabbit barging in, he chews them out for goofing off and not preparing for winter.
• So Much for Stealth: Pooh manages to put the bees to sleep so he can get the honey, but Piglet and Eeyore are worried that he never came down for a long time and assume he's stuck. Piglet climbs up to check on Pooh, but when he lightly taps on Pooh's bottom, it causes Pooh to fall into the hive, which wakes up the bees and initiates a mad chase.
• Supporting Protagonist: As much of the film is focused on Roo's bond with Tigger as the latter's own quest for his family.
• Tears of Remorse: Roo breaks down sobbing after his idea to have his friends pose as Tiggers angers him into leaving.
• Tone Shift: Who would have thought that the film focused on Tigger would be one of the darkest and most emotional films in the Winnie The Pooh series?
• Trailers Always Spoil: Some of the trailers spoil Tigger and his friends getting their group photo taken at the very end of the film.
• Tranquil Fury: Tigger does not take kindly to his friends' trick, but he manages to keep his cool regardless.
• True Companions: The ultimate theme of the movie - Tigger's true family aren't the others of his kind (whether they exist or not), but the dear friends who stood by him no matter what and searched him out in a snowstorm out of concern for his safety.
• Undying Loyalty: Roo refuses to leave the despondent Tigger. The other animals, and later even Rabbit, ultimately join in helping him.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Tigger and Rabbit, as usual. Especially notable during the aforementioned scene under Death Seeker; for all that they argue over and as short-tempered as Rabbit gets, neither wants the other in danger.
• Wham Line:
  • One when Tigger realizes his friends duped him.
  Tigger: Somewhere out there, there's a Tigger family tree, full of my real Tigger family. I've got a letter here to prove it. And I'm gonna find 'em...so, T-T-F-E. Ta-ta...forever!
  • Another important one when the friends recite the letter to him, causing Tigger to realize they were the ones who wrote it and who his true family is:
  Tigger: You mean...you fellas are my family?
• What the Hell, Hero?: As exemplified by the above Wham Line, Tigger is left rather upset when he finds out his friends duped him into believing his family had contacted him.

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Owl: Dear Tigger, just a note to say:
Kanga: Dress warmly.
Pooh: Eat well.
Piglet: Stay safe and sound.
Eeyore: Keep smiling.
Roo: We're always there for you.
Owl: Signed...
All together: Your family.