Christopher Robin: In which we're given an ode to our lost childhood

"Doing nothing often leads to the very best of something." -- Winnie The Pooh

My first memory of Winnie The Pooh as a living character was rather hazy. 

When I was little, Pooh bear and his hundred-acre wood friends were initially nothing but characters I saw a lot on my shirts, stationery, or just as stuffed animals. But then I also remember quite clearly, being a 9/10 year old, going on a pirated VCD shopping with my dad, and at that time I picked up a few Winnie The Pooh VCDs. My 9 year old me had a very limited English skills, yet I would still watch every single episode on those subtitle-less VCDs over and over again until I got a glimpse of what the stories were about. I was completely immersed in the bubbly and diversified characters in the hundred acre wood. From then on, every time I got a chance to buy another VCDs (still pirated ones, of course, since my family couldn't afford original VCDs), I made sure to include at least one Winnie The Pooh title. I obviously also watched the newer feature films like Winnie The Pooh (2011), The Heffalump Movie (2005), and The Tigger Movie (2000) - probably my favorite as I was, and still am, a big Tigger fan.  Besides, I read one Winnie The Pooh book, too, when I was older and understood more English. To put it shortly, I grew up with the silly old bear.

The new Christopher Robin, to no surprise, came as a complete delight for me. I didn't watch Goodbye Christopher Robin since it told the story of the life of A.A Milne, and nothing about the characters he drew/played with. Knowing that Christopher Robin indeed features CGI Winnie The Pooh & friends, I waited for its release date impatiently and watched every trailer there was at least 10 times each. On its release date in Indonesia, I bought the ticket and watched it alone at the 8.30 PM show. And oh bother, did I shed a few tears many times. Luckily I'm a pro at sobbing silently not to as much draw attention from strangers sitting beside me.

Christopher Robin is marketed as a family movie, but I genuinely feel the movie is better suited for adults and older children to fully understand the jokes, the metaphors, and the essence of the movie. 

The curtain opens with the farewell party of young Christopher Robin in the Hundred Acre Wood. The little boy is about to go on a boarding school, and the crews hold a cheery send-off, with Christopher promising not to ever forget about them. Life, however, tells a different tale. Young Christopher Robin is forced to adult with the passing of his father, and he soon leaves behind his childhood as he builds a family, serves on World War II, and works hard in a luggage company after the war ends. In other word, he becomes boring. 

We're then introduced to many instances when Pooh is seen looking at the small door where Christopher used to appear from, until he finally stops waiting for the boy to come back, and the door shows its age, with tree branches and roots covering it. One day, Pooh wakes up and finds that all his friends are nowhere to be found. Determined to seek help from Christopher, Pooh braces himself and goes through the small door under the tree, with faith that it will lead him to Christopher. 

Outstandingly played by Ewan McGregor, Christopher Robin has of course grown up to be a rather cold man who puts work above his family and views education as the most essential thing in his daughter's life. Reality has conditioned him to be unimaginative and rational. He is under a predicament, though. His pressing work forces him to forgo his family trip, leaving his wife and daughter upset as the two have to spend the summer break in Christopher's cottage all by themselves. Luckily, Pooh, along with Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, and the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood family, comes at the right time and brings some colors back to Christopher's rather dull, monotonous life.

I bet the writer and director of Christopher Robin don't think of children when they write the story. Not many children would laugh at Pooh's witty, innocent-but-deep perspectives on life. His non-sense poetic and somehow philosophical lines that flow effortlessly (e.g., "People say nothing is impossible but I do nothing every day; I always get to where I'm going by walking away from where I've been) surely bring smiles to me, but not to the children in the studio I was at last night; they were quite baffled -- not that it's their fault for not understanding. I laughed, I cried, and I 'aww' at many scenes, but those innocent children clearly weren't impressed. Poor thing. They came to be entertained, but left with questions. 

The movie is also filled with metaphors. The heffalump and the woozle, the monsters believed to be roaming around the wood that terrify everybody, reflect what many of us have become once we grow up: detached, dark, bitter, dominating, and soulless. We've lost the wild imagination children have, forgotten the simple things in life that bring us joy, and let society defines us. There is also a red balloon* Pooh asks Christopher Robin to buy. The simple balloon seems insignificant to the old Christopher Robin, but it makes Pooh content, and that present moment is all that matters. "Pooh, there're things way more important than balloons," Christoper Robin sternly claims. "But I love the balloon. It makes me very happy. Doesn't it make you happy?" states Pooh. Indeed, many simple conversations exchanged between Pooh and Christopher are bittersweet. When I watched Christopher admit letting Pooh go, for instance, I couldn't help but feel a pierce in the heart as I empathized with Pooh who thinks of Christopher every day nonetheless. Just like Christopher Robin, we might have also buried and neglected many precious things in the name of fitting in. 

Regarding the other Hundred Acre Wood characters, many of them are very relatable. The overly optimistic Tigger may eternally be someone I yearn to be, yet the not-so-cheery Eeyore is undeniably the one I can really identify myself with. His gloominess and dry jokes hit close to home; he is the epitome of a bitter adult. In many instances, his punchlines are the ones that keep the audience from dozing off, and his character really shines throughout the 120-minute movie despite his rather dark personality. Piglet with all his cowardice and faith in his friends, Owl with his out-of-place wisdom, Rabbit with his snobbishness, and Kanga with her motherly nature, all reflect the many people we encounter in our everyday life. Well, isn't that what makes the Winnie The Pooh franchise stands the test of time?

Christopher Robin is not all rainbow and butterflies, though. The conflicts fall flat and insubstantial, the resolution simple. There's not much space for character progression aside from Christopher Robin, which makes everybody else a useless sidekick in Christopher's mid-life crisis, and some people are dissatisfied with the decision to make Winnie The Pooh & friends truly alive instead of imaginary. Many critics also believe that the movie doesn't have a clear target audience, deeming it as being confused, for it is too light to be an R-rated movie, but too complicated to be a G movie. Maybe that's why it's rated PG because it deals with subtle adult issues blanketed with family friendly creatures.

Nevertheless, there are still more charms than harms in this heart-warming, tear-jerking feature. Christopher Robin may fail young audience & critics alike, but for adults who grew up with Winnie The Pooh, it's a precious 120-minute movie in which they can feel nostalgic, escape the bleak reality for a while, and even rekindle the children in them. 

After all, it's always a sunny day, when Christopher Robin comes to play.

*[The red balloon is not at all random. On the contrary, it has actually made numerous appearances throughout Winnie The Pooh series: It is notable on Winnie The Pooh (2011) as the balloon that brings Christopher Robin back & wins a pot of honey, found once in Christopher's room tied to a note in older episodes and also in The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh's "Balloonatics", to name but a few. It is obvious then why the red balloon is somewhat special for Pooh. The red balloon has always been portrayed as somewhat alive instead of inanimate, and it always brings amusement every time it shows up. This particular iconography could be insignificant to others, but for fans it makes sense why there has to be a balloon -a red one even- not other toys, in this movie.]