movies: goodbye christopher robin

Way back in the first year of the blog, I wrote a little something about my love for the Winnie The Pooh books by A.A. Milne.

Even all this time later they remain amongst my favourite children's books. And while I kinda of knew that "Christopher Robin" was based on Milne's child, and the characters were all based on his toys, I didn't really know anything about the Milne family or the writing of the books.

Enter Goodbye Christopher Robin.

And there are just some things that once you know them, you just can't un-know. Don't get me wrong, it was fascinating, but it was also incredibly heartbreaking and frustrating and absolutely of it's time and location (and class), and horrendously British (for all that that implies).

Domhnall Gleeson does a fantastic, complicated job as Alan aka Blue aka A.A., while Margot Robbie makes his wife Daphne into both a real person and at the same time, absolutely horrible.

Young Will Tilston does remarkable well as young Christopher Robin aka Billy Moon, even with the incredibly accurate and unflattering haircut. And Kelly Macdonald is a ray of light in an otherwise dull, empty and repressed world.

My favourite parts of the movie were those that involve the writing and development of the stories of Winnie The Pooh, as they dropped in so many references to the stories. Stuff that a casual fan of the stories may not ever pick up on. So I liked that very much.

And the fact that the movie was filmed in the real locations where the Milnes lives, the real bridge where Poohsticks was played, the real tree where Owl's door was constructed.

What I didn't know about the Pooh books was the craze that sprung up around them and how it affected young Christoper and the rest of the family. How accurate that part of the movie is I don't know, but it feels like something that would have happened. And it also feels more than a little icky.

I kind of wish that could have spent a little more time with the teenaged/older Christopher Robin, but the point of this story is his childhood and what affect the Pooh books actually had on them.

And for the record, I didn't completely cry, but it was a touch and go thing for a while there.

It's both a sweet and painful story, and an interesting one, but one that you can't forget you know once you know it.

yani's rating: 4 red balloons out of 5