Disney's Christopher Robin [DVD] [2018]

It was amazing

SUMMARY: Fun element: "living" plush toys in a romp across London, and lots of Winnie-the-Pooh nostalgia. Pleasure just from seeing and hearing Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Tigger, Kanga, Roo. Serious element: a journey from sadness to joy, from farewell to hello again, repairing damaged relationships, childhood rediscovered. Disney's extension of 'Toy Story 3' (where the toys say goodbye to Andy) but as live-action mixed with CGI. Lovely period setting. Good cast and acting. I give it a 4.5 star rating.Details below, under headings: The journey downwards. The journey upwards. Production values. Cast.THE JOURNEY DOWNWARDSAt first you wonder if the film is for very young children. The first 20 minutes of 'Christopher Robin' ('CR') is sad, and the sadness only deepens. It could feel like a slog for children. The reluctant farewell by Christopher Robin (CR) to the Hundred Acre Wood is the farewell to innocence that growing up involves. CR moves from being a carefree child surrounded by friends (albeit the plush sort), to unhappy public schoolboy, grief-stricken boy bereaved, endangered (?traumatised) wartime soldier. Why include the bereavement at all, or include it but bereave him as a child when in real life A.A. Milne died when CR was 36?In the film's present-day, CR's an unhappy overworked bullied company employee. His relationship with his young daughter is going downhill. (Disney doesn't depict Madeline with cerebral palsy, as CR's real life daughter Clare had.) CR needs to save that relationship, save his marriage, save his job, even save the jobs of others. By this point, you wonder if 'CR' is for children of any age.THE JOURNEY UPWARDSYet after 20 minutes, 'CR' makes a remarkable leap. The film becomes a series of steps upward. The film hinges (literally) on the magic door between worlds (made charming as of course it's child-sized). Through the door CR reconnects with Pooh and friends, and literally banishes the fog in Pooh's world. There are a lot of laughs, particularly a plush toy romp across London. Amongst it all, Pooh's gentle childlike but perceptive wisdom banishes the metaphorical fog for CR. Your heartstrings will be tugged.PRODUCTION VALUES(1) The look of this film is lovely. At first 'CR' had an uphill task with me because I hated seeing Disney change our beloved bear into a cow (type: cash). Disney reduced Winnie-the-Pooh to saccharine mush (and ditched the famous hyphens). Disney's bland American animations trampled how I, and many generations, visualised the characters from the E.H. Shepard drawings. On visits to Ashdown Forest, I determinedly held onto my (now faded) plush Pooh and Piglet, made after Shepard's images. However, in 'CR' I was charmed to see Shepard's drawings - they're beautifully animated, and cleverly used to transition aspects of CR's life.(2) I'm now a Disney Pooh fan, due to the film's "live" manifestation of Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Roo, Kanga, Rabbit, Tigger and Owl. I believe this is the way to go in future along with, or even instead of, the one-dimensional animated drawings.(3) Good quality period settings. Nostalgically lit: as a child I lived in and visited houses wall-papered the same way, same furniture, and same low-level lighting.CASTA good cast. Well done to Ewan McGregor, who successfully makes Christopher Robin look world-weary, put-upon and downcast yet convincingly manages the transformation required. Bronte Carmichael (Madeline) is a delight. Jim Cummings has been Disney Pooh's voice since 1988, so for many he provides nostalgia and continuity. Mark Gatiss (over-rated writer, under-rated actor) gets his teeth into the juicy role of Giles Winslow, and proves that he (Gatiss) has a very mobile expressive face.

Ewan McGregor as a grown-up Christopher Robin has the best private schoolboy English accent. As Christopher Robin he takes on the perfect character in keeping with how the books are written. It is a shame there is no interview with Ewan McGregor on the bonus features, as they do with most films. A must see film, for any book loving Winnie the Pooh fan.

Fast delivery perfect condition. It's a gift

I really enjoyed this film, more even than I'd expected. It's a beautifully made gentle family film built around a delightful central performance by Ewan McGregor in the title role. The combination of live action and cgi works very well. The animals and toy animals are very realistic, which is nice, and the story of the adult Christopher Robin rediscovering his childhood friends and along with them his imagination and appreciation for what is really important in life is engaging, thankfully without becoming too syrupy. Add to that a solid supporting cast (none of whom gets an awful lot to do), some glorious filming locations and a lovely original score, and you get a winning combination.This is a film that will keep the entire family entertained on a wet Sunday afternoon. For the young ones there are the delightful animals and toy animals, first and formost a really adorable reincarnation of the beloved Winnie the Pooh. For the adults there is a relatable story and some very nice performances. The DVD is nice, subtitles are available for those who may need them. No extra features. Which latter is a pity. Ewan McGregor has a huge amount of screen time on his own with the animals and it would have been nice to get a little behind the scenes featurette to see how it was done.

Disney bring A.A.Milne's famous characters back to life in this charming tale of how old favourites Winnie The Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings) and friends bring long lost memories of their friend Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) back to life when Pooh finds a now grown-up Christopher in London where he works.Trouble for Pooh is that he's been unable to find friendsTigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo and Owl at home in Hundred Acre Wood and needs the help of old friend Christopher to find them.However, Christopher who lives in London with his wifeEvelyn (Hayley Atwell) and young daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael) works for luggage firm Winslow's, a company in need of inspiration a task that had been given to Christopher Robin to present at a board meeting.How can Christopher help Pooh find his friends at Hundred Acre and present his carefully worked-out plans at the same time ?His daughter and childhood friends will surely help save the day ?A tale worth sharing with the family.......(if you haven't seen the 2017 Goodbye Christopher Robin this is also worthy of a viewing)

This is a whimsical family film that tells the story of a grown up Christopher Robin, a man worn down by the cares of the adult world who rediscovers his joy in life with the help of a few old friends from the hundred acre wood. a whimsical film can be very hard thing to pull off Steven Spielberg failed to get the right balance in his similarly themed film 'Hook', but director Marc Forster does capture the right balance of magic and a hint of sentimentality that makes films like these work.Ewan McGregor is excellent as the earnest Christopher Robin who thinks he is going mad when Pooh turns up on his doorstep, Hayley Atwell is great as his worried wife who sees the effect the responsibility is having on her family and Mark Gattis gives a slapstick performance as idle boss. Then there are the heroes of the film Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and of course the wonderfully mournful Eeyore also Kanga, Roo, Rabbit and Owl all make appearances. So this a really good family film perfect for winter Sunday afternoon watching or any other time you need to escape to the Hundred Acre Wood.