Elizabeth Rudnick

Disney's Christopher Robin movie is a most morose venture, following Christopher Robin out of the Hundred-Acre Wood, through World War II, to a mid-level job at a suitcase manufacturer. The film chooses to treat "Robin" as Christopher Robin's last name, dispensing with the Milne family, the famous books, and the actual life of A. A. Milne's son. Instead, he's an ordinary schmuck deep into a midlife crisis mostly revolving around work-life balance as he drifts further away from his wife and daughter. Fortunately, Pooh senses there is trouble and sets out to find him, bringing him back to the Wood so he can get back in touch with his inner child.

Using a mix of live action and CGI, it brings movement to the actual stuffed animals used during the filming, allowing very realistic Pooh friends to have adventures in the Hundred-Acre Wood and the streets of London. It would look terrific if it weren't directed by Eeyore, bringing a glum grayness to most of the scenes and a darkness to much of the script. I imagine children will eke out a little joy following the animals around the screen but find themselves quite bored during their long absences.

This novelization at least dispenses of the gunfire and explosions of combat and only vaguely alludes to the war. But it is still from the point of view of a sad middle-aged man who is living his life wrong. In the film, after an initial appearance, Pooh disappears for 17 minutes. Here that absence translates to 62 pages. That's rough going in both the film and the book, but once Pooh returns he at least alleviates some of the morose tone.

And with the book, it's easier to imagine the lines delivered more sprightly instead of the melancholy tone all the voice actors used in the film.

As with the movie it adapts, this will never be a favorite Pooh work, but there's enough nuggets to make the mining for them worthwhile for nostalgic middle-aged men. I'm not so sure about the children though.

FOR REFERENCE:

This is an adaptation by Elizabeth Rudnick of the Disney feature film, Christopher Robin, directed by Marc Forster; written by Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, and Allison Schroeder, from a story by Greg Brooker and Mark Steven Johnson; and based on the characters created by A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard.

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )… (més)