Goodbye Christopher Robin is going for Finding Neverland, hoping the story behind a famous book (in this case, Winnie the Pooh) is as compelling as what is on the page. Unfortunately, it appears the writers got lost in the Hundred Acre Wood with what they wanted the movie to do. Too bad, since there potentially is a good story in here somewhere. Sorry: “Oh bother,” as Pooh would say.
Back in England, just after the War to End All Wars, A.A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) is back at home, wanting to write but trapped with PTSD from his time fighting. When his wife Daphne (Margot Robbie) can’t get Milne to come to life from her party-hopping, she gives him a son, Christopher Robin (played mostly by Will Tilston) and moves to the countryside so Milne can write in solitude. One day when Olive the nanny (Kelly Macdonald) is off and Daphne is socializing, Milne is forced to really talk to his son, and from there, one of the great characters of literature comes to life, for better or worse.
At times Goodbye Christopher Robin feels like it had to adhere to the exact facts of the story by some hard-ass producer. The movie suggests many really great subplots and story arcs that end up only really half formed and very disappointing. The big arc Goodbye Christopher Robin is going for is how the commercial success of the franchise really stunted and screwed up the real life Christopher Robin (Moon was his nickname) and A.A. Milne and their relationship. There’s a great scene where Milne is frustrated he has to talk to his son on radio instead of talking about himself, setting up a really juicy potential thread of a man choosing either his craft or his family….but no. We then go to a series of amusing fan encounters Moon has with his adoring fans. And ok, we see the stress this is putting on the boy, but in general, he still gets lots of things and has Olive still on his side. But then out of nowhere Moon starts lashing out at Olive for one benign night out when he was already in bed, and then we jump WAY ahead in time to a sullen Christopher Robin who has to tell the audience how terrible growing up was. Um, I’m sorry, but what the HELL??? For a movie with the title Goodbye Christopher Robin, it sure doesn’t do right by what is rightfully the main character (maybe that’s an elaborate metaphor, but I don’t think so). And by this point, we’ve dropped the PTSD storyline, the creative sojurns in the woods (by FAR the best parts of the movie), and Margot Robbie, who must’ve gotten bored and actually went to party like her wife, in London, for weeks of shooting.
A.A. Milne should slap some of these writers in the face for some of the dumb choices most of the characters in this movie make. Daphne might as well have “emotional manipulator” tattooed onto her forehead. At separate points, she admits she never wanted kids and doesn’t like her son, acts out the Winnie the Pooh characters to him, pimps him out for publicity, disappears out of boredom, and then tearfully reconciles at the end. At one point Christopher Robin says he hates her, and it’s not a good sign that I was saying “Yeah, she’s garbage.” A.A. Milne is also sort of a frustrating mish mesh too. For a while he’s suffered PTSD and clearly Moon helps him get out of it a bit, but the movie never makes it clear that that was the case, and can’t really explain because now Milne has to help show off his son that just helped him through this dramatic part of his life….um, what? At this point, you know at the end that Christopher Robin and A.A. Milne will be the climax of the movie, but I was MUCH more moved when Olivia and Christopher Robin reconnected, NOT a good sign for a movie mostly about a father and son.
Goodbye Christopher Robin might hurt your appreciation for Winnie the Pooh. To me, A.A. Milne’s reputation was ruined, but not our favorite honey loving bear. For all you parents out there, put this film on mute, read Winnie the Pooh to your kids, and just focus on the scenes in the countryside, which will make you nice and gooey inside in a way Christopher Robin clearly wasn’t. That Sussex Hundred Acre wood is pretty great.