Review of Christopher Robin (2018) by Pipec — 31 Oct 2018

A cuddly but low-spirited studio drama about imagination in adulthood. Set in mid-20th century London, England, this time it's looking for the catatonic imagination of 40-year-old Christopher Robin; he isn't a child anymore, now is fully immersed in work, away from home, away from Ashdown's grayish afternoons lulling the forests, he's left behind his younger years. There's no room for fantasy, isn't it? Look back, folks.

Certainly, Greg Brooker and Mark Steven Johnson have written a drama aimed at adult audiences, those who grew up with the books and Disney's eternal adaptations, leaving limited space for new audiences who want to fall in love with the beloved characters for the first time. It stumbles up clear-as-water similarity with the "Toy Story" franchise by John Lasseter and Oscar-winning "Inside Out" by Pete Docter regarding plot development and its usual devices. It's a straight way that doesn't hesitate until reaching its final point, arousing tolerable predictability that doesn't matter by the fact that we're encountering one more time with those plush animals that took us by the hand once. The six-handed (Allison Schroeder, Tom McCarthy and Alex Ross Perry) screenplay is loaded with naïvely effective punchlines, provided mainly by Pooh, a kind of adorable comic-relief. Eeyore's taciturnity and discouragement injects a kind of tenderness that benefits the character's bonding; Piglet's shyness plays in a different field that Eeyore's, since his pristine innocence hooks the spectator into the adventure; Rabbit, Kanga, Owl and Roo surprisingly remain in the background, giving much more screen time to the four most famous animals created by the English author. Although every time the plush characters are on screen all the attention is theirs, Christopher Robin's the vehicle the film wants for us to live the experience. A middle-class grown-up, drowned in work, a father who has forgotten to dream, is the ideal device to narrate this 'become-a-child-again' story. A well-written— much better casted —character, who goes through the required development phases and, at the end, he's a fully different, better man than he was at the beginning, that is to say, he fulfills his role as protagonist.

Pay close attention to the peculiar animation style, a hyper-realistic CGI/live-action hybrid that endorses an emphatically unique appearance, even if you have the notion they're not living things throughout the screening, but computer-animated stuffed animals finding life in human-like moves, gestures and behaviors; another artistic beauty by Disney. Production design is visually commendable, recreating mid-1950's Britain truthfully, permeating every frame with moribund post-World War II hostility, of course, filtered by the company's standards. Despite that, they decide to set much of the plot in the shadowy British fields, where tenuity bathes the smallest elements. Matthias Koenigswieser's cinematography could be considered as the darkest, but equally captivating among Disney live-action pictures, thus taking the top place from Dean Semler by "Maleficent." The soundtrack by Geoff Zanelli and Jon Brion breathes magic at times, they're pieces embellishing pictures, not standing out from them; an unsurprising, nice score that is in tune with the visuals.

And there's a first-class vocal cast here, counting among its ranks genius voice actors as Jim Cummings, Toby Jones or Peter Capaldi, who with their voices immediately take us back to the past, into a world of hopefulness. The voice ranges and their corresponding nuances represent characters properly, which allows the story to come to life and gives a nostalgic edge that encourages the viewer to stay on. Ewan McGregor, without fail, delivers a good Robin, he goes through a medium-quality personal transformation and despite his half-baked charisma and prominent harshness, his performance is warmly acceptable yet unlikely an Oscar-contender. Hayley Atwell is an out-and-out waste of talent with a supporting role that makes us wonder that after "Marvel's Agent Carter" was canceled by ABC, this gifted British actress must find worthy roles, one that makes her shine and not become one more shadow of a male figure.

"Christopher Robin" by Marc Forster is an unambitious, straight drama offering that forgets dreaming with a premise that could have set up a stunning live-action re-imagination of one of the most emblematic classics in children's entertainment industry. Still, the irrepressible, powerful charisma of the animated characters, their occurrences and the amusing over-the-top final sequence will prove a pleasant experience that puts flawed but needed dramatic development throughout its first two acts. Emphatically, Forster seems to stick to the script they've written for him, perhaps it was his chance to be part of the Disney family or perhaps it was a personal dream that failed to connect with audiences as well as expected.