Goodbye, Christopher Robin

Anyone who loves Winnie the Pooh should be interested in Goodbye, Christopher Robin, which purports to tell how A. A. Milne wrote the stories inspired by his son's stuffed animals. And that part of the picture is magical, as he and Christopher and artist Ernest Shepard put together the images ("Should he wear a hat?" Shepard asks about Pooh, and Milne nixes the idea).

The film works as one of those period-dress British films that make you want to visit--Ashdown Forest is the basis for the Hundred Acre Wood--and people with impeccably good manners having tea and smoking pipes. Director Simon Curtis tries to interject a feeling of dread into that world, as Milne (played stoically by Domhnall Gleeson) suffers from shell shock from the Great War and winces every time there's a loud noise. Formerly a comedic playwright, he wants to write a tome about the futility of war.

But a week comes when Christopher's nanny (Kelly Macdonald, one of my favorites) has to attend to her mother, and Milne's wife, Margot Robbie, has gone off in a huff to London. That leaves Milne to take care of the boy, who is nicknamed Billy Moon. They spend quality time together, and Milne gets the idea to put his son, and his real name, into a series of stories.

The books are a sensation, and everyone wants to meet the real Christopher Robin. The boy is perplexed by all the attention, and Macdonald bristles at how he is exploited. She finally quits and tells the parents what she thinks. Milne, aghast, promises to never write another word about him or his bear, which is why we only have the two books.

Goodbye, Christopher Robin works best for serious Pooh fans. I finally found out where the name Winnie came from; it was a black bear from Winnipeg at the London Zoo (Pooh is still baffling to me, as the explanation in the film didn't make sense. According to Wikipedia, it was the name of a swan). I don't think anyone who has or will see the film hasn't heard of Winnie the Pooh, but for those who aren't immersed in the stories this may all seem a bit of a yawn. The final act includes a plot point that I believe is wholly fictional and is a cheap manipulative ploy designed to get the tear ducts flowing. The title cards at the end assure us that all ended well, but in reality Christopher Milne did not speak to his mother for 15 years and she refused to see him on her deathbed.

So, this is a must for Pooh fanatics, the rest should probably pass. It's lovely to look at but lacking in story and depth. "Oh, bother," as Pooh would say.