I found the new full length trailer for the upcoming Christopher Robin movie. It gives us a much better sense of the movie than the teaser did. Looks very charming with a lot of callbacks to the original cartoon of my childhood.
Looks OK, I guess. I think it could be a neat story. But there was another related movie released earlier this year, Goodbye Christopher Robin that is more of an origin story as to how Milne came to write the stories. I haven't seen it yet, but the story behind it are quite fascinating. I'm not sure how many are aware, but it all started when a Canadian soldier went off to join the war with the British in WW1. The soldier was from Winnepeg. He had to wait for a train in the small town of White River in Ontario, and there he had a chance encounter with a trapper and a bear also waiting for their train. The soldier was so charmed by the bear that he bought him and named him Winnie. Took him to the base with him in England where Winnie became the regiment's unofficial mascot. While fighting in France, the solder left the bear with the London Zoo, and after the war, was donated to the Zoo, which Milne visited multiple times with his son Christopher, both of which were quite charmed with the bear. I visited the town of White River this past summer, and it was both interesting and sad, in the sense that there was this real sense of pride in having that connection, but sad because everything also had Disney copyright all over the place. I think Christopher Robin would have found that sad as well as he was against commercialism of the stories.
Perhaps these movies could be part of a 'shared universe' live-action Pooh franchise. That sort of thing seems to be all the rage these days. Kor
I guess you could look at it that way in the sense that yes, it is also a movie featuring a grown man and a talking teddy bear, except clean.
I saw Christopher Robin a few nights ago, and I've been thinking about it ever since. I liked some parts, and I disliked others. I'm not sure what sort of film this is supposed to be. It's not a film for kids; there's too much serious drama and disturbing scenes (like Christopher Robin's hallucination while drowning). But it's not really a film for adults, either. The film never really finds its groove. The actors give their best, even the underwritten Hayley Atwell, but the story sabotages them again and again. This is the weakest of Disney's Pooh films, imho.
I loved it. Is it emotionally manipulative? Sure as heck. Does it work? Yes, half of the theater was in tears 10 minutes in. I think the film works better for adults, though kids will obviously adore it, because it really sells that nostalgia for being a child (in a charming way, not a weird Hook kind of way).
I took my five year old. It was his first movie theater film. He enjoyed the parts with the animals, but the grown-up stuff went a bit long for him and he got a little impatient / bored. He didn't register the war scene, and he didn't understand the dead father scene (thank goodness). The Heffalump stuff had him vaguely nervous. He'd probably have preferred a movie about 45 minutes shorter. As a father of young children, I found the movie charming. The scenes with Christopher and Pooh were bittersweet and very well done. It avoided being cloying or overly silly (I can tolerate Eeyore and Pooh, but I'm not a fan of the rest of the gang). I think it was a decent balance between a kids movie the children would enjoy (probably ages 8 and up) and a nostalgia movie parents can tolerate or enjoy. Hayley Atwell needed more to do. (As CinemaSins guy would say, "Hayley Atwell is not my girlfriend in this scene. DING!") The ending wrapped it all up using kid-movie logic, which I found I could forgive. It was a visually attractive movie as well. Overall, it worked for me.
Expected this to be a more adult themed film and for the first half it is. Then the second half becomes a kids movies with the generic comedic chase to save the day at the end. Such a shame because they could have really knocked this one out of the park if they had just decided on who their audience was. I felt Disney played safe again. I wanted to come out of the theater an emotional wreck but instead i was just sleepy.
So, I've now seen both movies. There is some overlap. Most of Goodbye Christopher Robin is about A.A Milne and how he came to write the stories, and how Christopher Robin dealt with the fame surrounding the books, eventually growing to resent his father and distancing himself from the "fantasy". This is where Christopher Robin picks up, now an adult trying to live his own life and eventually reconnecting with his childhood. It's amusing to see just how many parallels there are between both movies; Robin in this movie is very much like Milne was portrayed in GCR, with his daughter Madeline very much like how Christopher Robin was in his childhood. But the thing is, I feel like Christopher Robin would have been the antithesis to how his father was, would not have wanted to repeat what he went through with his childhood, the way we see happening here. Both are very good movies. GCR is more of a serious biopic exploring the origins, while CR is more of an entertaining look at him rediscovering his childhood. The one strong thing CR has going for it are the characters. Pooh and all, they inhabit all of their particular personalities, and I found the humour spot on. It's a wonderful adventure movie full of whimsy.