Christopher Robin review

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN:

EVEN IN LIVE-ACTION/CGI FORM, WINNIE THE POOH WORKS HIS CHILDHOOD MAGIC!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

DISNEY

Ewan McGregor, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore in Disney’s Christopher Robin

            Everyone’s favorite silly-old bear returns to the big-screen in Christopher Robin, Disney’s latest live-action re-imagining of a beloved animated classic. Not be confused with the biopic that came out last year about Winnie the Pooh author, A.A. Milne and the real-life Christopher Robin, Goodbye Christopher Robin, coincidence much?

            Anyway, what can I say about Winnie the Pooh that hasn’t been said already? He’s an animated icon who’s just as memorable as characters like Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny, his adventures whether on paper or in animated form warmed the hearts of children everywhere, and he even ventured into live-action before with Welcome to Pooh Corner and The Book of Pooh, so this isn’t the first time the “Hunny” loving bear came to life.

            When the movie was first announced, I thought “Okay, Disney’s getting desperate now, I can understand doing live-action remakes of films like Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book, or Beauty and the Beast, but Winnie the Pooh? Come on, this can’t work, and the most recent animated release from 2011 isn’t even that old!” and the trailers weren’t helping. Not that it looked bad, I was actually onboard with the story, what if Christopher Robin grew up? It was kind of like a Winnie the Pooh version of the Steven Spielberg movie, Hook, but the CG animation on Pooh and the animals looked creepy rather than cute.

            Nevertheless, I was still interested in seeing the film because Winnie the Pooh played a huge part in my childhood as he did with several other kids, and I knew I’d have plenty to talk about when reviewing it. So, I went to see it and…it’s good, not the best thing Pooh offered (Boy that came out wrong), but I found the movie to be quite enjoyable, it had an interesting premise, and plenty of nostalgia, if they flat-out remade The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, this probably would have been an anger-filled review.

            The film follows Christopher Robin as he prepares to leave the Hundred Acre Wood and off to boarding school, his friends Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings-Chip & Dale’s Recue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, The Powerpuff Girls), Piglet (voiced by Nick Mohammed-The King is Dead, Drifters, The Job Lot), Tigger (also voiced by Cummings), Rabbit (voiced by Peter Capaldi-Bean, Doctor Who, Paddington 1 and 2), Eeyore (voiced by Brad Garrett-Finding Nemo, Night at the Museum, Tangled), Kanga (voiced by Sophie Okonedo-Hotel Rwanda, Martian Child, The Secret Life of Bees), Roo (voiced by newcomer, Sara Sheen), and Owl (voiced by Toby Jones-Captain America: The First Avenger, The Adventures of Tintin, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) throw him a going-away party. Christopher tells Pooh that he will never forget him, not even when he’s 100 and that he’ll always be with him even when he’s not there.

            Flash-forward to Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor-Star Wars prequel trilogy, Big Fish, Robots) as an adult working at a luggage company in London who was once an imaginative little boy has now been reduced to an average businessman trying to get by in cold, gloomy, reality. Life’s not all bad for Christopher as he got married to a lovely young woman named Evelyn (Hayley Atwell-Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agent Carter, Cinderella (2015)) and have a daughter named Madeline (Newcomer, Bronte Carmichael) who give him their full support.

            One day, he is visited by Pooh, who informs him that all of his friends have gone missing and asks Christopher to help him find them. Christopher does the unexpected and abandons his work and return to the Hundred Acre Wood with Pooh as he reunites with his long-lost friends and possibly learn that the little boy he once was might still be inside him.

            The film also stars Mark Gatiss (Doctor Who, Sherlock, Game of Thrones) as Giles Winslow Jr., Oliver Ford Davies (Sense and Sensibility, Star Wars prequel trilogy, Johnny English) as Old Man Winslow, Adrian Scarborough (Gosford Park, The King’s Speech, Les Miserables (2012)) as Hal Gallsworthy, Roger Ashton-Griffiths (Young Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Turner, The Lobster) as Ralph Butterworth, John Dagleish (The Winter’s Tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Justice League) as Matthew Leadbetter, Paul Chahidi (Twelfth Night, The Death of Stalin, This Country) as Cecil Hungerford, and Matt Berry (The IT Crowd, Snow White and the Huntsman, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water) as Policeman Bobby.

            Overall, Christopher Robin is a sweet and thoughtful nostalgia trip that isn’t quite on par with A.A. Milne’s original stories or Disney’s countless animated film and television adaptations, but it’s a solid follow-up that manages to take something like Winnie the Pooh, grow it up, and succeed. Seriously, some of the film’s themes you probably wouldn’t expect to come from a Winnie the Pooh movie like family dilemmas, workplace stress, and they even cover a period where Christopher Robin fought during World War II that’s surprisingly pretty intense.

            I remembered complaining about the film’s PG rating at first, since when does Winnie the Pooh require “Parental Guidance”? Now that I’ve seen it, the PG rating makes a little more sense, it’s more dramatic and features some intense themes compared to the previous Winnie the Pooh films and shows, but it never goes too far with it, so parents should still be able to take their kids to it just fine.

            Even though I prefer the bright and colorful animated Pooh world, the production design is both beautiful and bleak at the same time. Specifically, in the Hundred Acre Wood which at first looks gorgeous and lively and other times the colors get muted, almost looks like a forest that belongs in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland movie, and that’s not exactly a bad thing.

            Despite most of the animals having different voice actors than the previous films and shows, I give Christopher Robin serious credit for keeping Jim Cummings as the voice of Pooh and Tigger. His voice is permanently hammered into my brain and I wouldn’t have it any other way, even as a CGI bear and tiger in a live-action environment, Cummings breathes life into these characters every time.

            This isn’t a perfect movie, there are some problems that don’t exactly ruin the film but are noticeable. I didn’t really complain about the characters’ designs when watching the movie, but the CG is still a little creepy, if they had the same animators who worked on Paddington these animals probably would have looked better on-screen, also Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, and Roo are kind of pushed to the side in the story which was a little disappointing.

            Really, those are my only nitpicks, Christopher Robin was familiar enough and different enough to warrant a recommendation. It’s far from being on par with the original 1977 Winnie the Pooh movie or the 2011 film, but it’s a refreshing take on these classic characters with a sweet story that should make for a satisfying night out with the family.