Christopher Robin (Quick Review)

Deep in the Hundred Acre Woods, where Pennywise the Clown plays.

Seriously, who didn’t think that when Winnie the Pooh walked through a misty forest with a red balloon?

Unlike the film It, Christopher Robin is harmless, sweet, and does not enrage me to no end.  The film follows adult Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) who over time has lost the innocence he once possessed.  The film’s premise shares similarities with Mary Poppins.  A grown man becomes lost in his work and spends little time with his family.  A magical being shows up and, through a series of antics and subtle lessons, ends up bringing out the happy child within him again.  The man stands up to his snobby bosses, which ends up improving his job standing, and goes off to spend time with his family.

Unlike Mary Poppins, however, Christopher Robin is wholly unremarkable.  There’s nothing wrong with the film, per se, though it’s editing could have done with better work.  It’s sweet, there are some funny moments, and the antics of Pooh (Jim Cummings, who also voices Tigger) and friends put a smile on my face—but it’s also a very by-the-book story (and I’m not referring to the way it’s told through chapters).  I’ve seen this story many times before, you’ve most likely seen it told as well.  I first noticed this when Pooh began wistfully gliding his hand across a field of flowers—a trope that’s been used so many times, the exact same way, in past films that it caused me to groan here—groan at Winnie the Pooh!  When the film isn’t utilizing past storytelling tropes, it runs on nostalgic memories of Pooh from before.  That’s not inherently bad, but it feels cheap when there’s nothing refreshing added to the mix.

There’s just so much more Christopher Robin could have done with its premise—so many new aspects it could have thrown in to feel fresh and original.  For example, why not have Christopher’s wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) and daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael) discover Pooh and company earlier, rather than during the climax where it feels rushed?  It would have been so interesting and fresh to have had the wife and daughter go with Christopher and Pooh during their initial entry into the woods.  There we could see them thoroughly interact with the animals over time and all go on an adventure together (especially the wife, because wives always get left out of the adventures).  Wouldn’t it have been interesting if Evelyn had interacted with Kanga—the envisionment of what a younger Christopher thought of a mother…or not, because the animals apparently exist in reality, rather than just being in Christopher’s imagination (which is what I thought as a kid)—making it odd that he would so easily forget such magical beings (why not have his family move to the Woods?  Would probably be a great place to live in).  Alas, the film took the safe, predictable routes instead, and while Christopher Robin is still sweet and ultimately a harmless family film, there’s also nothing that makes the film memorable here.