Full confession: Like many of you, I grew up with the joy of reading the wonderfully illustrated Winnie-the-Pooh books and watching the large number of beautifully animated, narrated and voice-acted animation shorts.

The stories featuring beloved characters, including the naïve and faithful honey-loving Pooh Bear, the anxious yet brave Piglet, the high-strung bouncy Tigger, the depressive tail-losing donkey Eeyore, the marginally obsessive compulsive Rabbit as well as the imaginative child who was central to their life, Christopher Robin, were not only fun, whimsical and interesting, but also carried lessons on life.

As I interpreted it, one of the most important ones was that for Christopher Robin, these toy animals that he played with in his imaginary adventures helped him process many of his own emotions on his journey through childhood, and that when he leaves them behind for good at the Hundred Acre Wood, it is a poignant metaphor for growing up and entering adulthood.

Despite narrative loopholes, Christopher Robin charms with its tale of an adult being taught life lessons by his childhood toys

Disney’s live-action film Christopher Robin, starring Ewan McGregor in a heartfelt performance as the titular character, somewhat controversially reinterprets a dynamic of the story originally written by A. A. Milne in order to serve a narrative where an adult Christopher Robin meets his childhood friends once again. This time, they don’t need him but he needs them as he is so busy being an adult that he is letting his inner child fade away.

The change is that Christopher Robin wasn’t imagining his toy animals come to life, but they actually came to life. Here, in often hilarious scenes, Winne the Pooh (Jim Cummings), Eeyore (Brad Garrett), Piglet (Nick Mohammad), Rabbit (Peter Capaldi) and other toys alarm human beings around them, many of whom believe they are hallucinating.

A large part of adulthood is making personal sacrifices for the greater good, that’s what Christopher Robin appears to do, so why is Pooh busting his chops? Silly old bear!

Now, I can see why this change was written into the story. For Christopher Robin the child to be imagining his toys as real can be seen as cute and a healthy part of growing up, but for an adult, especially one in his 40s, it would appear to be a mental illness and give the Disney film a dark dimension that would horrify viewers and require the filmmaking skills of Tim Burton to effectively execute. But while I could see why this was written into the story, it didn’t quite sit right with me as I felt it took away from the nuances of Milne’s world.

There are other narrative issues as well. The premise here is that while his wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) and daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael) enjoy their holiday, Christopher Robin, a business person upon whom many depend, works without giving his loved ones the time they need. The strange bit is that while Christopher Robin wants to present its lead character as a little self-centered for choosing work over family, it also seems to want to have its cake and eat it too by telling us that he works this hard to keep those who depend upon him employed. This begs the question: so what’s the point? A large part of adulthood is making personal sacrifices for the greater good, that’s what Christopher Robin appears to do, so why is Pooh busting his chops? Silly old bear!

Despite having these problems with the narrative, I must admit that I enjoyed the often charming and occasionally melancholic Christopher Robin. The animations are fantastic, and I liked the interesting new looks of Pooh and the gang. I was especially pleased with the voice acting, and felt the actors captured the essence of the characters quite perfectly. Admittedly, many of the scenes left me teary-eyed, including the first time our hero is reunited with his long lost childhood friends which, as anyone knows, is one of the best feelings in the world. But despite the clumsiness, it was the film’s overall message that really struck a chord with me, about growing up without getting too absorbed in the demands of life.

Rated PG for some action

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 12th, 2018