Christopher Robin (2018)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

It's been many a year since I read or watched a Winnie-the-Pooh story. This film, in particular, gave me a sort of nostalgic feeling as I remembered all the forgotten adventures that once filled my childhood. Pooh reminded me that there's more to life than working forever--that doing nothing often leads to the very best kind of something. To some, this film might not be perfect, but to others, it reminded us of something more than our childhood--it reminded us how to have fun.

Yes, the whole Hook-ish "work-oriented, joyless man rediscovers his inner child" schtick is pretty predictable in this. However, Pooh and friends are done so well that it doesn't matter that much. (Also, it's a lot better attempt than Hook.)The film does a great job of capturing Pooh and company. The dialogue and Pooh's longtime voice actor perfectly capture his way of being unintentionally wise and likable. Eeyore, voiced by Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett, is the second best part as he is hilarious in here. The other occupants of the Hundred Acre Wood don't appear as much but they stay true to the characters. Ewan McGregor does a great job as Christopher Robin, which is especially impressive seeing as the actor was speaking to no real people half the time. The movie is quite funny. The scenes of CH trying to be a good man in a misguided way and his eventual awakening all surprisingly work more than they should have. The movie manages to balance childhood innocence while not talking down to adults. In fact, they insert a couple osurprisingly dark moments into the events that lead to adult CH's adult personality. However, the reason I didn't give this a higher rating is the conclusion, or rather the conclusion to the workplace side of CH's story. Basically, he spends the movie trying to reduce costs so his business doesn't have to lay people off. The resolution to this crisis comes out of a lesser-made children's film. It is completely trite, forced, and way too saccharine.The movie looks great. The combination of the character designs of the cartoon and the original book work surprisingly well. The cinematography in the 100 Acre Wood is quite eye-catching. Although filmed on location, the scenes have manage to have a magical quality to them. The background music is also effective. Unfortunately you never hear the Winnie-the-Pooh song sung. I recommend you wait till the second song in the end credits. It's a nostalgic little number from classic Disney composer Roger Sherman (Mary Poppins, Jungle Book).

This reminded me of the disney classics. The first thing i wanted to do right after the movie is to give this 10 out of 10. I laughed, sighed, smiled, teared, then laughed again. It's a whole experience that leaves you grinning for the rest of the night, I miss this kind of movies! Welcome back Disney!

Really glad I went to see it. Read a few negative reviews in the press, but went anyway.