Rent Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017)

3.6 of 5 from 784 ratings
1h 42min
Rent Goodbye Christopher Robin Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
  • General info
  • Available formats
Synopsis:
At the end of the First World War, beloved children's author A. A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) creates the magical world of Winnie-the-Pooh - which brings him immediate acclaim. But the books' international success comes at a cost to the author, his young son Christopher Robin (Will Tilston) and his wife Daphne (Margot Robbie), in this beautifully filmed, poignant story about fame and family that also stars Kelly Macdonald.
Actors:
, , , , , , , , , , Stanley Hamlin, , , , Sam Barnes, , , , , Ann Thwaite
Directors:
Producers:
Steve Christian, Damian Jones
Writers:
Frank Cottrell Boyce, Simon Vaughan
Studio:
20th Century Fox
Genres:
Children & Family, Drama
Collections:
2018, Children & Family, Children's Books On Screen: Family Classics & YA, CinemaParadiso.co.uk Through Time, Getting to Know: Margot Robbie, Hare We Go! - Bunny Movies For Easter: Part 1, Holidays Film Collection
BBFC:
Release Date:
26/02/2018
Run Time:
102 minutes
Languages:
English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.85:1
Colour:
Colour
Bonus:
  • Commentary by Simon Curtis and Frank Cottrell Boyce
  • A Walk in the Woods
  • Healing a Nation
  • A. A. Milne
  • Hello Billy Moon
  • Daphne Milne
  • The Story
  • Christopher Robin and His Nanny Olive
  • The Cast
  • Stills Gallery
BBFC:
Release Date:
26/02/2018
Run Time:
102 minutes
Languages:
English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.85:1
Colour:
Colour
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • Commentary by Simon Curtis and Frank Cottrell Boyce
  • A Walk in the Woods
  • Healing a Nation
  • A. A. Milne
  • Hello Billy Moon
  • Daphne Milne
  • The Story
  • Christopher Robin and His Nanny Olive
  • The Cast
  • Stills Gallery

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Reviews (16) of Goodbye Christopher Robin

Sickly-sentimental, schmaltzy film aimed squarely at the American market - Goodbye Christopher Robin review by PV

Spoiler Alert
17/03/2018

I disliked this film - probably because 1) I did not believe the characters of the dialogue; 2) it's tooth-rottingly sugary, sentimental and schmaltzy; 3) it is aimed square at the American market and that shows - throughout - and not in a good way.

One reason I think is this is co-written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce whose quasi-religion overly sentimental writing I detest - just watch the awful kids' movie 'MILLIONS'. Yeuck! He makes up stuff that really would never have happened, and dialogue that reflected attitudes that are simply not true - and that annoyed me. I have seen a better film based on the same subject, and also heard interviews with the real Christopher Robbin.

The main actor here D. Gleeson is also the lead in the new Peter Rabbit film which looks awful - and is actually far too young and pretty for such an old fatherly role in this movie and that one.

My favourite part was the end. At least then we get to see how Christopher Robbin looked in real life - as opposed to this cherub-faced treacly portrayal, and ditto AA Milne looks much older in the real photos.

Winnie the Pooh's wit and wisdom is nowhere to be seen in this sentimental mix either. So better to just read the books, to be honest. I have the complete AA Milne Winnie the Pooh writings - and what amazes me is on the back it recommends children aged over 3 can read the books by themselves. Boy, have we dumbed down in recent years!

4 out of 7 members found this review helpful.

You'll have a hard heart if this doesn't provoke a tear - Goodbye Christopher Robin review by Champ

Spoiler Alert
27/09/2018

I loved this film. While the Pooh books are a part of my childhood, I don't feel any tremendous affection for them, so it's not down to that. I think the film does a great job of capturing the stilted and frozen emotions of the English upper classes of the time, and how that was passed on down the generations by the use of nannies. Christopher Robin clearly loved his nanny "Nou" much more than his mother, who was more interested in being a socialite in London. The film captured this very well, and also how the mother's distance allowed a closeness to develop between the child and his father, that eventually led to the Winnie the Pooh books. It doesn't shy away from the exposure and impact that being the inspiration for the books had on the young boy either, and his determination to break away from that and join the army and fight in WW2. The film takes some liberties with the truth on what happens next (no plot spoilers here), but CR's rapprochemont with his father at the end of the film is incredibly moving - or it was for this viewer, anyway.

Highly recommended.

PS: if you want to see how brilliant and versatile an actress Margot Robbie is, watch her in I, Tonya (also extremely good) the night after watching her play CR's uptight mother in this film.

4 out of 4 members found this review helpful.

Engaging. - Goodbye Christopher Robin review by NV

Spoiler Alert
20/03/2018

I was moved by this story, though it probably was sentimentalized. I thought the child actor was great and I liked D. Gleeson as Dad.

3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.

Critic review

Goodbye Christopher Robin review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Ah, the sordid history behind the world’s grandest novels. There’s plenty of stories to tell of authors that took dark routes to get their visions down on paper and to the people. By comparison to other authors with controversial tellings, the tale of how Winnie the Pooh came to become a household name and children’s novel staple for generations to come is not as muddy. It could explain why Goodbye Christopher Robin takes a rather soft approach to the true story of the conception of the legendary Pooh books.

The author of the books was Alan Milne, played in the film by a charming and confounded Domhnall Gleeson. Having survived World War I, he gets back to his true passion of writing but it’s not so easy to get back into the swing of things with his PTSD reaching high levels of shell shock. It doesn’t help that his wife Daphne (Margot Robbie) is a bit too controlling, growing discomforted by the fact that she wanted a daughter while instead, she conceives a boy. The boy’s name is Christopher (Will Tilston) but she prefers to call him Billy Moon.

Hoping to finish his new novel, the family takes off for the countryside where Daphne hopes Alan will have some peace and quiet for his anti-war writing. It doesn’t go well. That is until Daphne leaves and Alan takes on fathering duties of Christopher. And through the simple play in the forest of imagination and stuffed animals, Alan learns to now only adjust to a life without guns and explosions but also hatch a new idea. Rather than a book about war, his priorities shift to a children’s book about a silly old bear and his adventures in the woods. And for that personal touch, Christopher plays a role in the book as well.

From here, you can see how thing spiral out of control. The books gain a massive following and fame casts its dark cloud over the still-developing Christopher, not yet ready to be pegged as the famous character from the books. His parents neglected him, finding little time to spend with their boy outside of public and press events, always with snapping cameras. It's even more tragic when you consider how much of a cross and uncaring woman Daphne turns out to be that the nanny delivers one heck of a blunt calling out of a woman gone mad with power.

And yet the film seems rather standoffish when it comes to this drama, almost fearful to favor the darker aspects of Alan, carefully staging the events to not be too dramatic and meet a PG rating. Consider how the film begins with a tease of a tragic letter coming to the Milne family from the front lines. It’s a tease, however, for what the film could have been had it taken the somber route. Because even when Christopher makes the tougher choices about where he wants to go in life, deciding to go to war if only to get away from his parents, the film is almost too understanding of this path. By the time Christopher returns from war, there’s too neat an ending to suggest that everything was hunky dory when all is quiet on the Hundred Acre front.

Warning to parents: Do not confuse this with Disney’s Christopher Robin. While both films feature a similar road of drama and bluntness, this film is more about the softly staged conception of Winnie the Pooh as opposed to the lukewarm continuation of Pooh’s adventures. I’d highly recommend the Disney film more as there’s more to admire in Pooh’s innocence than this film’s lacking attempt to showcase the tougher tales behind the book. You’ll feel more for Pooh than you’ll think you’re supposed to feel for the real Christopher Robin who seemed to get screwed over more than the movie lets on.

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