202.
Christopher Robin
5/10
Disney have given us a live action movie of a group of characters that never really interested me in my youthful days. Winnie the Pooh and the gang are back and the storyline is a pretty simple one with a very deep, hidden meaning that may be missed by the younger viewers. With a cast of Ewan McGregor and Hayley Atwell, there are a few familiar faces that can help carry this movie onwards. Will this help me raise my views on a cuddly lot of characters?
Looking at the storyline follows Christopher Robin and his family. Starting with a younger Robin, who is moving away for school needs and having a leaving party with his stuffed animals, he arrives at a strict school and soon looses all sense of imagination. Fast forward many years and Robin has gotten married and even had a daughter. He works in a pretty decent role within a luggage company, underneath a demanding up lazy manager. As for his home life, Robin is planning on sending his daughter to boarding school also but everything else at home is suffering due to the pressure of his job. He even has to cancel a weekend getaway in order to make cuts in work and do some paperwork. In the Hundred Acre Woods, Pooh has lost all of his friends and the Woods are pretty deserted. Believing that Robin knows what to do, he heads off to track him down. Tired, he rests on a bench and of all the benches in London, it's on that Robin ends up sitting near.
Shocked to see Pooh, he reluctantly agrees to help out, simply so that he can be left alone afterwards. His form of helping was just to get Pooh back home but ends up going through the tree into the Woods and doesn't believe there is a villain lurking around. He soon regrets his words and the fact that he shouted at Pooh when they get separated and starts to hear some things.
He eventually find the rest of the characters, all without Pooh and everyone hears a Heffalump in the area. Knowing there is truly nothing there, Robin fakes a fights scene and fights off the Heffalump, allowing his old friends to come out of hiding. After the activity, he heads back home to finish his paperwork. On his way out of the tree, which is at the cottage he used to live in, he bumps into his wife and daughter, who are spending that weekend getaway there. He lies about the fact that why he is there and adds to the disappointment when he explains that he needs to leave again.
Back inside the Wood, the gang find Robin's paperwork and he isn't going to get far without it. They decide they return to get to the real-world and return it to him. He once called it the important things and they need to give it to him or a Woozle, or his boss, will eat him. On the way, they bump into Robin's daughter Madeline, who recognises them from her father's old drawings. She joins in on the adventure and they all manage to get on a train. She wants her dad to reconsider sending her away and maybe this will help.
She has left a note for her mum, played by Atwell, who instantly heads off to track them down. When Robin arrives for his meeting, he opens his bag to find that he doesn't have the paperwork and the bag is instead, full of sticks and random things from Pooh. As he tries to save the meeting, Evelyn, the wife, bursts in and shows him the note from their daughter. He notices the word 'expotition' and knows that Madeline is with Pooh and friends. Madeline has reached London and after a ride in a suitcase on the back of a van, the gang make it to Winslow's Luggage and find the paperwork, which instantly blows away in the wind. Fail.
More importantly, the family reunite and there is a promise exchanged that Dad will be around more, be a better father and Madeline doesn't need to move away. Evelyn even gives an off-handed comment which leads to an idea from Christopher in order to save the company. He heads back into the office. He stands up to his boss and aims his comments at the Senior of the company instead, stating that people going on vacation can by the luggage rather than just the wealthy. This is agreed and no one needs to be laid off work. The film actually ends with Christopher Robin taking his family to the countryside cottage and introducing his wife to all of the stuffed animals in the Hundred Acre Wood.
The characters seemed a little dull to me and nothing special because we didn't really need to much from them. I couldn't really get into the movie too much as I have never enjoyed the Disney characters at all. Going along with the dull theme, even the bright colours of each stuffed animal had been toned down a lot, making them look tired and worn out, maybe as much as the idea of using them is. The only character I could actual relate to is Eeyore. That's because, now as an adult, he has gone more this sad, moaning horse to a character that actual speaks the truth about life and how draining it actually is. The story of a family nearly torn apart by work and not making the time for each other is one of the main theme throughout this movie and it is quite a factor that can feel personal for many of the audience members, making sure that they never forgot some important aspects in their life. In all seriousness though, if the need for income is more important than a weekend away, then that truly is just how life goes. It is a decent family flick with a dark start and a brighter ending but I can definitely live without seeing this movie again.
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