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On one hand, it's lovely to visit once again such marvelous characters as Eeyore (my favorite), Roo and dear old Piglet himself, and the idea of a full-length theatrical film revisiting the Hundred Acre Wood seems like a good idea. But it quickly becomes apparent that Piglet's Big Movie fails to reach the same artistic high watermark as most of Disney's other, earlier adaptations of A.A. Milne's classic stories. The film seems rushed, almost frantic, not willing to spend any more time than is absolutely necessary with the story or the characters, instead focusing on driving the film's weak narrative ahead at all costs.

But perhaps it is somewhat unfair of me to berate Piglet's Big Movie as being a vacuous if marginally enjoyable picture, simply because it is not made for my demographic. But it really is bland enough that I doubt most kids will still be into it before its short 75 minute run time is up. Yes, it's always fun to see Pooh and his buddies, but Carly Simon's songs are plain and uninteresting and the film just drags and drags and drags.

To accentuate the positive, there are some lovely visual sequences involving crayon drawings, and impressive is how effective these simple and childlike lines and colors can be. I may have be grasping at straws, but as a big-time Milne fan, I must say that these drawings looked very similar to what I would imagine Tigger and Piglet would come up with if they sat down and scribbled on blank sheets of paper.

Alas, such simple pleasures aside, the film just gets worse and worse. The last five minutes are (believe it or not), a live-action Carly Simon video, where she sings one of her songs from the film while parading around a lovely green field and we flash back to our favorite moments from the film, TV montage-style. It is scary for sure, but worse, intrusive. Not a great decision.

I suppose in the end all that matters is if your kids like Piglet and Pooh. If they do, they they'll have a field day with this one. But I would imagine more discerning viewers will find that Piglet's Big Movie just isn't up to Disney's usual high standards.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Excellent. The animation style is significantly less expressive and awe-inspiring than Disney's most high-profile releases, but it is presented here with astonishing clarity and crispness. The source material is pristine with often-extraordinary detail. Black levels are rock solid and the film's vibrant color palette full of lush, gorgeous hues. Better yet is a complete lack of edginess and no compression artifacts to speak of, either. Even the live-action music video coda with Carly Simon looks top-notch. Simply wonderful.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Again, this film doesn't have the expansive soundtrack that typifies most other big Disney theatrical releases, but the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix included here is effective nonetheless. Dialogue is pristine, effects are nicely spread out across all channels and the sound design exploits separation between front and surround channels very effectively The .1 LFE channel is even given a bit of a workout during some of the film's action scenes. Sometimes the film's music is a bit overbearing, but one can't deny the power of this mix. Top-notch.

Also included are French and Spanish Dolby 5.1 dub plus English subtitles and Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The best part of the supplements is the Sing with the Movie karaoke subtitle track. None of the music here is out-of-this-world, but this option allows for lyrics to the film's songs to change color as they're being performed. It's actually really fun - and think of how occupied the kids will be with it...

Then there's Piglet's Book of Memories, an interactive game that allows the viewer to traverse different houses in Pooh Corner in order to find the drawings Piglet has lost. Kinda cool. Then we have a short featurette, The World According to Piglet, a 3-D storybook look back at the film and the valuable lessons we all learned from Piglet and his buddies. It's stretching it a little, but it's still very cute.

Also included are video trailers for Winnie the Pooh: Springtime With Roo, The Lion King: Special Edition, Brother Bear, Stitch: The Movie, Sleeping Beauty and Disney's Sing Along Songs.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

A great addition to the disc is the ability to print a coloring book of images from the film. They're of characters and places these animated animals interact with in the film, and I, for one, think this is a simply extraordinary idea. If only they'd put coloring books in with Star Wars movies...

Also included is a weblink to the Disney site where you're encouraged to register your DVD.

Parting Thoughts