Christopher Robin review by Bobby Blakey
Disney continues to churn out their live action features with Mary Poppins Returns, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and A Wrinkle in Time all slated for this year. As if that wasn’t enough they are returning to the Hundred Acre Wood with Christopher Robin starring Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Chris O’Dowd, Jim Cummings, Peter Capaldi, and Brad Garrett with Machine Gun Preacher and World War Z director Marc Forster at the helm, but could it possibly work bringing these iconic characters to real life or will the whole thing just be a bother?
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Christopher Robin follows an adult Christopher Robin, who is now focused on his new life, work, and family, suddenly meets his old friend Winnie the Pooh, who returns to his unforgotten childhood past to help him return to the Hundred Acre Wood and help find Pooh's lost friends. I must admit when I heard about this film I really didn’t think it was going to work at all, but found the first trailer pretty cute. After seeing the movie I am happy to say I was so wrong and this movie fully delivers. Sure the story is pretty much the same as Spielberg’s 1991 film Hook, but the charm of the characters still makes it work. A lot of the reason it works comes from both McGregor and Atwell who give it a grounded feel of two people that deeply care for each other, but also lost in their lives. Their realism helps to make the fantastical aspect of Pooh and friends work better than it had any right too.
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I honestly expected it to take some time before getting to visit the Hundred Acre Wood and see Pooh and friends, but they jump right into from the beginning. They have made complete sure that this film is fully engaged with not only Christopher Robin but Pooh as well and their interactions are so much fun to watch. Admittedly they are a little creepy at first, but I found myself quickly buying into the whole thing and having a ton of fun. There is no silly
back story to how they are alive and running around, instead they just let the film do its thing which is offer up plenty of laughs, heartwarming moments and too much cuteness to contain. Obviously for this film to work the CGI had to be on point and it works great. They got so much emotion in each of these characters while not having many facial features. Eeyore alone you can see his sadness and despair every time he is on screen which also allowed him some of the best moments of the entire flick.
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While the story is predictable it still manages to bring the feels and fun from beginning to end. I am a pretty big fan fo Winnie the Pooh and friends, but never thought this film would work on any level and I was completely wrong. This kind of makes me want more live action adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood, but whether that happens or not we still have this great film to enjoy with the whole family.
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In addition to the film this release includes bonus content including featurettes taking you behind bringing the beloved characters to the live action world. Return to the hundred acre wood when Christopher Robin hits Digital and Blu-ray on November 6th from Disney Home Entertainment.