REVIEW: Goodbye Christopher Robin

Directed by Simon Curtis
2017 Autobiographical Drama
1 hour 47 minutes
From Fox Searchlight

Starring
Domhnall Gleeson
Margot Robbie
Kelly Macdonald
Stephen Campbell Moore
Alex Lawther
Will Tilston


This was more like Hello Christopher Robin to me because I... I... I (gulp!) have never read Winnie the Pooh.  I suppose I am the only one on the planet to lay claim to such a shocking statement, but I was never a kid, you see.  I was born an adult and had to put any thought of childhood aside so I could cope with one (and sometimes two) immature parents.  (I now know I had something in common with Pooh's little pal.)  Now don't be sad because the good news is I am enjoying my childhood immensely now.  If at first you don't succeed...  And to bring this full circle, now that I am a kid again, I knew it was time to learn something about Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear... and Tigger, too.

And boy did I learn some stuff.  First out of the chute is this... it's not particularly for kids, unless, of course, they're fairly mature.  At issue here is the fact that A. A. Milne (Gleeson) and his wife, Daphne (Robbie), are not very good parents.  Had they been alive they might have taken issue with how they were portrayed.  I don't dispute the truth of it... I just think that an impressible young child needs to know that his parents truly want him and love him and put him first.  The Milnes did no such thing.

Milne was cut from WWI military service because of an injury he suffered and left with some sort of battle fatigue or PTSD.  Though incredibly wealthy he is starchy, lost in his own world, seemingly uncomfortable in his own skin and as the story opens is not having an easy go with his writing.  He looks and acts depressed, rarely smiles and has intimacy issues.  She looks like she is to the manor born, all turned out to cut roses surrounding their castle and as brittle as the stems she is cutting.  She is concerned more about her societal obligations than creating a warm and comfortable home.  

After seven years of a childless marriage, she has a baby that she immediately spurns because it's not a girl.  He actually is named Christopher Robin but is always called Billy Moon by one and all.  And he calls his father Blue. 

Soon they hire a nanny, Olive (Macdonald), to look after the child and of course, love is freely exchanged between the two and becomes the heart of the story.  They decide to move, the four of them, to a country estate, much to the annoyance of Daphne but to the utter pleasure of Billy Moon.  He begins walking in the woods on their property and from there comes the spark that will become the greatest-selling children's book in history.

The father and his illustrator friend, Ernest (Moore), romp in the woods with the gleeful child and take note of all he does with his stuffed animals and active imagination.  This kid was so attached to stuffed animals that one wonders why it didn't occur to the parents to buy him a puppy and a couple of kittens.  Couldn't they afford it?  Or would real animals have interfered in those societal obligations?

No one is prepared for the crushing success of the book and as it comes about, the film changes direction a bit.  At first, I wasn't sure that I even liked these changes but came to grips with the fact that that's what really happened.  The child, who has already felt cheated from not receiving his parents' devoted love now feels his life and privacy have been taken away.  He doesn't like being called Christopher Robin by reporters or having his beloved teddy bear exploited like that.  I wrote the book for you, Billy Moon," his father says.  No, you wrote it about me, says his unhappy son.

The film changes tone again when the nanny leaves the story (but does return briefly at the end) and I didn't like it.  She was the only adult that audience members could root for and it felt a little empty when she left.  And then another actor assumes the role of Billy Moon because he has become an older teen, and while I understand that, I wasn't ready to let go of the heart of the story... that adorable young actor, Will Tilston.

By the time the end comes, the emotional timbre of the film has changed again.  As these changes came during the film, I admit I was slightly annoyed but on my drive home, I realized it turned out better than I originally thought.  

The acting is uniformly good but I must do a clarion call about the acting of young Tilston.  He was asked to do more than is required of most child actors and he rose to the occasion.  And how about that adorable face?  He absolutely sparkles in this film.  I hope he makes many more movies but this movie was fortunate to find him.

So yeah, I liked it.   I love films with starring kid roles.  I love films about writers, nuts about period English films and all that lush countryside.  Added to that is a sensitive look at the loss of innocence, an insightful glimpse into celebrity of long ago and a uncompromising look into parenthood and a loving tribute to nannies.

It is well-directed by Simon Curtis.  I was besotted with his My Week With Marilyn (2011) and decided he was a director whose work I would try to catch.  (He is married to Elizabeth McGovern... or Lady Crawley of Downtown Abbey.)

It's not likely to turn into a blockbuster but as a little art house biography, it's charming and has some meat on those bones. 


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