Nominated For: Best Visual Effects.
All grown up, Christopher Robin has left the Hundred Acre Wood and his spirited, stuffed childhood friends long behind him to become a working class family man. Years later, Christopher Robin journeys alongside Robin as he unexpectedly encounters Winnie-the-Pooh who helps him to rediscover the joys of life.
Growing up, I watched countless Winnie the Pooh cartoons, played with the affiliated toys, and jumped for joy any time I heard the silly old bear's famous jingle. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride at the Disney parks was once even my favorite ride there, and I'd still happily ride it now for nostalgia's sake and an easygoing experience. Needless to say, I loved Winnie the Pooh as I'm sure many of you reading did, and still may. So, of course, my interest was peaked when I got wind of this live action revival. Even though I'm admittedly growing a bit tired of Disney's live action reboots (there's three to be released next year alone), the trailers sold me that this could be unique and adorable.
I quickly found my suspicions to be justified as I was treated to a genuinely adorable hour and forty-four minutes. Based on the characters created by author A.A. Milne and illustrator Ernest Shepard, Christopher Robin is directed by Marc Forster, features a screenplay from Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, Allison Schroeder, and attributes story credits to Greg Brooker and Mark Steven Johnson respectively. In the vein of Steven Spielberg's cult-classic Hook, Christopher Robin is all about re-instilling a sense of childlike wonder and playfulness in its protagonist. It's a simple premise you've likely seen before, but the story's still sweet thanks to the inclusion of Pooh and company.
Stylistically, Forster differentiates from Pooh bear's previous outings first by making the jump to live action. In this medium, Forster utilizes a muted color palette which livens up over time and then depicts Robin's friends as CG-stuffed creatures rather than drawings or realistic animals. To some, these changes may be a bit too jarring, but I promise the dingy, desaturated coloring serves a purpose and the stuffed animals are more authentic than most would surmise. Pooh and his friends have always been stuffed animals after all, so why not animate them as such?
By the way, the visual effects work is top-notch because the bunch from the Hundred Acre Wood looked incredibly convincing. Due to the animators' attention to detail, their movement and mannerisms seemed especially authentic to how a stuffed animal would walk and talk when this could have easily fallen into the uncanny valley. One itsy bitsty nitpick I have would be that the stuffed aesthetic was consistent for all except Rabbit and Owl. The two of them looked more like the CG-animals you'd see in one of Disney's other live action reimaginings rather than the stuffed toys they're meant to appear as. This doesn't substantially affect my perception of the film, but simply seemed strange to me.
Of Disney's recent reimaginings, Christopher Robin's trip down memory lane probably feels most nostalgic, and it's all the better for it! It's all about reminiscing to the simple days of growing up and staying in touch with your inner youth. The writers pull off a tricky balancing act and ward off the troublesome aspects of this message by focusing on the importance of family and valuing youth. Meanwhile, the novelty of Pooh's naivety doesn't ever wear off, so you'll find yourself emotionally moved by this endlessly adorable feature. The most heartfelt moments of levity happen to revolve around the stuffed animals rather than the humans, and this is largely because Forster and his crew encapsulated the spirit of Milne's characters so perfectly that you'll be continuously charmed by the woodland creatures.
Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, and Bronte Carmichael each manage to elevate the surface-level writing behind their characters and are quite delightful as Christopher, Evelyn, and Madeline Robin. Though the three of them carry a quality family dynamic on-screen together, the spotlight most certainly belongs to the cast behind the stuffed creatures.
Reprising perhaps his two most iconic roles, Jim Cummings lends his voice to Pooh and Tigger once more. Though not the first to voice either character, he's done it the longest (since the late eighties in fact). Cummings comfortably vocalizes the simpleminded bear and exuberant, one-of-a-kind Tigger to great effect. Elsewhere Brad Garrett marvelously mopes around as Eeyore for a second time (he previously voiced the dour donkey for a video game in the mid-ninties). Everything about Garett's line delivery wonderfully conveys the gloomy spirit of the dour donkey, and he's responsible for perhaps the funniest bits of dialogue. As for the rest, Nick Mohammed, Peter Capaldi, Toby Jones, Sophie Okonedo, and Sarah Sheen are all newcomers to Hundred Acre Wood in the respective roles of Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, and Roo. They each do an excellent job embodying the accompanying personalities of their iconic characters, but this lot admittedly has less to say and do than either Cummings or Garrett.
