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Christopher Robin (2018), PG, ★★★


Well, mostly everybody knows that Disney is investing of rebooting animated films, or classic animated films, into live-action films for future generations to view in the comfort of the theater or in their own living rooms. But, everybody knows the Winnie the Pooh jingle regarding the pleasant, jolly tone of the film in an atmosphere of a seemingly bleak forest but a chemistry between Christopher and his friends that is very sweet and novelistic. There was another animated version that came out in 2011 that was quite charming and innocent that is qualitative towards the classic film. Now, we have a film that is reminiscent of the 1991 Spielberg film, Hook, which I don't think it is a good movie, but even though the first act is a bit slow to get going, it finishes well with a message that sometimes you can re-live your past and go back to your childhood innocence that is quite effective, sentimental and oddly enough, melancholy.

Young Christopher Robin had to abandon his friends in the Hundred Acre Woods when he has to depart for boarding school. He promises Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings) at their favorite spot, a log next to a tree that has a great view of the sunset, that he will never forget him. As Christopher grows up as an adult (Ewan McGregor), he meets an architect named Evelyn (Hayley Atwell), whom he later marries before he goes out to fight in World War II. They later have a daughter named Madeline (Bronte Carmichael). He gets a job working at a company that manufactures and distributes luggage. He has been so consumed by work that he has lost his sense of fun.

Christopher is called in by his boss, Giles Winslow (Mark Gatiss), to terminate an employee to cut back costs. Later on, after he is so caught up by work, Christopher sits out on the park bench and he sees Pooh in the opposite side, catching him by surprise seeing that he made it to London. Pooh explains to Christopher that he can't find his friends, fearing that they may have been take by a Heffalump, and he was hoping he could help but the door on the tree is no longer there. After a brief stay at his house, they go to Sussex to find the tree that transports both Christopher and Pooh back to the Hundred Acre Woods. He gets angry at Pooh after his paperwork comes flying out of his paper case and they get separated because of the fog.


The movie starts slow and a bit dragged as we see Christopher becoming sour and losing his childhood as it becomes more of a corporate drama about figuring out how to resolve the situation by firing an employee. But, the movie gets going as both Christopher and Pooh reunite as they handle the problem by finding his friends. Even though the main plot kicks in about halfway through the movie, the element that holds the string together is the relationship between Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh. We want them to resolve their differences and for Christopher to become happy again with himself, his friends and his family. The movie becomes real solid as all the Winnie the Pooh characters leave Hundred Acre Woods and into London to save Christopher from getting fired from his job.

I think Ewan McGregor is one of the more underrated actors around today as he gives 100% in his performances as he captures both the stubbornness and childlike spirit of his adult version of Christopher Robin. He has great interaction with the CGI characters. Jim Cummings is great as the voice of Pooh, so are the voices of Nick Mohamed, Brad Garrett, Peter Capaldi, Toby Jones, Sophie Okonedo and Sara Sheen. Hayley Atwell does not get to do as much as I wished there was more interactions with McGregor and/or more scenes with her and her daughter.

Director Marc Forster is not a person that I would ask to direct a children's film but he does a good job incorporating the melancholy tones of growing up with messages of reliving childhood to make yourself feel better about people around you and life itself. It does have a predictable arc and a slow third of the movie and even though it is not a better movie than the Paddington movies, Forster does well enough to bring us back into the world from our childhood effectively with imagination and charm. This movie is as sweet as Pooh's favorite food: honey.

***



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