I might be alone in this, but during the first 15 minutes of Disney's "Christopher Robin," I was concerned that it really was just a nostalgia grab, filled with silly bits for the kids, and melancholic scenes for adults. It was going for the broad strokes to please a general audience, and was way too obvious in regards to it's intentions to pull on the emotional heart strings. I was immediately in my "don't fall for their trickery" mode as I was watching it. Then suddenly, I fell for it anyway.
Besides those first scenes where I actually did feel a little restless by what seemed to me a pretty drab and uninteresting setup to the story of the movie, it really picked up in a huge way once Ewan McGregor and Winnie The Pooh were finally put on screen together. The chemistry and interactions between the adult Christopher Robin and Pooh was simply wonderful. Just ignore a few plot conveniences and predictable tropes, and just get yourself sucked in to the movie's premise.
In many ways, I kind of just wished this movie just revolved around the characters from the Hundred Acre Woods, because they really made this film as whimsical and charming to watch. Jim Cummings in particular really stands out at how good he is voicing Winnie The Pooh; and Tigger too, but I got to also give kudos to Brad Garrett as Eeyore, and Nick Mohammed as Piglet. Ewan McGregor looked like he was really having fun in the role of Christopher Robin, which is good since the journey of his character was essentially for us to fully enjoy the story.
By the end of "Christopher Robin," despite my reservations on how some plot elements were handled, or the tonal shifts between scenes made for adults and scenes made for children, I grew to really like this movie, and several of the set pieces they showed us. I appreciate how it was willing to completely commit to it's thematic idealism of a story, without worrying too much about how it could easily be dissected and nitpicked on. Sometimes we just want to watch a movie that is simply good for the soul, and this film fits that role excellently.
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