If the name of the film “Christopher Robin” directed by Marc Forster seemed familiar to you, you’re right. Exactly: he’s the main character of Winnie-the-Pooh stories, the best friend of the famous bear with sawdust in the head and concurrently the son of the writer Alan Milne. The last one wrote these tales, watching his son’s games.
This time we see Christopher (Ewan McGregor) hitting hard times. He grows up and doesn’t believe in fairy tales anymore. He works for a luggage production company where his duty is to save on everything, including his colleges and, if needed, to lay off the staff, or simply to throw people on the street. Ungrateful and tense job almost destroyed his relationship with his wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) and his daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael).
And here a rescue team appears just from the Hundred Acre Wood – first Pooh, then the rest of the team – Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl. Sweet childish mess starts in modern London.
The plot, in which adult protagonist stumbles upon a fairy world (or even creates it), isn’t new on the screen. One of the most famous precedents – “Hook” by Steven Spielberg about adult Peter Pen. There, Peter devotedly works as an attorney, doesn’t care about his family, but to rescue his son he returns to Neverland, learns how to drive a plane and fights with pirates again.
Marc Forster was born in Bavaria in 1969, moved to the USA when he turned 20 and has a unique ability to film either exquisite independent dramas (“Monster’s Ball”, 2001) or new series about James Bond (“Quantum of Solace”, 2008). In 2004 he released the film, in which he ideally merged “mainstream” and “arthouse” – biopic “Finding Neverland” about the author of “Peter Pen”, British playwright James Barrie, who was portrayed by Johnny Depp – without Penn, with the strict reality of Victorian England, but still moving and light. The success of this film nominated at 7 Oscars, for sure, made the rest of the directors of Disney Company invite Foster to the director’s chair.
It’s worth mentioning British biographical drama “Goodbye Christopher Robin” (Simon Curtis, 2015), where, without any decoration, the birth of Winnie-the-Pooh was shown and how it almost destroyed the life of the real Christopher Robin Milne.
It’s worth noting: all mentioned films are whether adult dramas or films made for a wide audience including parents. Foster and Disney’s directors, first of all, focused on children. Their Christopher is a book character, not Milne’s son. And this plot is subordinated to the interests of the youngest audience. Here you see ugly antagonist, dangers that don’t harm anyone, brought to life toys, that are voiced by the presenters of the morning shows for preschool children, you see adventures with these toys – funny tricks-jumps-bustle, and the Hundred Acre Wood, where you can escape from the overstrained world.
Actors’ play and relationships between their characters are made due to the canons of melodrama, which foresees maximum pressure on emotions of the audience. It must be crystal clear for us from the very first shot how unhappy Evelyn and Madeline are, how tired Cristopher is and how good it is when he recollects his old friends. This predictability harms the film a lot. This is balanced by the tricks of the plushy gang which sneaks between the worlds: animation, no matter drawn or puppet, has always been the strongest point of Disney. Unfortunately, this is not enough. Why couldn’t we say that Foster’s film is an absolute failure? Hollywood has a magic touch for morality.
Every mainstream story should be with a piece of morality. Where is morality here?
It’s clear: in the Wood.
In that wood: Hundred Acre Wood, Charmed Wood (Hundred Acre of Paradise as it was said in “Goodbye, Christopher Robin”), the access to which is only possible through the old oak. Actually, this fairy film is not about the defeat of evil or about Winnie and all his friends. It’s about the run-down family that can find asylum just next to them. Neverland, Charmed Wood, Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Narnia – the names are uncountable. The main thing is to remember that we’re all from that place. That the return to childhood isn’t always bad. And that our inner child is the best saviour for ourselves.
Dmytro Desyateryk, “Day”, specially for DUMKA