Christopher Robin

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Christopher Robin – 4 out of 5

Like so many children that have grown up through the ages, Winnie the Pooh was a big part of my formative years.  I never knew much about the original books by A. A. Milne and was, instead, introduced to him and the rest of the gang in the Hundred Acre Wood through Disney.  Heck, my family would regularly say “TTFN” when we said goodbye to each other as we mimicked the farewell from Tigger.  Since my days as a wee boy, that silly old bear has had a special place in my heart and when I saw the trailer for Christopher Robin I was instantly sold…and knew it was going to make me cry.

That looks like paradise to me.

You're welcome, Eeyore, we noticed you.

There comes a time in everyone’s life where one must grow up and that’s what Christopher Robin did when he said goodbye to the Hundred Acre Wood and his best friend Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings).  However, one day Pooh wakes up to find all his friends; Tigger (Cummings again), Eeyore (Brad Garrett), Piglet (Nick Mohammed), Rabbit (Peter Capaldi), Kanga (Sophie Okonedo), Roo (Sara Sheen) and Owl (Toby Jones), have all disappeared.  Venturing out of the woods, Pooh seeks out Robin (Ewan McGregor), now an adult with a family, in order to help him find the others.  However, Christopher has grown up too much and cares only for his job and can't remember the fun times he had with Pooh and doesn’t seem to have the time, or imagination, needed to find his old friends.

Little Kid Ron would have went crazy to see a live-action Tigger.
Probably as crazy as Adult Ron went when he saw the live-action Tigger.
It was a significant level of crazy.

It would be easy to write-off Christopher Robin as a shallow tale that mirrors the film Hook and shows the old child protagonist become a disillusioned grownup that left behind the days of whimsy and imagination.  To be honest, the film is entirely that but, from my perspective, that doesn’t make the feature inherently lazy but rather shows the natural progression that would eventually occur in the character’s narrative.  Additionally, the simplicity of the story and seeing a man who has grown so far away from what he was as a child and have said childhood come and stare at him in the face naturally made this film endearing to me.  Being an adult in the world often feels like it is out to destroy whatever child-like wonder we still carry so it was easy to sympathize with Christopher’s situation and to smile when he rediscovered the kid inside.

I thought I would want a real-life Winnie the Pooh in my life but I remembered
I have a dog...aaaaaaand I realized that he also needs a real-life
Winnie the Pooh in his life.

The story is basically a simple tale of rediscovering one’s youth wrapped in very wholesome packaged with a side of that trademark Disney magic.  The journey of Christopher Robin as he goes from an adult who is less-than-thrilled to see his childhood friend Winnie because he has a deadline he has to make for his important career to a man who realized there’s more to life than business is fluid and heartwarming.  Part of this is due to how easily is it to become enamored with Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and the rest but a big part of it was how McGregor really knew how to find that line in his performance and show a fluid and very natural progression of his shedding the stuffiness that has grown on him and find that spark of youth.  Add in some friendly, good-natured humor and the story became something very easy to invest emotionally in.

Look, a family of Robins!

I really enjoyed McGregor’s performance because it really helped legitimize the story and the development of the character but I can’t do a review without bringing up the work of the voice actors.  Jim Cummings, who has been Winnie and Tigger for quite some time now, returns to once again bring life to these characters.  Cummings’ work as these two, both past and present, is truly amazing and he used that talent to make Pooh such a sympathetic character and one that truly was the emotional backbone of the feature.  Cummings’ voice acting easily made you smile, laugh and cry as Pooh went along on his little adventure.  Both of these gentlemen, Cummings and McGregor, are backed up by some terrific supporting players in both the voice acting realm, like Brad Garrett, Toby Jones and Peter Capaldi, and the real-life actors like Hayley Atwell as Christopher’s wife, Bronte Carmichael as Christopher’s daughter and Mark Gatiss as Christopher’s overbearing and unfair boss.  Everyone played in concert so well and really made the reality of the story blossom and flourish.

The Doctor regenerated into a rabbit.

There is an undeniable wholesome quality to Christopher Robin that can easily grate more cynical and jaded viewers.  The story is straightforward and the plot offers no surprises as you know exactly how any and all development will go but I can’t deny the adorable and charming qualities this tale holds and the characters within it.  Add in some great special effects that bring these characters to realistic life and some very engaging performances and this movie had me laughing, crying and continuously smiling.

Matt Berry is in this too?!?  Score!