Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5/5)
I hadn’t thought about this movie in a long time other than to think, “that was a good one.” Then my son was curious about it. I think he saw it in a meme or something and wanted to know what it was all about. He’s ten and loved Winnie the Pooh was really small but has just forgotten a lot of it over time. You definitely don’t have to twist my arm to get me to watch anything with Winnie the Pooh in it. That character holds a dear place deep in my heart. I adore him.
Our story in Christopher Robin is very different than most of the Pooh movies that have come along. This one doesn’t find Christopher as a kid, wandering the woods with this stuffed animals and being the hero to them. This one finds him as a man who has lived a life and effectively forgotten what it’s like to have fun. He’s seen some stuff throughout the war, missed his child’s youngest years, and then went straight into the workforce in which his is totally brutal. He’s been through it, man. Then Pooh comes along.
By the way, Ewan McGregor is an inspired choice for Christopher Robin. He’s capable of looking incredibly serious, but when he smiles he does it with his whole face. He pulls off both of Christopher’s sides with perfection. When he’s coming around to having fun, I can see it and I can believe it.
We can’t easily talk about Winnie the Pooh without talking about voice acting legend Jim Cummings. He pulls double-duty here as both Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, and I’m so glad they kept him around. I couldn’t imagine another voice for those characters. Outside of the original actors of course. For a short time, they had Chris O’Dowd as Tigger. And though I love him, I need my Jim Cummings. Pooh is played to such perfection by him. Every line he says is full of so much curiosity, naievity, and “silly ol’ bear”-ness. It’s just delightful.
This movie managed to keep all of the things we love about Pooh and bring him into the 3D animated world. It’s hard to be sure how that is going to work, but it’s just lovely.
I’d be lying if I said this movie didn’t drive me to tears more than once. Seeing someone so loved is just very touching to me, even when that thing that loves is an animated bear. There’s so much in Pooh’s complete adoration of Christopher Robin. He’ll follow him and try to get him to play for as long as it takes. Seeing Christopher Robin figure out that he’s been making horrible mistakes by putting work over his family is amazing. He’s just doing what everyone that came before him did, and he finally gets to see how wrong of a choice that is in the long run. It took a little yellow bear to get through to him.
The rest of the cast was incredible too. Just voiced to perfection. Everyone in this movie really knew what the assignment was and they nailed it.
I love this movie.