Christopher Robin is directed by Marc Forster, director of World War Z and Quantum of Solace, and takes us back to our childhoods with Winnie the Pooh and the gang. In this film we see a now grown up Christopher Robin, played by Ewan McGregor, who has forgotten how to have fun and is focused too much on his job. When things get harder with work he unintentionally drives his wife and daughter away, until a silly old bear from his childhood comes back and reminds him what happiness truly is.
As I said before, Christopher Robin is played by the fantastic Ewan McGregor. I didn't love him at first but that was just because of the character. In the first half of the film Christopher is kinda just depressing, and while McGregor is very good everything just feels a bit dull. Luckily when he starts finding his way his character gets much better, with McGregor injecting every bit of charm and delightfulness in his body into this role. His wife is played by Hayley Atwell. Atwell is solid in her role, but plays second fiddle to all of the other main characters in the film and never really has her time to shine. Christopher's daughter Madeline is played by Bronte Carmichael. I found Carmichael to be a driving force in many scenes, as she was the only kid with much screen time. Her character is always working hard to impress her father, so when she gets to have fun with Pooh and the gang she has an incredible positive young energy that I think everyone can relate to at least a little bit. The voice cast is all around quite good, bringing back to life the lovable characters many of us grew up with.
There is a lot about this movie that I enjoyed on a technical scale. The animation of all the animals is fantastic. I would have like a bit more brightness of the yellow on Pooh and the orange and black on Tigger but the way these characters were brought to life while still looking like stuffed animals really impressed me. The set and costume design as well as some VFX do a great job of bringing to life London in the first half of the 20th century, not to mention an excellent job bringing to life the hundred acre woods. My issues with this film lie in the story telling. This film is a tale of two halfs, as the second half of the film is fun and magical, leaving a smile on my face many times. Unfortunately the first half struggles to capture that magic for a while. It opens strong with a young Christopher playing in the woods, but then brings us to McGregor's Christopher and becomes a tad dull. I didn't mind it too much, but I couldn't help but wonder if the kids in my theatre had any clue what was happening or if they were interested enough to care. Going into this you expect something along the lines of the Paddington films, which the second half more resembles, but the first half is just kind of dull and somewhat upsetting.
While I don't see kids loving the first half of this film, as not even I did, the second half is undeniably charming and delightful. The film has strong production elements throughout and Ewan McGregor is perfect for his role. If you grew up with these characters you won't stop smiling in some scenes, but if you don't have a strong connection with them I'm sure you can still enjoy this film a fair bit.
Rating: 3.1/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
I'm so excited to see this movie
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