Movie Review: ‘Christopher Robin’ – This “Pooh” Tale’s the Antidote to Growing Up

Christopher Robin, Disney’s new Winnie-the-Pooh reboot, is designed for both adults and kids, providing a cautionary tale for grown-ups and a call to enjoy childhood for all its worth for the children. Director Marc Foster, along with writers Alex Ross Perry and Tom McCarthy, have crafted a film that is faithful to A.A. Milne’s wonderful characters and yet revises them in a clever and entertaining manner that is delightful.

There have been other movies such as Polar Express and Toy Story 3 that have explored the fraying connections between childhood and adulthood, that sad region when dreams start to expire and reality smacks us in the face. It is a most solemn realization that the wonder and imagination that once filled us as kids slowly evaporates, almost to the point that we can no longer recall how we managed to have so much joy from playing.

Foster’s Christopher Robin wisely does not explore the life of the real child, whose father created the most beloved characters of Winnie, Tigger, Piglet, Eyeore, and the rest based on the boy’s stuffed toys. The real-life Christopher’s story includes boarding school and serving during World War II, but afterwards veers off in a direction that would make for a much darker film.

We first see a young Christopher (Orton O’Brien) getting set to attend boarding school. Pooh (Jim Cummings) and the gang are having a party for the boy, and it features a typical round of silliness from the characters, with exquisite CGI making each one seem like realistically stuffed yet magically animated toys. I don’t think it has ever been made more obvious the Pooh and company are toys that come to life.

Once Pooh and Christopher go off together to say true a goodbye to one another, the sad unmistakable feeling of separation hovers over their conversation, and the truth of a parting that is possibly permanent is even suggested by Pooh, who asks if Christopher will forget him. Christopher scoffs at the notion and says, “Silly old bear” in a way that feels more final than it is meant to be.

We then get a flash forward with a cool turning of book pages to indicate Christopher’s move to boarding school, the death of his father, his meeting future wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell), his service during the war, and so on. It is a slick device to bring us up to the present moment in the storyline (which is set in 1950s London) when the now adult Christopher (a terrific Ewan MacGregor) is the efficiency manager of a luggage company and has allowed his work to negatively affect his relationship with Evelyn and daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichel).

During what is insinuated as yet another hard day at the office, Christopher is told that he must work the weekend and find a creative way to save money; otherwise, jobs will be lost and people will suffer. Although Christopher has plans to take his wife and daughter away for the weekend – to the very cottage where the gateway to The Hundred Acre Wood happens to be – he accepts that he must work in order to try to save the people in his department.

This is the first of a series of complications for our protagonist, as his wife and sweet daughter do not accept that Christopher cannot go off for the weekend. When he attempts to explain the situation to Madeline, she tries to understand and asks her father to read a book to her before bed. Christopher thoughtlessly picks up an encyclopedia and begins reading to her to prepare her for her own trip to boarding school, while she disappointedly hides Treasure Island under her pillow.

Once Evelyn and Madeline are off in the car to the cottage, Christopher tackles the task at hand and generates a plan after hours of work. On his way home he sneaks into a park to avoid an annoying neighbor, and here he encounters his childhood friend. Somehow Pooh has traveled from The Hundred Acre Wood through a tree into that London park.

Pooh encounters London with child-like fascination, while Christopher is overcome with emotion and awe that his old toy Pooh was not a long-ago figment of his imagination. MacGregor seamlessly interacts with Pooh and the rest of the gang, and the comic timing he once displayed playing Obi-Wan Kenobi is at the forefront here, and his flair for comedy is one of the highlights of the film.

Of course, MacGregor plays the titular character, but this is still a “Pooh” story, and all the beloved characters get a chance to shine, and brightly at that. Tigger (also voiced by Cummings), Piglet (Nick Mohammed), Rabbit (Peter Capaldi), Kanga (Sophie Okonedo), Roo (Sara Sheen), and Owl (Toby Jones) are all there and are a joy for parents and kids alike, but the most outstanding character is Eyeore (Brad Garrett makes every line a comic gem), the ever-depressed donkey who will make you burst out laughing.

Pooh somehow drags Christopher back to The Hundred Acre Wood in a quest to find his friends. For some reason they are all missing. The Hundred Acre Wood also seems sinister, shrouded in an eerie fog that makes one fear heffalumps or woozles will be hiding behind every tree. Besides being an effective visual, it also indicates the state of Christopher’s mind, clouded up after all these years and making him unable to appreciate life as he once did.

The rest is spoiler territory, and it would be unfair to ruin the fun of experiencing the film. The big questions to be answered are where are Winnie’s friends? Can Christopher help him find them? Will Christopher’s plan save the jobs of the people in his department? And, most importantly, can Christopher repair his relationship with Eveyln and Madeline before it’s too late?

The film makes one thing clearly understood – growing up sucks, but we don’t have to allow that to happen, even though the world seems to be saying “Grow up!” from the moment we are born. As Pooh and company work their magic upon Christopher and the audience, it is difficult not to want to be a kid again.

As someone who grew up loving Winnie-the-Pooh books and then having children who loved them too, Christopher Robin strikes all the right chords, with Pooh and his friends reminding us of what is important in life. I recommend that if you have children that you go see the film with them; the discussions you will have afterwards will make you glad that you did.

Broadway’s 'Pretty Woman: The Musical' – Seems Inappropriate in the #metoo/Time’s Up Era

If you are of a certain age and remember going to see Pretty Woman with the luminous Julia Roberts and falling in love with her like I did, you may have silly notions that a new Broadway musical based on the film would be a good thing; however, 1990 is a long time ago and a good deal has happened since then that makes the idea of a play featuring a prostitute who falls in love with a billionaire (who happens to be her client) more than a bit incongruous considering the current events of the past two years.

Pretty Woman: The Musical stars Samantha Barks in the role that made Roberts famous. I am not sure how faithful the play will be to the Gary Marshall film (based on the reviews I've read it seems that it will be), but the story is that Vivian Ward is a prostitute who meets super rich Edward Lewis (Andy Karl in the play, Richard Gere in the film) and snags an extended job as his sexual partner and companion. It all seemed so simple when I first saw the movie, and the film succeeds due to the chemistry between Roberts and Gere, but now thinking about it there is a salient truth – Lewis pays Vivian for sex and companionship. Since he is paying her she is technically an employee, and Lewis uses that dynamic to take advantage of Vivian physically and emotionally. 

I recall the film being compared to a Cinderella story – as far as I remember Cinderella had to clean, cook, and serve her evil stepmother Lady Tremaine and her stepsisters as an unpaid housekeeper. When she does meet Prince Charming no money exchange occurs, though she does leave a glass slipper behind for him which will be the clue to help him find her.

Other comparisons have been made to Breakfast at Tiffany’s and My Fair Lady (two films starring the incredibly wonderful Audrey Hepburn), but even if you make some connections to the love story in the former and the makeover of Eliza Doolittle in the latter, there is nothing at the heart of those films as ugly as prostitution. Yes, Holly is an “escort” to wealthy men, a New York socialite hoping to snag a rich older man to be her husband, but it is implicitly understood that Holly is more in charge than the men whom she is entertaining.

The problem with Pretty Woman – that Vivian is a hooker and it is a dangerous profession – has always been there, but we drank the critics’ Kool-Aid and went with the notion that this is romance and we were okay with that because in the end Lewis does fall in love with her, brings her flowers on the fire escape, and stares up at her like an older Romeo looking at his Juliet on the cast iron balcony. Audiences bought it then but aren't they too wise to buy it now?

In this era of #metoo and Time’s Up, where women have been sharing their horror stories of men abusing them and sexually harassing or attacking them inside and outside of the workplace, it surprises me that anyone on Broadway thought it was a good idea to develop this musical in the first place. Can you picture the meeting where someone said, “Let’s put on a musical version of Pretty Woman.” What were they thinking?

I know there will be those people who look at the film and the play and evaluate things differently. They will say that Vivian is in the power position, that she chooses her clients and is in charge of her body. No one can tell her what to do or not to do. There will even be others who say prostitution should be legal anyway (as it is in some foreign countries) and what is the big deal?

The problem is that prostitution is a dangerous business; female prostitutes are subject to drug abuse (about 70% use drugs), physical and emotional abuse from customers, obvious health risks, and death (they have a 40% higher death rate than other women). Pretty Woman the movie (and I suspect the play as well) glosses over these glaring problems in favor of making it a comedy and a love story.

So why is this play on Broadway? The answer is obvious – the bottom line is what matters. Judging from generally positive to glowing reviews the play is receiving and the recognition factor of the title and association with warm memories of the film for many people, Pretty Woman: The Musical is probably a lock to be Broadway’s next huge hit. Whatever puts people in those expensive seats, right? The show will also no doubt rack up a slew of Tony Award nominations next year.

I do not plan on seeing the play because it feels inappropriate at this time, and I am certain other people will feel the same way. Unless the show handles Vivian’s back story and highlights the extremely negative effects of being a sex worker, there is no reason to see this play through rose colored glasses that hide the pernicious truth at its core.

In the end the box office will tell the tale, and I have a feeling that Pretty Woman: The Musical will be a huge success. As for me, I’d rather go see Beautiful – a story about a powerful and independent woman named Carole King who was ahead of her time. Now that is a show for this and every other era.