Christopher Robin

36 Replies

I read this thing the other day about how, one day, a parent will put down their child, and never pick them up again. There’s a last time you’ll bathe them, a last time you’ll feed them, a last time you’ll kiss them goodbye. And while it makes perfect sense, it also struck me as perfectly tragic, because you never see it coming. You never tuck your kid in and know that this is the very last time you’ll do it. Kids grow up in bits and bobs.

Christopher Robin grew up like all kids must. Now he’s a grown man (Ewan McGregor) just back from the war, and his boss at the luggage company has tasked him with finding a way to reduce costs by 20% – if nothing else, it’ll be people let go. That means working MV5BOTc2MmE3ZWMtMjk4NS00ZDUxLWFkYjctZjE0MTgyZDZiZTQzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjQ4ODE4MzQ@._V1_SX1777_CR0,0,1777,999_AL_through the weekend, which means letting down his wife and daughter. You may remember a young Christopher Robin, denizen of the Hundred Acre Wood, best friend of Pooh (Winnie The). But even Christopher Robin had to grow up; there was a last time he visited Pooh and Piglet and Tigger et. al in the Wood, but no one knew it was the very last time until he just never came back and he never came back and never came back.

But just as his wife and daughter are concerned they’re losing him to work, to life, to serious pursuits more important than time with them, Winnie The Pooh materializes in London to save his old pal and remind him of the value of play. This movie was breaking my heart left and right, its nostalgia tinged with a definitive brand of sadness. But Pooh and friends are adorable as always. They aren’t primary-coloured, Sunday morning cartoons, nor are they “live-action” CGI like Mowgli. The animation has Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore looking like antique stuffed animals. It gets you right in the feels.

My mother took my young nephews to see this, but though PG, this movie is not really for kids. It’s a little like Hook, about a man who, as a boy, would get lost in other worlds and imaginary friends, but as grown up, was too consumed with work and had to travel back to his childhood friends to remember the important things. Although some kids may have the patience to sit through grown ups moaning about work and efficiency, this one’s mostly for the older folk, the ones among us who need the reminding, and don’t mind a trip back to simpler times to do so.

36 thoughts on “Christopher Robin”

  1. Robyn

    With my youngest child I was super cognizant of “the lasts” having already missed them with my older kids. And I would pick him up as long as I could because I saw he was going to be too big soon. It really is sad – even though they become more independent which is great for parents – it is a loss. The movie sounds good too – I’ll have to check it out!

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  6. Jason

    Good review. Personally, while I did like the movie, I rather seeing a more traditional Winnie the Pooh story with a younger Christopher Robin (much like the opening scene of the movie). That scene was my favorite.

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  12. Christopher

    I’m named after Christopher Robin (my mother was sad it had become such an uncommon name, and so did about 43.8% of the mothers of my generation) so I always approach anything about Milne with caution. There’s so much so many get wrong–especially the original Disney adaptation. Among other things Eeyore is not depressed, although I think he may be autistic. And Rabbit, Kanga, and Owl, the “adult” figures, are neurotic, incompetent, and dishonest. Go figure. The Pooh stories are written for children but contain deep adult ideas.
    Anyway this sounds wonderful and it’s good to know that finally an adaptation may have gotten it right.

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  17. chbrown6

    Another great movie review. My family and I had to pause the movie at one point because it hurt us so badly seeing the way he was treating Pooh. I’m a big softy when it comes to emotional movies/scenes. I cried a lot in this movie actually. As a father and a husband (and a grown man who still has the first stuffed animal that he ever had); this movie touched me on a very real and very deep level.

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