Christopher Robin
Directed by: Marc Forster
Written by: Alex Ross Perry and Tom McCarthy and Allison Schroeder
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael, Mark Gattis, Oliver Ford Davies, Ronke Adekoluejo, Adrian Scarborough, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Ken Nwosu, John Dagleish, Amanda Lawrence, Orton O’Brien
Voices by: Jim Cummings, Brad Garrett, Nick Mohammed, Peter Capaldi, Sohpie Okonedo, Sara Sheen, Toby Jones
Animation/Adventure/Comedy - 104 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 2 Aug 2018
Written by: Alex Ross Perry and Tom McCarthy and Allison Schroeder
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael, Mark Gattis, Oliver Ford Davies, Ronke Adekoluejo, Adrian Scarborough, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Ken Nwosu, John Dagleish, Amanda Lawrence, Orton O’Brien
Voices by: Jim Cummings, Brad Garrett, Nick Mohammed, Peter Capaldi, Sohpie Okonedo, Sara Sheen, Toby Jones
Animation/Adventure/Comedy - 104 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 2 Aug 2018
Must movies about Winnie the Pooh arrive with melancholy and depression? I know Eeyore is a sour puss, but that is no reason for live action movies set in the Hundred Acre Wood to instinctively target tear ducts. Last year’s Goodbye Christopher Robin had half the audience breaking down into waterfall sobs. Poor parenting, a ruined childhood, and eventual estrangement will do that to a movie-goer I suppose. Disney’s Christopher Robin, on the other hand, actually has all the characters from Pooh to Owl being their silly one-dimensional selves. So why, once again, did I hear a bunch of sniffles and whimpers? Poor parenting, a childhood on the brink of ruin, eventual estrangement, and a hefty pint of nostalgia.
All advertisements indicate Christopher Robin is a film for children. Not so. It is aimed directly at the parents, all of them jaded, corrupted by the system, and forgetful of their childhood innocence and promises. The kids will laugh at Tigger’s foolishness or when Pooh steps in honey and makes a mess, but most of the serious soul-searching and realizations of paradise lost and pain inflicted upon the next generation will sail right over their heads perhaps producing strong odors of boredom. The writers shovel in awkward-fitting slapstick moments when one of them remembers they are working for Disney, then they veer right back to the pathos.
All advertisements indicate Christopher Robin is a film for children. Not so. It is aimed directly at the parents, all of them jaded, corrupted by the system, and forgetful of their childhood innocence and promises. The kids will laugh at Tigger’s foolishness or when Pooh steps in honey and makes a mess, but most of the serious soul-searching and realizations of paradise lost and pain inflicted upon the next generation will sail right over their heads perhaps producing strong odors of boredom. The writers shovel in awkward-fitting slapstick moments when one of them remembers they are working for Disney, then they veer right back to the pathos.
I am not opposed to a grown-up version of childhood characters reminding us our lives are not what we imagined and how we are probably all parenting our children wrong. If that is the film the director chooses to make, so be it. However, Marc Forster is cheating. He made a film full of guilt, self-doubt, and confronting harsh realities disguising it as a hop-along, light-hearted Winnie the Pooh adventure. The three script writers are a who’s who of hip indie film cred. Alex Ross Perry wrote Listen Up Philip. Tom McCarthy wrote The Station Agent and won an Oscar for Spotlight. Allison Schroeder wrote Hidden Figures. Put these three in a room and I am not shocked in the least an unlikeable Christopher Robin popped out.
We’ve seen plenty of movies where dad works too much and must learn a lesson about cherishing fatherhood before the kids grow up and leave. Christopher Robin is closely related to Spielberg’s Hook, where Peter Pan loses his childhood innocence, grows up, works too hard, and risks becoming estranged from his children. Strict boarding school instructors intimidate Winnie the Pooh and Piglet right out of Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor, Beauty and the Beast). As a sad sack adult, Christopher is the director of efficiency at a stuffy luggage company about to fire a chunk of their work force unless Christopher can figure out how to make suitcases cheaper over a weekend.
Oh no, not this weekend! Christopher Robin was supposed to take his wife and daughter to their house in the countryside and pretend to have quality time. Of all the rotten luck. Christopher not only lost his grip on what childhood friends made him the man he is today, but he is ensuring his daughter, Madeline (Bronte Carmichael), will focus on growing up and responsibility rather than playing in the woods. Enter Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings, Minions) to save the day. Neither Pooh nor Christopher Robin know why he returns, but in Pooh logic, there he is, so he must be there. Employing a fair amount of subtlety, it appears Christopher’s actions and consequences are affecting the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh’s friends have disappeared, everything is foggy and uncertain, and Christopher may even be turning into a dreaded Heffalump.
Christopher forsakes work to get Pooh back where he belongs which kicks off the nostalgia. The Hundred Acre Wood looks different than how we remember it. It’s full of mud. All the characters look old and weathered. Our kids will have no idea. But we’ll know this is for people who remember what Winnie the Pooh looked like when they were children - brightly animated floating up in the air with a balloon. Let this serve as fair warning to potential viewers. I know you are expecting slapstick mayhem because you saw the preview with Tigger and company lost in London and one-liners only a five year-old will find funny. Yes, those scenes exist…for around 10% of the running time. The rest is pure regret and emotional scars. Goodbye Christopher Robin indeed.
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