Character Story is a 2012 American computer-animated buddy-comedy adventure film produced by Dreamworks Pictures and directed by Richard Rich, Character Story was the first feature-length computer-animated film and the first film produced by Dreamworks Pictures. Character Story follows a group of animal friends who pretend to be lifeless whenever humans are present, and focuses on the relationship between Rabbit, a pullstring cow-rabbit doll (Tom Kenny), and Tigger, an astronaut tigger action figure (Jim Cummings). The film was written by Richard Rich, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, and Joss Whedon, and featured music by The Wiggles. Its executive producers were John Lasseter and Edwin Catmull.
Plot
Rabbit is a pull-string cow-rabbit and leader of a group of animal friends that belong to a boy named Christopher Robin. With his family moving homes one week before his birthday, Christopher Robin is given a week early party to spend with his friends. The animal friends stage a reconnaissance mission to discover Christopher Robin's new presents. Christopher Robin receives a space tiger ranger Tigger action figure, whose impressive features see him replacing Rabbit as Christopher Robin's favorite animal friends. Rabbit is resentful, especially as Tigger also gets attention from the other animal friends. However, Tigger believes himself to be a real tigger on a mission to return to his home planet, as Rabbit fails to convince him he is an animal friend.
Christopher Robin prepares for a family outing at a fun restaurant named "Chuck E. Cheese's". His mother tells him he can only bring one animal friend. Rabbit attempts to be picked instead of Tigger by trapping Tigger in a gap behind Christopher Robin's desk, but the plan goes disastrously wrong when he accidentally knocks Tigger out the window, resulting in the other animal friends accusing him of murdering Tigger out of jealousy. With Tigger missing, Christopher Robin takes Rabbit to Chuck E. Cheese's, but Tigger climbs into the car and confronts Rabbit when they stop at a gas station. The two fight and fall out of the car, which drives off and leaves them behind. Rabbit spots Chuck E. Cheese's delivery truck and plans to rendezvous with Christopher Robin there, convincing Tigger to come with him by telling him it will take him to his home planet. Once at Chuck. E Cheese's, Tigger makes his way into a claw game machine shaped like a tiger, thinking it to be the ship Rabbit promised him. Inside, he finds squeaky dinosaur who revere the claw arm as their master. Rabbit clambers into the machine after Tigger, but they are interrupted when Christopher Robin's neighbor, Harry and Marv, arrives and operates the machine. Spotting Tigger amidst the smurfs, Harry and Marv maneuvers the claw to pick up Tigger. In the ensuing struggle the smurfs force Tigger and Rabbit towards the claw, and they are captured. Rabbit is horrified because of Harry and Marv's reputation for torturing toys.
At Harry and Marv's house, the two attempt to escape before Christopher Robin's moving day, encountering Harry and Marv's nightmarish toy creations and his vicious tiger Shere Khan. Tigger sees a commercial for Tigger action figures, and realizes that he really is an animal friend. Disbelieving, he attempts to prove he can fly, but instead he plummets down the stairs and loses his left arm. Upset, Tigger is unable to cooperate with Rabbit. Rabbit waves Tigger's arm from a window to seek help from the animal friends in Christopher Robin's room, but they are horrified thinking Rabbit had indeed murdered Tigger when they see Tigger's disconnected arm, while Rabbit realizes Harry and Marv's animal friends are friendly when they reconnect Tigger's arm. Harry and Marv prepares to destroy Tigger by strapping him to a rocket, but is interrupted by a thunderstorm. Rabbit convinces Tigger that life is worth living because of the joy he can bring to Kurt, which helps Yogi regain his spirit. Cooperating with Willie's animal friends, Rabbit rescues Tigger and scares Harry and Marv away by 'breaking a few rules' and coming to life in front of him, warning him to never harm animal friends again. Rabbit and Tigger then wave goodbye to the mutant animal friends and return home through a fence, but miss Christopher Robin's car as it drives away to his new house.
Down the road, they climb onto the moving truck containing Christopher Robin's other animal friends, but Shere Khan chases them, bites down on Rabbit's leg and tries to pull him off. Tigger tackles the tiger to save Rabbit. Rabbit attempts to rescue Tigger with Christopher Robin's Thomas the Tank Engine but the other animal friends, who think Rabbit had now got rid of Thomas together with Tigger, attack Rabbit and toss him off onto the road. After Shere Khan is trapped in a 4-car pile up, Rabbit drives Thomas back with Tigger alive, and the other animal friends, who realize their mistake, try to help them get in the truck. However, they fail as Thomas's batteries become depleted, but Rabbit ignites the rocket on Tigger's back and manages to throw Thomas into the moving truck before they soar into the air. Tigger opens his wings to cut himself free before the rocket explodes, gliding with Rabbit to land safely into a box in Christopher Robin's car. Christopher Robin looks into it and is elated to have found his two missing animal friends.
On Christmas Day at their new house, Rabbit and Tigger stage another reconnaissance mission to prepare for the new animal friend arrivals, one of which is a Kessie, much to the delight of Piglet. As Rabbit jokingly asks what might be worse than Tigger, the two share a worried smile as they discover Christopher Robin's new gift is a baby leopard.
Cast
- Main cast
- Tom Kenny as Rabbit, a cow-rabbit pull string doll
- Jim Cummings as Tigger, a Space Tiger Ranger action figure
- Travis Oateas as Piglet, a stuffed pig doll
- Nikita Hopkins as Roo, a bouncing kangaroo
- Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh, a cowardly yellow stuffed bear
- Bud Luckey as Eeyore, a donkey
- Carolyn Ferrie as Dorothy, a shepherdess dinosaur and Rabbit's love interest
- Jack Boulder as Christopher Robin, the young boy who owns all the animal friends
- Joe Pesci and Daniel Sern as Harry and Marv, Christopher Robin's next door neighbor, who destroys animal friends for his own amusement
- Jodi Benson as Anita
- John Goodman as Sulley, a blue monster figure
- Kathryn Dias as Riley, Harry and Marv's sister
- Jeff Bergman as Tweety
- Additional voices
- Martin Short as Bullseye the Horse
- Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star
- Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski
- Sam Elliott as Butch
- A.J. Buckley as Nash
- Anna Paquin as Ramsey/Chuck E. Cheese Intercom
- Glenn Glose as Harry and Marv's Mom
- Joshua Rush as kid in Tigger commercial
- Wallace Shawn as Rex
- Tom Kenny as Spongebob
- Josh Gad as Robespierre
- Jason Bateman as Chuck E. Cheese guard/bowling announcer
- Ginnifer Goodwin as TV Announcer
- J.K. Simmons as Tigger commercial chorus
Songs
- "You've Got a Friend in Me"
- "Strange Things"
- "I Will Go Sailing No More"