Christopher Robin (film)

Christopher Robin is a 2018 American live-action/animated fantasy comedy drama film directed by Marc Forster from a screenplay by Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy and Allison Schroeder, based on a story by Greg Brooker and Mark Steven Johnson. The film is inspired by the children's book series Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne illustrated by E. H. Shepard, and is a live-action/CGI follow-up to the Disney franchise of the same name. The film stars Ewan McGregor as the title character, alongside Hayley Atwell as his wife Evelyn, with the voices of Jim Cummings (reprising his roles as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger), Nick Mohammed as Piglet, and Brad Garrett (reprising his role as Eeyore). The story follows Christopher Robin, now an adult, who has lost his sense of imagination, only to be reunited with his childhood friend Winnie the Pooh, whom he must escort back to the Hundred Acre Wood to find his friends.
Plans of a live-action Winnie the Pooh adaptation were announced back in April 2015, and Forster was confirmed as the director in November 2016. McGregor signed on as Christopher Robin in April 2017 and principal photography began in August of that year in the United Kingdom, lasting until November.
Christopher Robin premiered in Burbank, California on July 30, 2018, and was released in the United States on August 3, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its performances, musical score, and visual effects. It grossed $197.7 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film in Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise, surpassing The Tigger Movie (2000). The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 91st Academy Awards.
After his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood (Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, and Owl) throw him a farewell party before he departs for boarding school, Christopher Robin reassures Pooh that he will never forget him. Nevertheless, his rough experiences at school and his father's sudden death force his sudden maturation, and he soon forgets the Hundred Acre Wood and his friends there. He later marries architect Evelyn, has a daughter named Madeline, and after serving in the British Army during World War II, works as Director of Efficiency at Winslow Luggages in London, but his demanding job causes him to neglect his family. With the company struggling, Christopher's superior, Giles Winslow Jr., tells him to decrease expenditures by 20%, largely by choosing which employees to lay off, and to present his plan on Monday. Consequently, Christopher misses joining his family at their countryside cottage in Sussex for a summer-ending weekend.
Upon awakening the next morning, unable to find his friends, Pooh decides to travel through the door through which Christopher Robin normally emerged, which he discovers to be a portal to London, where he reunites with Christopher, who is shocked to see Pooh, but takes him back to his home. After a chaotic night and morning, Christopher escorts Pooh back to Sussex on the next train. After passing his cottage, the two enter the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh's absent-mindedness and fear of Heffalumps and Woozles exasperate Christopher. Pooh, attempting to return Christopher's compass to him, trips into Christopher's briefcase and his papers spill onto the ground. Christopher angrily reminds Pooh that he has matured, before they are separated in the fog. Christopher falls into a Heffalump trap, which is flooded by rainfall, soaking him and his belongings.
Christopher discovers Eeyore and Piglet, who lead him to the others, hiding in a log from what they believe to be a Heffalump (revealed to be the squeaking of a rusty weather vane from Owl's house after the wind knocked it off its tree during their tea time). Unable to convince his friends of his identity, he pretends to defeat the Heffalump and finally wins them over, and they joyfully greet him. When they reunite with Pooh, Christopher apologizes for his earlier outburst and explains his dilemma. Pooh forgives him, reminding Christopher that they have found each other, and comforts him with a hug. The next day, Christopher rushes from the Hundred Acre Wood to make his presentation, after Tigger gives him his briefcase. En route, he encounters his family, but then leaves for London, greatly disappointing Madeline.
Pooh discovers that Tigger removed Christopher's paperwork when drying his briefcase, so Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore decide to return it. They meet Madeline, who recognizes them from her father's drawings. Madeline joins them, wanting to dissuade her father about sending her to boarding school, and they board a train to London. Evelyn follows after discovering a note Madeline wrote. At his presentation, Christopher discovers that his briefcase contains items from the Wood given to him by Tigger. Evelyn arrives and Christopher joins her to search for their daughter. Madeline's group stow away in crates, but Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet are accidentally ejected, subsequently encountering her parents. Pooh and Madeline arrive near the Winslow building, and reunite with Christopher and the others, but Madeline accidentally trips on some steps and loses all but one of the papers, upsetting her and Pooh. Christopher assures Madeline that she is too important to him to send her to boarding school.
Using the one paper Madeline saved, Christopher improvises a new plan involving selling luggage at reduced prices to ordinary people to increase demand and giving employees paid leave. Winslow Jr. dismisses the idea, but his father Giles Winslow Sr. warmly agrees to it. Christopher further humiliates Winslow Jr. by revealing that he was out golfing all weekend and contributed nothing to the plan. Christopher finally takes his family and the quartet into the Hundred Acre Wood to meet his other friends. As everyone relaxes at a picnic, Pooh and Christopher Robin share a tender moment together.
Initially in 2003, Brigham Taylor, inspired by the last chapter of The House at Pooh Corner, pitched to Disney an idea about a Winnie the Pooh film focusing on an adult Christopher Robin. However, due to other Pooh projects being in development at the time, the project was not pitched for a film. In 2015, Kristin Burr later convinced Taylor to resurrect the project, which the two then started working on that year.
On April 2, 2015, Walt Disney Pictures announced that a live-action adaptation based on the characters from the Winnie the Pooh franchise was in development, which would take a similar pattern to Alice in Wonderland (2010), Maleficent (2014), and Cinderella (2015). Alex Ross Perry was hired to write the script and Brigham Taylor hired to produce the film, about an adult Christopher Robin returning to the Hundred Acre Wood to spend time with Pooh and the gang. On November 18, 2016, it was reported that the studio had hired Marc Forster to direct the film, titled Christopher Robin, and the project would have "strong elements of magical realism as it seeks to tell an emotional journey with heartwarming adventure." On March 1, 2017, Tom McCarthy was hired to rewrite the existing screenplay.
On April 26, 2017, Ewan McGregor was cast as the lead while Allison Schroeder was recruited to do additional work on the script. On June 22, 2017, it was revealed that Gemma Arterton had been in negotiations to portray the wife of the title character, but ultimately, she passed on the role. In August 2017, Hayley Atwell and Mark Gatiss were respectively cast as Christopher's wife Evelyn and boss Giles Winslow. Nick Mohammed was cast as Piglet, while Jim Cummings was confirmed to be reprising his role as Winnie the Pooh, and Brad Garrett was revealed to be voicing Eeyore (he previously voiced the character in the Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree CD-ROM game). In January 2018, Peter Capaldi, Sophie Okonedo, and Toby Jones were cast as Rabbit, Kanga, and Owl, respectively. Chris O'Dowd was originally set to voice Tigger, with Roger L. Jackson voice-doubling for him, but he was replaced by Cummings, who has played the character partially from 1989 until fully since 2000, after audiences in test screenings reacted negatively towards how O'Dowd voiced the character.
Principal photography began in early August 2017, in the United Kingdom, and wrapped on November 4, 2017. Much of the Hundred Acre Wood scenes took place at Ashdown Forest, which was the original inspiration for the setting, as well as Windsor Great Park, at Shepperton Studios and at Dover seafront and the former Dover Marine Station, now the town's cruise terminal which doubled as a London railway station. Filming also took place at Pinewood Studios. The film was shot in a mix of formats: some scenes were shot in the Panavision anamorphic format on both 35 mm film and Arri Alexa digital cameras, while other sequences were filmed on 65mm film in both the spherical Panavision System 65 and anamorphic Ultra Panavision 70 formats. All were matted to a 2.40:1 aspect ratio for a consistent look.
The original soundtrack to the film features original score composed by Jon Brion and Geoff Zanelli, with additional music written by Zak McNeil, Bryce Jacobs, Paul Mounsey, Philip Klein, and three songs—"Goodbye Farewell", "Busy Doing Nothing", and "Christopher Robin"—written by Disney Legend Richard M. Sherman. It was released on August 3, 2018 alongside the film, through Walt Disney Records.
The film is dedicated to Jóhann Jóhannsson, who was initially hired as composer, shortly before his death on February 9, 2018.
Studios Framestore and Method Studios, led the animation for the Hundred Acre Wood characters, with VFX Supervisor Chris Lawrence and Animation Supervisor Michael Eames leading the teams.
Christopher Robin opened Burbank on July 30, 2018, and was released on August 3, 2018, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film was denied a release in China, as some have speculated it was due to censorship of Winnie-the-Pooh in China since mid-2017. Other industry insiders speculated it was likely due to reasons such as the film's size and the presence of other Hollywood films in the market.
A tie-in novelization of the film written by Elizabeth Rudnick was published by Disney Publishing Worldwide on July 3, 2018.
Christopher Robin was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 6, 2018. The film debuted in second place behind Incredibles 2 on the NPD VideoScan First Alert chart for the week ending on November 11, 2018. The film became available to stream on Netflix USA and Canada on March 5, 2019, before being moved to Disney+ on September 5, 2020.
Christopher Robin grossed $99.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $98.4 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $197.7 million.
In the United States and Canada, Christopher Robin was released alongside The Spy Who Dumped Me, The Darkest Minds, and Death of a Nation: Can We Save America a Second Time?. The film made $9.5 million on its first day, including $1.5 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $24.6 million, finishing second at the box office behind holdover Mission: Impossible – Fallout. The film fell 47% to $13 million in its second weekend, finishing third behind The Meg and Mission: Impossible – Fallout. The film finished sixth in its third through fifth weekends, grossing $8.9 million, $6.3 million, and $5.3 million, respectively.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 72% based on 277 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Christopher Robin may not equal A. A. Milne's stories – or their animated Disney adaptations – but it should prove sweet enough for audiences seeking a little childhood magic." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times reviewed the film and said: "Once Christopher Robin softens its insufferable, needlessly cynical conception of the title character, it offers more or less what a Pooh reboot should: a lot of nostalgia, a bit of humor and tactile computer animation." And David Sims of The Atlantic wrote, "It's an odd, melancholic experience that at times recalls Terrence Malick as it does A. A. Milne, but there will certainly be some viewers in its exact wheelhouse."
Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three out of four stars and said, "Pooh's wisdom and kindness cannot be denied. The same impulses worked for the two Paddington movies, God knows. Christopher Robin isn't quite in their league, but it's affecting nonetheless."
Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair gave the film a positive review and heavily praised the voice performance from Cummings, calling it "Oscar-worthy". Overall, he said, "As Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger too), the veteran voice actor gives such sweet, rumpled, affable life to the wistful bear of literary renown that it routinely breaks the heart. Cummings's performance understands something more keenly than the movie around it; he taps into a vein of humor and melancholy that is pitched at an exact frequency, one that will speak to child and adult alike. His Pooh is an agreeable nuisance and an accidental philosopher, delivering nonsensical (and yet entirely sensible) adages in a friendly, deliberate murmur ringed faintly with sadness. I wanted to (gently) yank him from the screen and take him home with me, his fuzzy little paw in mine as we ambled to the subway, the summer sun fading behind us. He's a good bear, this Pooh."
Conversely, Alonso Duralde of TheWrap called the film "slow and charmless" and wrote, "What we're left with is a Hook-style mid-life crisis movie aimed at kids, designed to shame parents who spend too much time at the office and not enough with their families."
Helen O'Hara of Empire magazine gave the film two out of five stars and said, "Everyone's trying hard, but they can't quite live up to the particularly gentle, warm tone of Pooh himself. Unlike the bear of very little brain, this is a film pulled in different directions with entirely too many thoughts in its head".
The performance of Ewan McGregor as Christopher Robin was particularly well received. David Fear of Rolling Stone said, "He's an actor who can roll with this movie's punches, whether it requires him to be light on his feet or dragged down by existential despair, exhilarated by childlike play or exasperated by a house-wrecking creature who says things like, 'People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day'." Adam Forsgren for East Idaho News wrote, "First and foremost is McGregor's performance in the title role. The guy sells being the put-upon, overburdened office drone so well that it's a treat to see him begin to rediscover his younger self and let himself play...McGregor is the glue that holds this whole movie together." Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine stated, "But it's doubtful the movie would work at all if not for McGregor: He turns Christopher's anxiety into a haunting presence, the kind of storm cloud that we can all, now and then, feel hovering above us. Yet McGregor is also an actor capable of expressing unalloyed delight. And when, as Christopher Robin, he finally does, some of that delight rubs off on us too."
Brian Lowry also noted in his review for CNN, "Give much of the credit to McGregor in the thankless task of playing opposite his adorably furry co-stars, ably handling the comedy derived from the fact that he doesn't dare let others see them." Odie Henderson of Rogerebert.com gave the film two out of four stars and said: "Christopher Robin can't reconcile its darkness and its light. But if these folks want to write an Eeyore movie that stays firmly planted in the Wood, I'll be first in line to see it."
Simran Hans of The Guardian gave the film a two out of five stars, and noted, "Christopher's furry friends don't appear to be figments of his imagination. If they're not a metaphor for a misplaced sense of fun (or a midlife crisis), the film's tone ends up being weirdly adult for a kids' film."