'Christopher Robin' a loopy, kid-centric fantasy that's quick on the Tigger
<h3 class="briefHead">"Christopher Robin" - ★ ★ ★ </h3>
A.A. Milne's classic literary characters Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit, Owl and Piglet have faced some challenging adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood before, but none so daunting as their group intervention to save Christopher Robin from a bad case of acute adulthood.
In Marc Forster's amusing but conventional kid-centric "Christopher Robin," young Christopher (Orton O'Brien) enjoys chatting with his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. However, he quickly morphs into Ewan McGregor's adult British citizen hardened by war's cruelty. (A scary battle montage reflects Milne's terrible experience in the French trenches of World War I, recounted in 2017's sobering "Goodbye Christopher Robin.")
Settled in postwar London, Christopher works at the Winslow luggage company under the owner's snooty, narcissistic son Giles (Mark Gatiss), who demands 100 percent of Christopher's time and energies, so that he has none left for his loving, but increasingly saddened daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael) and devoted, but increasingly resentful wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell).
When Giles demands Christopher work all weekend to decide who will be laid off as a cost-cutting measure, Christopher must recant his solemn promise to spend the weekend with Madeline and Evelyn. Inexplicably, he never tells them about the awful chore facing him, something people in similar positions would instantly volunteer.
Just in time, Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings, suggesting the distinctive delivery of the late, longtime Pooh performer Sterling Holloway) discovers a magic tree in the Hundred Acre Woods that teleports him to London.
It's one of several loopy, head-scratching developments that children will readily accept, along with the premise that Pooh and his pals actually exist, and the idea that a luggage factory owner would instantly agree to paid vacations for all employees.
Eventually, Pooh brings the Hundred Acre gang to London to help Christopher recover his inner child and reconnect with the important things, such as family and woodland friends.
Cummings also plays the hyperactive Tigger. Toby Jones voices Owl. "Everybody Loves Raymond" star Brad Garrett supplies Eeyore's basso profundo. The 12th Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi, plays Rabbit. Nick Mohammed gives a hammy performance as Piglet. Sophie Okonedo plays Kanga.
Even though "Christopher Robin" has been cowritten by Oscar winner Tom McCarthy - the sharp writer and tight director of 2015's best picture "Spotlight" - its plot recycles the principal elements from Steven Spielberg's bloated fantasy "Hook," right down to a childhood character looking beyond the hero's wrinkles to find the boy inside.
With beautifully composed camera work and an elegantly moving score, "Christopher Robin" bears up even through three sad scenes, each accompanied by that old reliable Hollywood cliché, the rainstorm.
Fun, yet unsurprisingly conventional.
<b>Starring:</b> Ewan McGregor, Jim Cummings, Brad Garrett, Toby Jones, Haley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael
<b>Directed by:</b> Marc Forster
<b>Other:</b> A Walt Disney Pictures release. Rated PG. 104 minutes