Plans of a live-actionWinnie 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 andprincipal photography began in August of that year in theUnited Kingdom, lasting until November.
Christopher Robin premiered inBurbank, California on July 30, 2018, and was released in the United States on August 3, byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its performances, musical score, and visual effects.[7] It grossed $197.7 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film in Disney'sWinnie the Pooh franchise, surpassingThe Tigger Movie (2000). The film received anAcademy Award nomination forBest Visual Effects at the91st Academy Awards.
After his living toy friends from theHundred Acre Wood throw him a farewell party before he departs forboarding school,Christopher Robin reassuresWinnie the Pooh that he will never forget him. Nevertheless, his rough experiences at school and his father's death force his maturation, and he soon forgets his Hundred Acre Wood friends. He later marriesarchitect Evelyn, has a daughter named Madeline, serves in theBritish Army duringWorld War II, and gets a job as Director of Efficiency at Winslow Luggages inLondon, unintentionally neglecting his family. 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. Christopher misses joining his family at their countryside cottage inSussex for a summer-ending weekend.
The next morning, Pooh wakes up to find his friends are missing. Looking for them, he enters a door that Christopher normally came out of, and finds himself in London. He reunites with Christopher, who is shocked to see Pooh but takes him home and, the following day, rides with him back to Sussex on the next train. Passing by the cottage, they enter the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh, attempting to return Christopher'scompass, trips into Christopher'sbriefcase, spilling his papers. 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.
Christopher discoversEeyore andPiglet, who lead him to the others, hiding in a log from what they believe to be a Heffalump but is the squeaking of a rusty, fallenweather vane fromOwl's house. Unable to convince the others of his identity, he pretends to defeat the Heffalump, winning them over. When they reunite with Pooh, Christopher apologizes for his earlier outburst and explains his dilemma. Pooh forgives and embraces him. The next day, Christopher hurries out of the Hundred Acre Wood to make his presentation afterTigger gives him his briefcase.
Pooh discovers that Tigger replaced Christopher's paperwork with Hundred Acre Wood gifts when drying his briefcase and takes him, Eeyore, and Piglet through the door to return the paperwork. Madeline, wanting to dissuade her father about sending her to boarding school, recognizes them from Christopher's drawings and joins them on a train to London. Evelyn discovers a note Madeline wrote and interrupts Christopher's presentation as he discovers the gifts, inviting him to search for their daughter. Madeline's group stows away in crates, but Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet are accidentally ejected, encountering her parents. Pooh and Madeline arrive near the Winslow building, and reunite with Christopher and the others, but Madeline trips on some steps and loses all but one of the papers. Christopher assures Madeline that she is too important to him to be sent away.
Using the 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., who playedgolf 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 for a picnic.
Ewan McGregor asChristopher Robin, a businessman working as an efficiency expert at Winslow Luggages who was once an imaginative boy. McGregor said that "[he] was very charmed by the script and the fact that they take Christopher Robin as a man [of his] age and that Winnie the Pooh comes back to him in a difficult time in his life. [McGregor found] it really moving",[8] and said that "[Christopher] recognizes that he would like to be closer to [his daughter]", and said that "there was something of coming together as a father and a daughter" that appealed to him as a father of 4 daughters.[8] McGregor said that "[the actors' performances] wouldn't be nearly as effective, wouldn't feel as real and good, if it wasn't for [the voice cast]", as he has someone he can play opposite to.[8] McGregor stated that "[he] really [likes] playing [Christopher Robin], and [he] really [felt] like [he] wanted to play" the character.[8] Atwell said that McGregor's performance can let people see "the Man, but underneath [the audience] see the boy that he was".[9] Director Marc Foster said that McGregor was "the perfect Christopher Robin", as he felt he "was able to capture [the] spirit that was needed to portray Christopher Robin as an adult person".
Orton O'Brien as Young Christopher Robin.
Hayley Atwell as Evelyn Robin, Christopher's wife who works as an architect. Foster said that "it was important for [him] to find" in Atwell "a very strong woman" that also is relatable and "can stand up for herself and doesn't play a victim or play into that because ultimately when [Christopher Robin denies his love to Evelyn], she's still a woman who believes in him, but also strong enough to stand up for herself".[10] McGregor was happy when he was told that Hayley Atwell was also cast for the film, having previously worked together onCassandra's Dream. Atwell said that the film's story is "a charming one, and a funny one, and ultimately a story about a man coming back to his family" which she felt will appeal audiences.[9]
Bronte Carmichael as Madeline Robin, Christopher and Evelyn's daughter
Elsa Minell Solak as a 3-year-old Madeline Robin.
Mark Gatiss as Giles Winslow Jr., Christopher's boss at Winslow Luggages
Winnie the Pooh, a friendly, absent-minded, honey-loving teddy bear who lives in the Hundred Acre Wood, and Christopher's closest childhood friend. Cummings has been the voice of Pooh since 1988. Atwell said that many of Pooh's lines were taken fromA. A. Milne's original books, which she felt managed to capture "the wisdom of Pooh" who she said is "a bear of very little brain, but also a bear of very big heart".[9] Kristen Burr felt that "They were so lucky to get Jim, as soon as the audience hear[s] him read his lines, a feeling of nostalgia washes over the audience and makes them smile".
Tigger, a free-spirited and energetic toy tiger, and one of Pooh's friends, who loves to bounce around on his tail like a spring. Cummings has been the regular voice of Tigger since 1999, and voiced the character many times as an understudy forPaul Winchell.[9]
Initially in 2003,Brigham Taylor, inspired by the last chapter ofThe House at Pooh Corner, pitched to Disney an idea about aWinnie the Pooh film focusing on an adult Christopher Robin. However, due to otherPooh projects being in development at the time, the project was not pitched for a film.[1] In 2015,Kristin Burr later convinced Taylor to resurrect the project, which the two then started working on that year.[1]
On April 2, 2015,Walt Disney Pictures announced that alive-action adaptation based on the characters from theWinnie the Pooh franchise was in development, which would take a similar pattern toAlice in Wonderland (2010),Maleficent (2014), andCinderella (2015).Alex Ross Perry was hired to write the script and Brigham Taylor hired to produce the film, about an adultChristopher Robin returning to theHundred Acre Wood to spend time withPooh and the gang.[13] On November 18, 2016, it was reported that the studio had hiredMarc Forster to direct the film, titledChristopher Robin, and the project would have "strong elements of magical realism as it seeks to tell an emotional journey with heartwarming adventure."[14] On March 1, 2017,Tom McCarthy was hired to rewrite the existing screenplay.[15]
StudiosFramestore andMethod Studios, led the animation for the Hundred Acre Wood characters, with VFX SupervisorChris Lawrence and Animation Supervisor Michael Eames leading the teams.[36]
Christopher Robin was released onDVD andBlu-ray on November 6, 2018.[42] The film debuted in second place behindIncredibles 2 on the NPD VideoScan First Alert chart for the week ending on November 11, 2018.[43] The film became available to stream onNetflix USA and Canada on March 5, 2019, before being moved toDisney+ on September 5, 2020.[44]
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.[5]
In the United States and Canada,Christopher Robin was released alongsideThe Spy Who Dumped Me,The Darkest Minds, andDeath of a Nation: Can We Save America a Second Time?.[45] 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 holdoverMission: Impossible – Fallout.[46][47] The film fell 47% to $13 million in its second weekend, finishing third behindThe Meg andMission: Impossible – Fallout.[48][49] The film finished sixth in its third through fifth weekends, grossing $8.9 million, $6.3 million, and $5.3 million, respectively.[50][51][52]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 73% based on 273 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."[53] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[54] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, whilePostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.[46]
Ben Kenigsberg ofThe New York Times reviewed the film and said: "OnceChristopher 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."[55] And David Sims ofThe Atlantic wrote, "It's an odd, melancholic experience that at times recallsTerrence Malick as it does A. A. Milne, but there will certainly be some viewers in its exact wheelhouse."[56]
Michael Phillips of theChicago 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 twoPaddington movies, God knows.Christopher Robin isn't quite in their league, but it's affecting nonetheless."[57]
Richard Lawson ofVanity 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."[58]
Conversely,Alonso Duralde ofTheWrap called the film "slow and charmless" and wrote, "What we're left with is aHook-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."[59]
Helen O'Hara ofEmpire 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".[60]
The performance of Ewan McGregor as Christopher Robin was particularly well received. David Fear ofRolling 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'."[61] Adam Forsgren forEast 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."[62]Stephanie Zacharek ofTime 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."[63]
Brian Lowry also noted in his review forCNN, "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."[64] Odie Henderson ofRogerebert.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."[65]
Simran Hans ofThe 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."[66]
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