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.
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