Christopher Robin (Dir. Marc Forster, 1h 44 m)

Winnie the Pooh would hardly have seemed the most obvious film, under Disney's new money for old rope live-action remake/reimagining project, given its slow tone and stuffed-toy cast, but here,  dumped in the pre-back to school post-blockbuster season, is Christopher Robin, a curious reimagining/continuation of the classic AA Milne bear-and-his-bear classic, with Christopher forced to return, mid-midlife crisis, to Hundred Acre Woods to rescue his friends, and rediscover himself. It is as odd and lopsided a beast as you would expect, albeit a heartening and emotionally resonant one.

The key problem with Christopher Robin is the fact that it has as complex a plot as a midlife crisis-stricken Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor, who nevertheless nails perfectly the conflicted mix between responsible, stiff-upper lip adult Mr Robin and the young at heart Christopher), having to work over a weekend to cut the costs at the suitcase company he works at, whilst trying to placate a worried wife and distant daughter. Plot, both in Milne's original story, and in Disney's animated renditions, was a slow-moving, gentle thing, rather than the clattering relentless thing it is here, complete with chases, boardroom talk, and a surprisingly downbeat tone throughout the real world sections.

Indeed, despite McGregor's best efforts, there seems a disconnect between his entire character in the world of grown up responsibilities, and his childhood home of One Hundred Acre Wood, where the film is undoubtedly at its strongest. The realisation of the wood and its inhabitants is pitch-perfect, particularly in the form of the warm, sleepy bear-of-little-brain, Pooh, whose emotional rapport with both Christopher, and later his daughter, Madeline, is pitch-perfect, with Pooh's warmth particularly resonant as Christopher begins to realise how distant work has made him from his family, and the simple pleasures of life.

The other inhabitants of Hundred Acre Wood are equally well realised, from eternal pessimist Eeyore, to eternally bouncing optimist, Tigger, but by far and away, it is the location itself that is particularly well realised, from the bridge that Pooh and Christopher play pooh-sticks, to the various homes of the inhabitants of the wood, to the fearful woozles and heffalumps that threaten the wood-there is an intrinsic warmth to the place, particularly after the rampaging monsters are scared away, and the thick fog that almost calls to mind a horror movie, is dispelled.

It is also hardly surprising that it is these scenes that begin Christopher's transformation from a workaholic father to a more lively, fun-loving individual, working with Eeyore to convince the others that he is battling a heffalump, and thus must be Christopher Robin, in an amusing sequence where he does battle with the invisible but clearly horrifying beast. Indeed, even in the section of the film where Pooh travels to the real world to find Christopher, there is a great sense of the gentle comedy synonymous with the Winnie the Pooh stories, full of wit and Pooh's usual surprisingly philosophical ruminations. peppered with the comedy of a grown man carrying a large, and occasionally cheerfully animate teddy bear, red balloon and all.

If there is, however, one issue with this film, it's the tone. The Hundred Acre Wood section could, quite happily, have been a film on its own with a child Christopher, a slower pace and a gentler tone. Some of the scenes with adult Christopher and Pooh are perfectly charming, and the idea of a grown adult suddenly face-to-face with his childhood friend/toy could have led to what the second half of the film occasionally does reveal, that both bear and man can and do learn from each other, and experience new adventures together. The problem all of this has is that it's tagged onto a largely run-of-the-mill story about a man's midlife crisis and self-discovery that is, for all the clear warmth he, his wife and his daughter share as a family, largely by-the-numbers. Neither side truly derails the other but a stronger, more interesting central plot could have made this a stronger film.

As it is, however, Christopher Robin is a charming-enough film, recapturing the magic, heart and warmth of the original Winnie the Pooh stories in places, whilst being charismatic enough to carry itself across the so-so real world sections whilst we wait for the bear of very little brain, but big heart, to return.

Rating: Recommended.