Review - Christopher Robin (2018)

         Hey guys, Chuck here. Today, I am taking a look at the 2018 Disney film Christopher Robin, directed by Marc Forster, based on the Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne, and starring Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Mark Gatiss, Bronte Carmichael, Oliver Ford Davies, and the voices of Jim Cummings, Brad Garrett, Peter Capaldi, Toby Jones, Nick Mohammed, Sophie Okonedo, and Sara Sheen. 

        The movie starts off with Christopher Robin on his last day in the Hundred Acre Wood, saying goodbye to his friends Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga and Roo. The reason? Christopher's parents are preparing to send him to boarding school to finish his studies. Over the course of a montage, we see Christopher grow up, marry a woman named Evelyn, serve in the British Army during World War II, come home to meet his daughter, Madeline, for the first time, and find a decent job working for Winslow's Luggage. 

        Now, we meet up with Christopher, who is spending more time focused on his job than his family, and much like his parents did, he's looking to send Madeline to boarding school. And, just as Christopher is getting ready for a family holiday at the family cottage in Sussex, he is approached by his boss, Giles Winslow, to find a way to decrease spending and increase profit for the company, as Giles' father, Old Man Winslow, is looking for a viable solution. 

        Meanwhile, in the Hundred Acre Wood, Pooh loses track of his friends, and believes they're all gone. Knowing that Christopher is the only one who can help, Pooh goes through the tree door, arriving in a small park in the middle of London, where Christopher finds himself trying to contemplate coming up with a viable plan for work. Turning around after hearing his voice, Christopher is shocked to see Pooh, and takes him home from the park. 

        The next day, Christopher and Pooh take the train to Sussex, arriving at the Robin family cottage, and going through the tree to the Hundred Acre Wood. After a day of getting practically nowhere, Christopher snaps, and Pooh takes off alone. After a rainy night, Christopher finds Eeyore, but isn't able to convince him that he's Christopher Robin and not a heffalump. Going with Eeyore, Christopher finds Tigger, Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo all hiding in a log, and also believe he's a heffalump. So, to convince his friends of the truth, Christopher pretends to fight a heffalump, along with assistance from Eeyore who remarks "Christopher Robin. It's you, playin' again." Finally, with everyone convinced of who he is, Christopher goes off to find Pooh, and everyone happily reunites. 

       Unfortunately, Christopher sleeps in the Hundred Acre Wood, and must hurry back to London for his meeting at Winslow's. But, Christopher's paperwork was left behind because of Tigger, so Pooh takes him, Piglet, and Eeyore through the tree door, where they meet Madeline. Madeline, who recognizes Pooh from her father's drawings, takes the gang from the Hundred Acre Wood to the train to London to give her father's paperwork back to him. Evelyn, seeing a note Madeline left for her, rushes back to London to tell Christopher what's happened, interrupting his meeting at Winslow's, where they curiously go through Christopher's bag and see the many trinkets from Hundred Acre Wood.

       So, while Madeline, Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore all head to Winslow's, Christopher and Evelyn drive across the city to find them, with Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore flying into their windshield. And when Tigger mentions something about "woozle wood's," Christopher realizes that Madeline and Pooh are on their way to Winslow's. So, Christopher hurries there, where he finds Madeline upset at losing the paperwork. However, Christopher reassures her that her being safe is more important than paperwork, and she doesn't have to go to boarding school, and she can stay with her parents and they can be a family. And, after a quick exchange between Evelyn and Eeyore, Christopher comes up with a solution for his work problem, and hurries back to the meeting, with everyone in tow. 

       So, what's Christopher's plan? Nothing. Literally, nothing. In fact, Christopher suggests that Old Man Winslow institute paid holidays for his employees, and reduce the selling prices of Winslow luggage, as lower prices mean more people can buy them, whereas the luggage is currently only affordable by the wealthy. And, with Winslow employees getting paid holidays, they can take time to visit the countryside, or the beach, all with their Winslow luggage in tow. Now, initially, Giles remarks Christopher's idea as nonsense, but Christopher remarks that Giles is a woozle, that he, his friends, and his family are what's most important and they won't be afraid of heffalumps or woozles. 

      Okay, now what really cracks me up is that when Giles turns to his father, Old Man Winslow remarks "Let's address the heffalump in the room. What were you doing this weekend, Giles?" And, when it's revealed that Giles went golfing instead of workshopping a decent solution, Old Man Winslow also calls his son a woozle, and accepts Christopher's proposal. And, as much as he looks forward to putting it into motion, he plans to take some time off to do nothing with his family, to which Old Man Winslow remembers Christopher's remark of how "when you do nothing, it leads to the very best something." Before leaving, Christopher picks up one of the objects from the table, and reattaches it to Eeyore. Yep, Tigger put Eeyore's tail in Christopher's bag. Whoops. 

       Anyway, Christopher returns to the Hundred Acre Wood with Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, and Pooh, bringing his family with him as well, introducing them to Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, and Roo. Everyone gathers together for a picnic, with Evelyn on the picnic blanket with Kanga, Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, and Eeyore, and Tigger and Roo teaching Madeline how to bounce. But, the one part that every Winnie the Pooh fan loves about this movie is the scene where Christopher sits on the log with Pooh, handing him a jar of honey. And, when Pooh remarks that it's his favorite day, being today, he adds "Yesterday, when it was tomorrow, it was too much day for me," to which Christopher remarks "Silly old bear," ending the movie. 

         This movie is, quite truly, for the inner child in all of us. The performance of Ewan McGregor as a grown up Christopher Robin is absolutely spectacular, and both Hayley Atwell and Bronte Carmichael as Evelyn and Madeline were fantastic as well. I like the idea that Christopher now has a family of his own, as it really opens the door for some truly unique dynamics. I also appreciated both Mark Gatiss and Oliver Ford Davies as Giles and Old Man Winslow, as they didn't feel like villains, but Giles was definitely an antagonist in a sense. Also, I got a chuckle when Old Man Winslow used the term heffalump as if he understood that it meant elephant. That was pretty funny. 

        Now, a lot of people were a bit put off by the designs of the gang from Hundred Acre Wood. But, I think that director Marc Forster was attempting to base their design on the actual stuffed animals from Christopher Robin Milne's childhood, which were the basis of A.A. Milne's book characters. So, to see the characters be a mix of the book design, the stuffed animal design, and the Disney cartoon design was pretty unique. And, getting Jim Cummings to return as the voice of both Pooh and Tigger was absolutely fantastic. The new voices, however, were a bit of a mixed bag for me, as while I enjoyed Brad Garrett as Eeyore, Toby Jones as Owl, and Nick Mohammed as Piglet, I felt that Peter Capaldi's voice was too deep and not nearly neurotic enough for Rabbit. And both Sophie Okonedo and Sara Sheen as Kanga and Roo were just okay. 

       Seeing the Hundred Acre Wood as this massive forest was pretty incredible, and I loved the overall scale of the place. Also, the idea that Christopher Robin's tree in Hundred Acre Wood leads to his family cottage in Sussex was actually kind of clever, as it sees a part of the Christopher Robin story unexplored in the classic Winnie the Pooh stories. Also, seeing Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore in London was actually pretty neat, as it was something we hadn't seen before, the gang from Hundred Acre Wood in our world. Also, while the score was pretty good, I liked how they got Richard Sherman to record a new song for the movie. If you don't already know, Richard Sherman and his brother Robert (RIP) wrote the iconic songs for the Winnie the Pooh stories for Disney years ago, as well as songs for some other Disney classics like Mary Poppins. So, for Richard to come back with the song "Busy Doing Nothing" is pretty awesome. 

        Overall, this is a movie that will really play with your childhood nostalgia for Winnie the Pooh. If you grew up loving the stories of Winnie the Pooh, you'll probably enjoy this movie. I'm giving Christopher Robin a rating of 4.85/5. 

         Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.