Christopher Robin: Ewan McGregor leads the cast of this warm and fuzzy Disney live action re-boot.
Christopher Robin review by Freda Cooper.
Christopher Robin review
Did you grow up with Winnie The Pooh? Correction. Did you grow up with Disney’s Winnie The Pooh. The Mouse House version of the bear of very little brain made his first appearance in Winnie The Pooh and The Honey Tree, a short from back in 1966, and went on to firmly established himself and his friends in the Disney repertoire. Christopher Robin, the studio’s latest live action re-working of an animated favourite, relies on your being totally up to speed with the bear and his many adventures. In fact, it takes it for granted.
Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) has grown up, leaving The Hundred Acre Wood and his friends well behind him. Married and with a daughter, he’s now a manager at a luggage company which is facing a financial crisis. What he doesn’t realise is that he’s facing his own personal crisis as well: by putting work before his family every single time, he’s constantly letting down his little girl and becoming distant from his wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell). But, with childlike simplicity, Winnie The Pooh finds his way into his old friend’s life and, with help from Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger and the gang, puts some joy back into his life – and that of his family.
Christopher Robin review
So, if Disney’s assumption is correct, you’ll recognise the strains of the Winnie The Pooh song in the soundtrack, you’ll be waiting for Tigger to sing his song and bounce on his tail and you’ll recognize all those familiar faces. Instead of those pristine animated creations, they’ve now been CGI’d to create convincingly walking, talking toys, ones that have seen lots of play and have the worn fur to prove it. Everything that you remember, and therefore expect, is there, along with other touches to make you feel secure and comfortable. It’s almost as if you’re being given a nostalgic hug by the biggest name in Hollywood.
That warm fuzzy feeling is a given. There’s plenty of affectionate laughs, most of them coming from that feeling of familiarity and the recognition that goes with it. It creates its period nicely, Ewan McGregor is an appealing Christopher Robin and the toys are all eminently loveable – Eeyore is a scene stealer par excellence and you hang on his every mournful word. And with the cuteness level set to “high”, it could even be a two tissue movie, but that sense of familiarity stands in the way. There’s more than a hint of Disney pushing all the emotional buttons at its disposal, including its own heritage, simply to get those tear ducts working. They’ve tried just a bit too hard.
Christopher Robin review
Director Marc Forster returns to a fantasy territory similar to the one he explored in Stranger Than Fiction (2006), with the work-obsessed Christopher discovering there’s more to life than making money. The childhood and family messages are exactly what you would expect from a Disney movie, although they may go right over the heads of younger members of the audience. Indeed, with the exception of one or two sequences, they could find the whole thing too wordy for their tastes.
But you can’t criticise Disney for their timing of this one. Just like Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, it’s an out-and-out feel good movie, one that allows you to escape adult life and just revel in the simplicity of childhood. And these days, boy, do we need films like that! The difference is that here it’s hard to ignore that little niggle in the back of your mind, the one that makes you feel what you’re watching isn’t quite as simple and innocent as it might seem.
Christopher Robin review by Freda Cooper.
Christopher Robin is released in the UK on Friday, 17 August 2018.
