Christopher Robin: Review

This is a NON-Spoiler Review for Christopher Robin.

Plot Summary: "Christopher Robin -- now a family man living in London -- receives a surprise visit from his old childhood pal, Winnie-the-Pooh. With Christopher's help, Pooh embarks on a journey to find his friends -- Tigger, Eeyore, Owl, Piglet, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo. Once reunited, the lovable bear and the gang travel to the big city to help Christopher rediscover the joy of life."

This movie was a treat. Like a nice plate of cookies. By no means do I know everything there is to know about Winnie the Pooh. I was never read the books. But I remember really liking the cartoons. And I thought that basically making Spielberg's Hook with Winnie the Pooh sounded like a great idea. I thought Ewan McGregor was the perfect choice. And anytime you give me a movie from the classic era of Disney, and it feels like a movie that seems like Walt himself would have been involved in it, I'm probably gonna enjoy it. And this one really put a smile on my face. But I wouldn't say it's perfect.

Some small flaws - I felt that some of the major story beats weren't entirely earned and felt a bit rushed. I also thought that some bits of the story were kinda skimmed through when I think it would have been better to just jump ahead. And I also don't understand why Haley Atwell (Peggy Carter from the Captain America movies) is cast in this just to be the wife who doesn't do much but be the wife. I think I've talked about this before in previous reviews. I believe it was The Founder and Doctor Strange. I think Haley Atwell did a fine job with what she was given, but I don't understand why great actresses like Haley Atwell, or Laura Dern in The Founder, or Rachel McAdams in Doctor Strange, are just cast in roles that are there just to be the love interest. That seems like a very old way of thinking when it comes to movies. All three of these actresses are people that deserve either leading roles or supporting roles that play a much bigger part in the story. There are thousands of unheard of actresses that could prove their talent a little bit by playing the love interest. Anyway, that's a small complaint of mine that has nothing to do with Ewan McGregor talking to toys.

Enough about flaws - This movie put a smile on my face. For a family movie, I thought the way the dialogue was written was really smart. This classic, old-fashioned way of telling a story with little bits of wisdom and warmth sprinkled everywhere is not done enough. I think we should have more movies with this style. There's a big lesson at the end of this movie that I don't think kids are going to understand. But I think that is a very smart thing. Because if you take your kids to go see this movie, you get to have those conversations with them. And it seems like classic children's books like A. A. Milne's are told that way. There's stuff for kids to interpret and to ask questions about. And not to spoil too much but - I'd like to share some of the dialogue - "Sometimes when I’m going somewhere, I wait. and then somewhere comes to me.", "Doing nothing often leads to the very best of something.", "People say 'nothing is impossible', But I do nothing every day.", I'll let you all interpret that in your own way. I think that most kids aren't going to understand what that means. But that's for adults to take what they need from it, and then for parents to quote back to their kids and annoy them with it. If you're a parent, I think that you could have some very interesting conversations after about it. I really do think there's some great wisdom in this movie that people should check it out for.

The character of Christopher Robin is also very similar to Peter in Spielberg's Hook. They both neglect their family for work. And not until I saw Christopher Robin did I realize that the ending of Hook, the only real answer to that debate is "WORK DOESN'T MATTER!" And I think when it comes to family, work never comes first. But we all have responsibilities that are important. And kids are going to have to grow up to learn that. But family always comes first. And I wonder how many kids watched Hook and got mad at their parents for doing ANY responsibilities at all. And not that I think Spielberg was trying to say "WORK DOESN'T MATTER AT ALL", I just think that maybe what he was trying to say didn't come out. Because he has said he was disappointed in how that movie turned out. I love it anyway. But I think Hook could have been better if he had communicated - Family first - Work second. But I think it just came out "NO WORK". And in the case of Christopher Robin, I think it answered that question slightly better. I'd need to see it again to catch more of the dialogue to see how I feel about it, but I think the answer to that problem is a bit more present. I still think a family movie has yet to successfully answer this work vs family debate in a more clear and realistic way for families.

Another comparison to Hook - I assumed in my dumb brain that Christopher didn't remember Winnie, and Piglet, and Tiger, because of my love for Hook. I assumed they were going down that same route for his character and Christopher would have forgotten about his adventures (I guess I should have noticed that he LITERALLY recognizes Pooh in the first trailer). And at first, I didn't understand why that didn't go down that path. But I think it did present a new interesting take on it. In this case, Christopher's love for his old friends is not determined by his ability to remember them, but by a choice of not going back to being a child and, as Kylo Ren puts it, letting the past die. And again, hopefully, this isn't too spoilery - I think because of this new perspective they were able to deliver the message that sometimes your past can help you with your future. And that sometimes you have to grow up, and sometimes you need to embrace the past and be a bit more child-like. In Hook, Peter literally can't remember and is doing his best. But in Christopher Robin, he has to make the choice. And I found that to be, not necessarily more human, but a different way of showing humanity in a character. So this review got a bit philosophical, didn't it? So I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who's willing to give it a shot. A Disney movie with a talking bear is not gonna be everyone's cup of honey. But I'd recommend checking it out at some point. I think this may end up being the smartest movie to take your kids to this year. There are scenes that gave me chills from how sweet they were. And Pooh and Eeyore really had me giggling a lot. And I really enjoyed Ewan McGregor in his role. My grade for Christopher Robin is a B+