A magical intervention

WORKAHOLIC Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) meets a lovable character from his almost forgotten childhood. To be clear, Christopher Robin is not the Disney version of the 2017 dark and morose biographical drama Goodbye, Christopher Robin. This Ewan McGregor-starrer is purely fictional, merely inspired by the characters from A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard’s Winnie-the-Pooh. And the story is primarily hinged on adult sensibilities. Nope, this movie is not really for kids.

In Disney’s Christopher Robin, a grown-up Christopher Robin meets his beloved Hundred Acre Wood band of stuffed animals of his childhood to help him remember the playful boy who is still inside. Directed by Marc Forster, the Disney live-action film tells the tale of a grown-up Christopher Robin (the always excellent McGregor) in postwar London, married to an architect, Evelyn (Hayley Atwell), with a daughter, Madeline (Bronte Carmichael), who is on the brink of getting shipped away to boarding school.

After a brief montage of Christopher Robin growing up through a familiar Winnie -the Pooh storybook style, we are ultimately presented with his adult life — a workaholic manager for a high-end luggage company. With Winslow Luggages hitting tough times, Robin’s work becomes more demanding and family time is cut down to almost nothing. Wife and daughter naturally become upset.

The theme, “family should come first,” has been employed in countless movies, with daddy’s job serving as the major conflict, a time-stealer that inflicts pain and sorrow on the neglected family. And the job is usually thankless, with a demanding boss.

In Robin’s case, not only does he emotionally abandon his family (and his eager-to-bond neighbor) in favor of work, but he has also lost all sense of imagination, humor and adventure. He’s become a boring dad, distracted and detached.

And so enters Winnie the Pooh into the picture. An intervention. He is Christopher Robin’s salvation. And this magical interruption of Robin’s seemingly unsalvageable state makes the film tender and bittersweet.

But it’s not so much the reunion of an adult Christopher Robin and Pooh that is touching, but it’s the bear’s genuine love for Christopher Robin. Pooh, a major part of Robin’s childhood, comes back with innocent, childlike queries that carry existential weight. Pooh’s simple inquiry about Robin’s briefcase, for example, shatters many fundamental truths about life.

And there are plenty of these sorts of question — not just from Pooh, but from the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood gang. Short questions directed at Christopher Robin but also bounce back at you, inspiring self -introspection.

A powerful sense of nostalgia washes over you when the adult Robin returns to the Hundred Acre Wood, and Pooh, Rabbit, Piglet, Kanga, Little Roo and Owl come to life — all soulful, accurate portrayals of Milne’s characters, from their iconic dialogue to the details of their quirky personalities. Eeyore (Brad Garrett) is one of the highlights of the film; never has depression and pessimism been more affectionately and humorously illustrated.

With a screenplay by Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy (Spotlight) and Allison Schroeder (Hidden Figures), the movie is teeming with shards of wisdom from the animal friends. The “real people,” such as the wife, daughter, and the bad boss (Sherlock’s Mark Gatiss), are underwritten, and the adventure element of the narrative is middling. However, these flaws are very much compensated by the delightful presence of Pooh and the gang, as well as McGregor’s very likeable Christopher Robin.

Pooh and gang are recreated as worn-out stuffed toys — a little bit dirty, hunny-stained, with tiny open seams. These evoke a stronger sense of Christopher Robin’s childhood and his deep, intimate relationship with his pals. Hundred Acre Woods also comes alive here, sun-speckled, enchanting and symbolical of a magical childhood. The subtle, affecting musical score, which is never manipulative, complements the lovely visuals.

Christopher Robin is a melancholic picture of the travails of life and childhood lost and then found. Also, it’s a first-rate tribute to the beloved children’s classic. A grown-up Christopher Robin sitting on a log under a tilted tree with Pooh — this “silly old bear” — is perhaps one of the most emotional cinematic scenes in recent memory.