Critics reviews

Christopher Robin, from a screenplay whose contributors include Alex Ross Perry, a writer-director of notably acerbic American independent films, bobs along agreeably, a mellow, often melancholy and entirely diverting job of work that keeps the spirit of the characters intact.

[The writers] wrestle with some dark themes (the disappointments of adulthood, the ugliness of selling out) while maintaining the sweet, poignant tone of Milne’s stories and the Pooh animated shorts of the 1950s. Too bad it was directed by veteran hack Marc Forster (The Kite Runner, World War Z), who paves over the script’s idiosyncrasies with a generic feel-good style and proves flat-footed with regards to comedy.

Disney was taking few chances, and hedged even more by choosing Marc Forster to direct. Nonetheless, there’s an unusually, and refreshingly, abrasive aspect to “Christopher Robin” that raises it above the usual run of children’s movies, and it’s matched by the abraded surfaces that the movie presents onscreen.

The idea isn’t exactly original — a certain type of family film has always concerned itself with the sad distance between childhood and adulthood, and between children and adults. . . . But the modesty, the unfussy simplicity, of Christopher Robin feels different, and somewhat refreshing.

The advertising campaign makes it look like a corn-syrup-sweet—as opposed to hunny-sweet—thing you might prefer to steer clear of. But the picture has a charming, low-key vibe that is, here and there, brushed with just a trace of adult melancholy. It’s good for kids, but maybe even better for adults who could use a little calming something.

A Winnie the Pooh movie _should_ be warm and fuzzy. Christoper Robin is just as warm as it needs to be and a bit fuzzier than it ought to be. Although it lacks the sustained, crazy logic of a first-rate flight of imagination, it’s still witty and affecting.

It never feels playful so much as rueful. Unlike the red balloon that Pooh follows through much of the running time (a nod to Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 classic short The Red Balloon), the film lacks lightness. The choreography between animated fantasy and live-action reality sorely wants for a natural sense of rhythm.

Most of us already know the characters. Unfortunately, we also know the story. It’s an oldie, but not a goodie: one of those boilerplate kids’ movie plots about a workaholic adult who needs a serious jolt to their inner child, complete with a buck-passing, golf-playing idiot boss (Mark Gatiss) and a big presentation that’s _due tomorrow_.

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 (Brad Garrett’s vocal deadpanning as Eeyore is a standout) and tactile computer animation that, even for the effects-jaded, makes it look as if the actors are interacting with real stuffed animals.