Goodbye Christopher Robin - Movie Review

Goodbye Christopher Robin is a biopic on the life of A.A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) and his son Christopher (Will Tilston). Milne returned from The Great War broken. What we now call PTSD has been around as long as war itself. Milne was shellshocked. Loud noises would shatter his focus, causing him to experience panic attacks. Intent on writing a treatise on war and peace, he took his family to the countryside to focus. Milne seemed to find plenty to occupy his time other than writing. He had a distant relationship with his son that slowly melted as his son became his muse. Milne was inspired to document his adventures with his son, combining the real with the imagined. His books introduced the world to Christopher Robbin and Winnie the Pooh. In the process, Milne and his wife Daphne (Margot Robbie) exploited their son. When Milne realized the damage he had done, he swore never to write about Winnie the Pooh again. But the damage was done, creating an estranged relationship that followed the boy into adulthood. The film is based on these experiences, many of which were documented in the younger Milne's autobiographies written many years later.

What character has engaged more young minds than Winnie the Pooh? The character has been voted the most beloved childhood character. The books have been followed with animated adventures, which are the stories I grew up with as a child. Christopher Robbin and Pooh helped the world heal during a time when international conflicts resulted in the first global war. When I think of those stories, it doesn't dawn on me the heartache that was lurking just beneath the surface. It seems that Christopher Milne was harassed mercilessly growing up. His attempts to hide his identity were often thwarted. He seems to despise his childhood and never took any money for the books his father wrote. That heartache followed an inspirational childhood that I wonder if he ever fully embraced. The film Goodbye Christopher Robin touches on the emotional toll that these books took on the young man, but the focus is more on the creation of the characters. The film manages to be sweet and touching at times, even while the characters didn't appeal much to me (beyond Christopher Robbin).

The hardest part of watching Goodbye Christopher Robin was the pacing. It was uneven, but mostly just slow. It was plodding and boring at times. The characters were not fully developed, although the film does manage to convey the incredibly close relationship between Christopher and his nanny (Vicki Pepperdine). The acting was decent, but the shellshock aspect of the film seemed a bit trite at times and overdone at others. I liked Gleeson okay. I wasn't thrilled with Robbie, or her character. The lack of balance in her character and her performance were equally forgettable to me. The highlight was Tilston, who convinced me he was Christopher Robbin. His dimples and delivery were cloyingly sweet, but that is sort of the point here. He seemed a bit spoiled, which also made sense. Overall, his performance and character had the greatest attention. But even then fell short of perfection.

Goodbye Christopher Robin is a 107 minute film. It felt a lot longer. The pacing made me sleepy. The film garnered a PG rating from the MPAA. There were some flashes of war imagery that depicted death. They were delivered in short bursts during Milne's "flashbacks." There was a bit of language, bullying and thematic elements, but mostly, this film did not have anything objectionable. This film would be fine for any age, in my opinion.

I like biopic films. Particularly ones I can relate to in some way. Of course, Winnie the Pooh should relate to half the population of the world. Or more. I don't like films that put me to sleep. There were some tender moments in this film that came across as genuine. The story gave me background on Christopher Robbin that I had no idea about. But I was bored for great stretches of the film. It was bogged down. The characters came across as a bit flat. Parts of the story felt heavy handed. Overall, the film just didn't seem that great to me. It was okay. But nothing exceptional. Wait for it to stream. For free. 6/10.