Movie Review: Goodbye Christopher Robin (PG)
I love Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends at Hundred Acre Woods - not the Disney version but A. A. Milne's.
Goodbye Christopher Robin starts with Milne (Domhnall Gleeson), called Blue, returning from the frontlines of World War I. A celebrated playwright, he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and yearns to write something serious.
When he moves his family - wife Daphne (Margot Robbie) and son Christopher Robin, also known as Billy Moon (Will Tilston) - to the countryside, inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh hits him after he spends time with his boy and stuffed toys.
This wonderfully shot biopic is in no way a feel-good film. The story behind the beloved books is very sad and painful.
Both Blue and Daphne are absent parents. Billy Moon is entrusted to his nanny (an excellent Kelly Macdonald).
When he and his stuffed bear become celebrities, he becomes a show pony as his parents exploit his fame to their gain.
Their solution to giving Billy Moon his privacy? Shipping him off to boarding school, where he is often bullied.
Be prepared to turn into a weeping mess at the end.
3/5
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