'Christopher Robin' Review: Stuffed Animals in Real World Lack Magic

Directed by Marc Forster

Starring Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael, Jim Cummings

BY Sarah MeltonPublished Aug 3, 2018

5
When Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings) goes to the house of adult Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor), his relentless questions and paws dragging honey across the carpet are more of a nuisance than a welcome old friend. That's because Christopher Robin in adulthood is more concerned with work and efficiency than making time for adventures.
 
Directed by Marc Forster, Disney's Christopher Robin turns the beloved stuffed bear of A.A. Milne's 1920s children's books into a sappy live action drama. Instead of existing solely in its own fantasy world of the Hundred Acre Wood, Pooh, Piglet and friends look something akin to stuffed animals brought to life, and are out of place in a bustling London. They act as a comic engine, inserting the unpredictable into the characters' otherwise normal lives.
 
The film splits focus between Christopher Robin and his daughter, Madeline (Bronte Carmichael). Intelligent and hardworking, what Madeline wants more than anything else is a more meaningful relationship with her father. But before Christopher manages to be there for her, she goes on her own journey to discover a sense of playfulness and adventure that she was missing.
 
Christopher Robin's journey back to the Hundred Acre Wood, and into a different mindset, is slow but predictable. The sickly sweet tale comes together as their journeys unite, and Robin, standing up to the heffalumps and woozles in his life, decides to make time for his family. He questions the notions of "efficiency" he had been prioritizing, and remembers that "doing nothing often leads to the very best something."
 
(Disney)

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