By John H. Foote

Ewan McGregor spends a lot of time smiling, being cute, adult cute, in this new Disney film. Most of the time he is talking to Pooh, the beloved bear from his childhood, wearing a silly grin on his face as though happy to see the little bear, but wondering how his agent got him into this nightmare?

He shares the screen with the characters from the world of Pooh, brought to life via CGI, beautifully voiced.

Now fully grown, Christopher Robin has long ago left Pooh in the Hundred Acre wood, having outgrown the little honey loving bear and his friends, Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Eeyore, Kangaroo and Roo, and best of all Tigger.

When the demands of his job with a luggage maker take him further and further from his family, Pooh and friends come calling to teach the adult Christopher a lesson or two. Robin’s wife thinks he is seeing woman, never dreaming he is instead seeing a group of animals he created years before. The thing is, other people can see them this time too, which is never explained.

In yet another way to snatch money from movie goers, Disney has updated Pooh, bringing him back to once again teach life lessons to Christopher. The thing is, the lessons he taught to him when he was a child, were lessons for a child, his issues now are adult issues. Is Pooh really this wise? Does anyone care? As soon as you sense where the movie is going, you will begin to shut down, and then want to gouge your eyes out.

At first it is kind of cool to see Pooh and friends back, I was always a sucker for Tigger and Eeyore, but it very quickly becomes tedious. McGregor’s performance consists of smiling at his friends antics, reminding the audience how cut they are. By the end of the movie I wanted Pooh to whack him in the head with an empty honey pot.

The single star is for the splendid voice work of the actors, Jim Cummings is a stand out as Poo, and towering Brad Garrett, the big brother on Everybody Loves Raymond is wonderful as Eeyore. They bring their characters beautifully to life with their voices, along with CGI animation, which is perfect.

Kind of sad that in bringing Poo and his friends to the live action realm, it is that very live action that fails them.

Oh bother.

Why bother?

1 Comment

  • Heather
    On August 3, 2018 3:38 pm 0Likes

    Great review, John! I plan on seeing this one on a triple bill on Sunday at the drive-in…luckily the drive-in can make any movie more, um, *bear*able…;)

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