Harry Situation Reviews: Christopher Robin

Silly old bear.

Christopher Robin is a new film featuring Pooh and friends, this time in a live action perspective. Christopher Robin (played by Ewan McGregor) is all grown up now. Long since he visited the Hundred Acre Wood and his dear friends. But his adult life seems to be getting out of hand when he cannot spend time with his family and must work more. What to do, what to do, what to do. The only one who can help set his life right is none other than his old friend Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings).

Winnie the Pooh is the most innocent thing on the planet. I cannot for the life of me think of anyone that flat out hates this stuffed bear. I was looking forward to this movie and now that I’ve seen it, I really liked it.

Ewan McGregor was a great choice to play the adult titular character. He does remind me of Hook, which featured Robin Williams as a grown up Peter Pan. Yet unlike Hook, adult Peter was a workaholic that was more than happy to be away from his family, whereas adult Christopher is usually heartbroken when he has to tell his family he won’t join them for vacation and has to work, even if that work involves finding a way to layoff a few workers. Not to mention that it does take long for him to rekindle his childhood as it did in Hook.

As for the voice talent for all the Pooh characters like Rabbit and Piglet, it’s really good. The best thing about them is that the characters act as how you always knew them. They’re never use any modern slang or pop culture references. They act like good old Tigger and Eeyore, just as you rememberd them. Speaking of voice talent, we got Brad Garrett as Eeyore (which is just perfect casting), Nick Mohammed as Piglet, and the 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi as Rabbit. But the one the truly steals the show is Pooh himself, voiced by known other than veteran voice actor Jim Cummings. Jim Cummings has been voicing the character for well over two decades, replacing the original voice of Pooh Sterling Holloway after his death. I cannot, for the life of me, imagine Pooh without Jim Cummings’ talent. Not to mention that he also has been voicing Tigger for the same amount of time too. Hoo-hoo-hoo-ooh!

The visual effects for the characters actually look very well done too. There never was a moment where I thought that they looked like cheap CGI. It did look like the characters were alive and interacting with the human characters.

I also like how adult Christopher Robin interacts with his old friends from the Hundred Acre Wood. You can tell that this isn’t the same boy that we all knew from the cartoons. He’s an adult obviously. When he’s trying to get Pooh back to the Hundred Acre Wood, he’s trying to do work during the train ride. And there are even moments when he lashes out at Pooh because he’s more annoyed by his naive antics. It’s a little heartbreaking to see it. Then again, Christopher Robin had to grow up fast. In the beginning of the film, it reveals that his father died and he had to become the man of the house. Then later in his life he was sent off to fight in World War II. I can completely understand why he would act as he does.

The message is a good one too. Basically, the message is be an adult in your head but be a child in your heart. I think we’ve all heard this message before, but I always find it very touching.

I think the one issue I have with it is the pacing feels all over the place. At first the film feels like it slows down. Next it feels like its speeding up. But that’s a mild gripe.

I think the main reaction most audiences will have is that this is a sweet film, and I have to agree. Heck, I actually enjoyed the film more than I thought I would. If you’re a fan of this silly old bear, definitely check it out. You’ll walk out with a big smile on your face... along with a jar of honey.

Positives:

-Christopher himself

-Pooh and friends

-Good CGI

-Christopher all grown up

-Nice message

-Very sweet

Negatives:

-Pacing

Final Grade: A

Fun fact: My dear mother, who has been a huge fan of Winnie the Pooh for as long as I can remember, actually as one of the original illustrations done and signed by E.H. Shepard.

So that’s my thoughts on Christopher Robin. Have you seen it? What were your thoughts? Please be kind, leave a like and comment, and check out more reviews on Prose when they’re posted!

Best Quote:

Winnie the Pooh: “Doing nothing often leads to the very best kind of something.”

#harrysituationreviews #Disney #film #opinion #winniethepooh #childhood #nostalgia #AGrade