Christopher Robin Review!

I remember last year that there was a Christopher Robin movie, Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017) which had the boy that inspired author A.A. Milne from age 8 to age 18 from Fox Searchlight Pictures.  Then, there was the trailer from this film that had the revelation of the voice of Winnie-the-Pooh by Jim Cummings, it charmed me and I think everyone.  This is not a dry, straight biography of the person.  It has the magic of the character’s past slip into his present, now grown up and having adult responsibilities, similar to Hook (1991).  This film by Marc Forester, who also directed another film on an author in Finding Neverland (2004), but this one is superior and digs deeper into the work life, family, and entering the magical world than Hook.  I need to put the Way Back Machine to Small Kid Time, I was clinging to my Winnie-the-Pooh from Sears, he has always been a draw to me including reading the A.A. Milne books with illustrations by E.H. Shepherd, then again being enchanted again by The Tao of Pooh (1982) by Benjamin Hoff. 

The movie had a story by Greg Brooker and Mark Steven Johnson with the writing team of Tom McCarthy, Alex Ross Perry, and Allison Schroeder with the screenplay.  The film opens with the Disney logo rendered like an E.H. Shepherd illustration.  We get the pages of the Winnie-the-Pooh books turned into chapter titles showing Christopher Robin growing up as a kid (Orton O’Brien) and having a farewell party given by his friends, led by Rabbit (Peter Capaldi),  and Roo (Sara Sheen) is confused by his words, but his mother Kanga (Sophie Okonedo) explains his words.  Eeyore reads a poem, the audience loved every line from Eeyore (voiced here by Brad Garrett).  We get an argument with Rabbit and Owl (Toby Jones) before Christopher Robin appears.  Piglet (Nick Mohammed) timidly gives him a bag of acorns, and they hungrily dig into Christopher Robin’s cherry cake including Tigger (also voiced by Cummings). Christopher Robin has a talk with Pooh first at the bridge where they play Pooh Sticks and then  looking out at the Hundred Acre Woods.  The animation of the dolls made talking and walking is charming with the voice work.  This is where it differs vastly from Hook filling in what was Christopher Robin’s world when he was young.  

Then, he has to put all of drawings of Pooh away, to be taken to boarding school by his father, A.A. Milne (Tristan Sturrock).  He gets punished for drawing pictures of Pooh and soon forgets him.  It shifts to his mother, Dorothy (Katy Carmichael) consoling him after the death of his father.  The adult Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) meets Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) awkwardly on a double decker bus.  Obi-Wan Kenobi and Agent Carter!  Then, dancing with her, we get their goodbyes at a train station.  Pages turn as he fights on the battlefields of World War II while Evelyn raises their child, Madeline.  We have the end of the war and Madeline (Bronte Carmichael) finally meets her father at the train station.  While all of this happens Winnie-the-Pooh is forgotten and winter comes to the Hundred Acre Wood.  Christopher gets a job at Winslow Luggage Co. and then we get into our story proper.  He is busy trying to cut costs as part of the Efficiency Department.  His staff look like counterparts to his friends in the Hundred Acre Woods.  I noticed this with sleepy eyed staff member who looks like Eeyore.  

Christopher is met by his boss, Giles Winslow, played by Mark Gatiss whom I recognize Lazarus from Doctor Who and Mycroft Holmes in Sherlock.  He is clumsy around the luggage samples and declares that they have to cut 20% to keep the company.  Christopher is shocked and has to agree to work the weekend to save the jobs of the people in the Efficiency Department.  He returns home to see Evelyn with her dinner turned cold and she already knows he has to work and will miss the trip to his family’s cabin in Sussex.  She says that Madeline has kept up with her school reading to please him.  He says he intends to send her away to boarding school.  Christopher goes to see his daughter who has discovered his box of mementos from the Hundred Acre Woods.  He tries to read Madeline a bed time story, instead of Treasure Island, he tries the read the history of the Victorian era.  The next morning, Evelyn tells Christopher he is missing spending time with the family, and he doesn’t smile any more.  He has to say goodbye to them.  

The stuffies used in the Christopher Robin movie, El Capitan Theatre, photo by the author. 

Christopher Robin works tirelessly at work alone even though Giles promised to also work the weekend.  This shifts to the Hundred Acre Woods, Pooh wakes up, his morning routine and clumsiness made the audience laugh.  He looks around in the fog and hears Christopher Robin’s young voice call to him and the door in his tree opens.  Pooh enters and finds himself in a London park.  Christopher Robin is not there so he takes a nap on a bench.  At work, Christopher finishes up, and instead of dealing with his nosy neighbor who wants to play gin rummy, he takes a detour into the park.  He sits on the bench on the opposite of Pooh and is shocked when Pooh starts talking.  He has to bring him home and Pooh makes a mess, right out of the books, and decides he has to take Pooh back to the tree in Sussex.  Pooh sees his family and has brought a red balloon which also features in the stories of Pooh.  

He decides to go with Pooh back to the Hundred Acre Woods to find their missing friends.  They replace his papers with mementos and the friends have to team up with Madeline to travel to London and save his job! What I find beautiful is the cinematography by Matthias Koenigswieser  makes the beauty of the real life Ashdown Forest into the Hundred Acre Woods.  The family of Christopher Robin is so endearing that I wanted to spend time with them, then it shifts to the Hundred Acre Woods characters, then mixes them, it is the right balance. The music by Jon Brion and Geoff Zanelli captures the quiet drama, fun, and threads hints of the Disney cartoons.  Don't miss the mid-credits scene!  The movie has such heart, a fun return with A.A. Milne’s characters, it doesn’t matter how closely it follows the real life story, it is not a dry, biographical film.     

Five Red Balloons out of Five!  

#ChristopherRobin, #WinniethePooh, #EwanMacgregor, #HayleyAtwell