Christopher Robin Review

I don't have a Ewan McGregor obsession I promise! It's kind of a coincidence that I've seen Trainspotting and Christopher Robin in such a short timeframe but rest assured these films do not go together... unless Renton tripped really, really badly...

No, this is a very different film in pretty much every sense of the word. Christopher Robin is a serene and lilting nostalgia trip that takes A.A Milne's adored characters and brings them to life once more. When I originally saw the trailer for this film my initial reaction was to dismiss it. Another Disney money grab hitting us right where it hurts, our childhood nostalgia. While I wouldn't go quite as far as to say it completely defied that expectation I got a lot more than I bargained for and ended up enjoying it way more than I should have.

The story is about Christopher Robin, the child from Milne's books who would frequently played in the Hundred Acre Wood with a group of forest friends. However, now he has grown up, married, had a child and experienced life on the front lines of war. Between the pressure of his job and his experiences after leaving the wood, Christopher Robin is a different man, colder and logical. One day however Pooh wakes up in the hundred acre wood and can't find his friends, so he goes searching for Christopher Robin.

This film is unrelentingly sweet, as you would expect for a film about Winnie the Pooh and moves at a welcome slow pace. It brought a tear to my eye hearing the original voice actors for some of the characters return to their roles. McGregor was also increasingly enjoyable in the role of Christopher Robin, as the character re-captures his youth throughout the film McGregor just looks like he's having a blast. The sense of humour was also spot on, getting a few well earned chuckles from the audience.

I did have a few gripes with the film though. For one this film is determined to pull on your heart strings which can result in some of the scenes coming off a little forced and unrealistic, damaging some of the films charm. Winnie the Pooh is a charming enough character himself, the emotion should come from our reaction to the story and not the film telling you when to get nostalgic. You can definitely see that they've chucked some good Disney money at this film but that can sometimes be a bad thing for me. I don't tend to like films that look too clean and there were moments during this film where that bugged me.

However, these are minor gripes, Christopher Robin is a fantastic family film with more heart than you can put in a honey pot.

8/10