Christopher Robin: The hundreds acre hunnies are back!

Winnie the Pooh. Picture: Supplied

Winnie the Pooh. Picture: Supplied

Published Aug 4, 2018

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To celebrate the release of “Christopher Robin”, IOL is giving away four hampers. Each has a picnic blanket, honey pot, travel bag and umbrella. 

To stand a chance of winning, send your name, physical address and contact details to [email protected]. Put “Tonight Christopher Robin Competition” in the subject field. The competition closes on August 10, at noon. Only the winners will be contacted.

Seeing Winnie in animated form allowed me to put a voice to the teddy - one that’s gentle and reassuring - and which comes out with the weirdest things that turn out to be the wisest things.

When I heard that Disney was thinking of bringing the teddy to life in live-action form, I was a little concerned about how the film would turn out. Would it tell the story of the teddy and his friends from Hundred Acre Woods in a different way or stick to the tried-and-tested method?

In hindsight, it seems these concerns were misplaced because, in the past, Disney has delivered on their remakes of these much-loved tales, such as the live action remake of Beauty and the Beast, and Christopher Robin proved to be an enjoyable experience.

Winnie the Pooh characters Piglet, Pooh, Rabbit, Roo, Kanga, Tigger and Eeyore get to see some action in the adventure, Christopher Robin. Picture: Disney

The story sees a grown-up Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor), who seems to have lost his spark and love for life. It has affected his relationship with his wife, Evelyn (Hayley Atwell), and their daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael). 

His friends from Hundred Acre Wood - Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings) Tigger (Jim Cummings), Piglet (Nick Mohammed) and Eeyore (Brad Garrett) - however, save him from himself in the most disastrous and also incredibly cute way, which is to be expected of the gang from the other side.

What was particularly enjoyable about the film is how the personalities of the various characters are kept in check. Winnie is still the kind and charming, yet way too relaxed honey-eating bear, Eeyore is still grumpy, Piglet is still shy and afraid of most things, owl is still the smartest of the bunch and Kanga and Roo remain the cutest.

Giving them a three-dimensional look, thanks to special effects, also works out. They don’t look strange, but rather well worn, which in terms of the storyline makes sense too, as they’ve aged.

The most interesting character development was that of Eeyore, who in the film had other moods besides grumpy and depressed. 

The adorable donkey had moments of excitement, such as when he helped Christopher save the group from the Heffalump. The scene was not only funny and endearing, but it was thrilling too.

One thing that did confuse me, though, was the time period the film is set in, for it was certainly not modern-day London. This put me off, because I didn’t quite see the point of this. For me, a story of this kind could very well have been set in the present day.

Winnie the Pooh characters Piglet, Pooh, Rabbit, Roo, Kanga, Tigger and Eeyore get to see some action in the adventure, Christopher Robin. Picture: Disney

The thing about a movie of this kind is that it can easily go either way - it can be a roaring success and further entrench itself in the memory of many more to come, or it can be a complete and utter failure. Thankfully, for Christopher Robin, it’s the former.

It’s still filled with life lessons for children, which adults would also do well to remember, the characters are still painfully innocent, yet utter the most wise things in the most unexpected ways, and the film is funny and easy to relate to. What more could one ask for?

sego_says

IOL

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