WINNIE-THE-POOH DELIVERS LIFE LESSONS
Two key dates in the annals of Winnie-the-Pooh:
Dec. 24, 1925: A.A. Milne publishes a front-page children’s story in the London Evening News, changing the name of his nascent bear character (formerly Edward) to Winnie-the-Pooh. The bear is inspired by his son, Christopher Robin Milne, his stuffed teddy, and the Ashdown Forest near Milne’s residence in East Sussex, England. The name Winnie came from a famous bear housed in the London zoo.
Aug. 3, 2018: Disney, the commercial proprietor of Milne’s characters since 1961, releases its latest brand extension, “Christopher Robin,” combining live-action and discreet digital animation. The story concerns a middle-age and beleaguered Christopher Robin, played by Ewan McGregor, a World War II combat veteran employed postwar as an efficiency expert at a struggling London luggage company. He has a wife (Hayley Atwell) and a daughter (Bronte Carmichael) he loves but neglects; he is, in other words, suffering from Mr. Banks Syndrome, named after the character in “Mary Poppins.” Faced with the grim prospect of downsizing his staff, Christopher Robin has all but forgotten his childhood playmates Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, Kanga, Roo, et al.
Then, popping through a magic portal in his treetrunk home, Pooh magically appears in London to reacquaint himself with his sad old friend. After Christopher Robin’s initial shock, increasing exasperation and, back at the Hundred Acre Wood, another separation, all of which proved quite upsetting to this critic’s 8-year-old stepson, the film lands on a mossy bed of warm feeling and humane work/life balance.
In between 1925 and 2018, so much else has happened with Pooh, the Hundred Acre Wood, the Heffalump and other Milne delights, in so many different incarnations.
Storywise we’re very much in “Hook” territory, in addition to “Finding Neverland” territory. The grownup Christopher Robin has become a drudge and a slave to the dollar, the way the grown-up Peter Pan in “Hook” forgets his old life and comrades en route to conventional notions of success. “Christopher Robin” does a better job of justifying that story decision. The McGregor character isn’t simply self-absorbed and emotionally distant; he’s trying to save his colleagues’ jobs while cutting expenses on order from above. Once Forster and his design team get McGregor back to the Hundred Acre Wood, and in the bosom of his dear childhood friends, “Christopher Robin” finds its way. The interplay between humans and stuffed-but-very-lively animals is lovely. The voice work from Jim Cummings (Pooh, sweet and sincere as you please), Brad Garrett (a wittily morose Eeyore), Peter Capaldi (Rabbit), Toby Jones (Owl) and the rest holds to a high standard.
Movies about saying goodbye to childhood friends, and finding them again, work on our emotional defenses like nothing else. The core human/bear connection is treated with respect. Pooh’s wisdom and kindness cannot be denied. The same impulses worked for the two “Paddington” movies, God knows. “Christopher Robin” isn’t quite in their league, but it’s affecting nonetheless.