Christopher Robin

Set decades after the title character’s exploits in the 100 Acre Wood, Christopher Robin follows Ewan McGregor’s grown-up protagonist as he spends his days working for an oblivious employer and taking his family for granted – with the character eventually learning a series of valuable life lessons from old friends like Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger. Filmmaker Marc Forster does a superb job of initially drawing the viewer into the deliberately-paced proceedings, as Christopher Robin kicks off with a striking and thoroughly compelling stretch that condenses the central figure’s adolescence and young adulthood into an opening-credits montage (which is presented through the prism of book chapters). It’s an exceedingly clever device that effectively and instantly establishes the picture’s unapologetically old-fashioned sensibilities, and yet there’s little doubt that the exceedingly familiar storyline does tend, within the film’s meandering midsection, to prevent one from wholeheartedly embracing the material – which, in turn, ensures that Christopher Robin suffers from a hit-and-miss atmosphere that’s alleviated by a smattering of above-average sequences. (McGregor’s character’s continuing encounters with his old animal friends remains a highlight, to be sure.) Forster’s sedate approach to Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, and Allison Schroeder’s screenplay certainly exacerbates the movie’s scarcely-enthralling feel, with the brisk, exciting third act, as entertaining as it is, standing as an incongruous wrap-up that almost feels as though it’s been dropped in from another film (ie there’s a sharp contrast between it and the subdued first two thirds). The end result is a decent family-friendly drama that could (and should) have been much better, with Forster’s climactic attempts at tugging at the viewer’s heartstrings consequently (and ultimately) falling a little flat.

**1/2 out of ****