Starring: Will Tilston, Alex Lawther, Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie and Vicki Pepperdine
Running Time: 1Hour and 47 Minutes
This is the true story of how all of the "Winnie The Pooh" books came to be.
The author A. A. Milne (Alan Alexander Milne) was a noted writer and playwright before he wrote the "Winnie The Pooh" books.
He grew up in England where he served in both World Wars I and II. He married Dorothy
"Daphne" de Selincourt and they had a child, a son whom they named Christopher Robin.
With all of the incredible success of "Winnie The Pooh", they moved out of London and into the beautiful English Countryside of Sussex where "the hundred acre wood" got it's beginning.
Christopher Robin was an only child whose mother Daphne (Margot Robbie) was very unhappy that he was a boy and not a girl (she wanted a daughter). Plus, she claims during the birth that he almost killed her and she forever had a chip on her shoulder against him and really wanted very little to do with him.
She insisted on hiring a nanny to care for baby Christopher Robin, they hired Betty
(Vicki Pepperdine) who adored the child and he grew to really love her too.
His mother Daphne was a very social debutante and would leave their home to go back to London to mingle with her friends for months at a time. She did however, introduce Christopher Robin to the stuffed animals made so famous in the "Winnie The Pooh" stories. She gave him the stuffed bear, tiger, donkey, piglet. kanga and roo from her travels to London where she named them and played with them with Christopher Robin occasionally. He loved his toys and they held a very special place in his heart.
He was left alone with his father Alan Alexander (Domhnall Gleeson) when his nanny suddenly had to leave to attend to her dying mother.
His father struggled with debilitating post traumatic stress disorder from his tours of duty. Christopher Robin and his father had to learn to function with one another. They had to depend on one another which was difficult in the beginning, they would take walks together in the countryside and actually started to form a bond. Christopher Robin would reassure his father that everything was ok when a loud noise or boom would go off. He helped his father to overcome some of his insecurities.
Christopher Robin was taken out to public signings and social events to promote the books where he was idolized! He was very nervous and insecure in those situations.
As time went on, Christopher Robin was sent away to boarding school where he was not accepted with the other boys and bullied mercilessly for being the famous character in the classic books. He always felt like an outcast. He then enlisted in the military where he was sent away.
This was a very interesting and informative movie. It was really fascinating to learn the true history behind these magical childhood classics! I must admit, this movie left me very sad, I feel like he had a very lonely and unhappy childhood. There were some happy moments and the scenery was beautiful but it was still a very somber movie. I have a completely different perspective about those little storybooks now.
Parents be advised: this movie is rated PG. I would not recommend this movie for children under the age of 13.
Don't be fooled by the title. Not that there is anything bad or objectionable, rather just a very somber, melancholy and lonely story of a character (who is a real human being) that we have all grown up with and loved and admired, It is definitely for more mature audiences,
I am giving "Goodbye Christopher Robin" three bags of popcorn.
