Goodbye Christopher Robin Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Goodbye Christopher Robin Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 25, 2018

Is it even possible to grow up without being read a Winnie the Pooh story, or in fact having the pleasure of reading one yourself as a child? I still remember my first Winnie the Pooh book, a hardback affair that had a little imprint of the title character stamped into the front cover that I used to love rubbing my fingers over to feel the indent. The Winnie the Pooh tales are an intrinsic part of many people’s childhoods, along with those incredibly redolent illustrations by E.H. Shepard, and so there is probably a built in “hook” for Goodbye, Christopher Robin, even if the whole Winnie the Pooh aspect of this treatment of the Milne family tends to exist as a kind of substratum to other, arguably more epochal, events like war. Goodbye, Christopher Robin is an impressively gorgeous feature in terms of cinematography and production design, and it offers some excellent performances, but it’s an odd brew at best, combining background on how A.A. Milne (Domnhall Gleeson) came to write his charming stories about the naive little bear with some fairly turgid family drama that some Pooh fans may find an uneasy mix with their childhood memories of the bear. The film begins in 1941, which, as any Pooh fan worth their salt will tell you is several years after Milne introduced Pooh to the world. A somewhat uncontextualized vignette is offered whereby Milne, known by the nickname Blue, and his wife Daphne (Margot Robbie, just announced as an Academy Award nominee for I, Tonya), have just received some sort of upsetting message which most viewers will probably instinctively (and correctly) assume is tied to World War II. That then leads to a really peculiar image of an explosion which segues first to the credits sequence and then to the main story at hand, which is in fact set back in the 1920s, when Blue and Daphne have their little boy Christopher Robin, who, like his father, assumes a nickname, in this case Billy.

If World War II is at least hinted at in the opening scene of Goodbye, Christopher Robin, the so-called “Great War” (i.e., World War I, which assumed that moniker only after the “sequel” appeared) is pretty much front and center, if again kind of foundational, as the actual story kicks in. Blue is obviously suffering from post traumatic stress disorder from his experiences in that battle (hence that aforementioned scene of an explosion, just one of several flashbacks Blue experiences), and it has affected his ability to write. Even the blessed event of the birth of Billy doesn’t really improve things, and in fact may actually have exacerbated certain tensions between Blue and Daphne. The two ostensible “parents” seem to be more than willing to leave the actual day to day nurturing of their child to a newly hired nanny, Olive (Kelly Macdonald).

One of the issues confronting Goodbye, Christopher Robin is that most people are going to come to this story with happy memories of their adventures with Pooh bear, but the film depicts a number of characters who aren’t all that likable or in fact happy themselves. Daphne probably comes off worst, as a kind of shrewish harridan who’s upset Billy wasn’t a girl (hence his feminine clothing and hairstyle as a little boy), and who hates the fact that Blue can’t overcome his stress to make a living writing. She’s especially upset that Blue wants to leave the hubbub of London for a more remote sylvan location.

But even Blue isn’t all that sympathetic, something that’s kind of odd considering he’s a “wounded” soul (psychologically if not physically). Perhaps strangest of all, Billy comes off as something of a spoiled brat, at least after he gets to his teen years, when he's completely upset with his father for “destroying” his childhood due to the fame the Pooh stories brought the family, and which forced Billy into becoming the “character” of Christopher Robin for press availabilities. Neither Blue nor Daphne come off as overly great parents, but the film is kind of uneven in its presentation of this aspect. At one moment, Daphne can be a raving you know what complaining about Billy, and then the next she's delighting him with the gift of Pooh or taking him on outings to the zoo.

That leaves the main emotional component to the nanny, which is perhaps a perfectly accurate depiction of how the British upper crust operated in those days. But even here Goodbye, Christopher Robin tends to waffle a bit, offering Olive as a sweet nurturing presence who nonetheless removes herself from the family unit after a bit of melodrama. It’s interesting to note, though, that as the film wends its way back to where it began, that a certain homecoming is met with some of that traditional stiff upper lip stuff that the Brits are so well known for in terms of the parental units, and that only Olive shows any real emotion.

Goodbye, Christopher Robin has some interesting points to make about the hazards of fame, but it’s perhaps to diffused to ultimately resonate as strongly as it might have. Performances are uniformly winning (little Will Tilston as the young Billy has the most adorable dimples you’re likely to see anywhere), but the focus of the writing tends to wander a bit, kind of like Pooh taking a stroll through the Hundred Acre Wood.

Goodbye Christopher Robin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Goodbye, Christopher Robin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Once again the IMDb comes up short on any meaningful technical data, but your intrepid reporter tracked down this rather interesting article about and interview with cinematographer Ben Smithard, where he discusses using the Arri Alexa Mini to digitally capture the imagery. Kind of fascinatingly (at least to me), Smithard mentions that his visual inspiration for Goodbye, Christopher Robin was Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, something that content wise might seem odd, but which from a purely visual perspective does make sense. This is effulgently lit, often with backlighting that casts gorgeous halos around objects, and perhaps surprisingly, without a major downturn in detail levels. The many outdoor moment look precise and well defined, to the point that individual bits of pollen wafting through the breeze can be spotted. A number of odd angles and extreme close-ups help to detail Blue's unbalanced emotional state, but fine detail is typically excellent despite these artifices. The palette is warmly burnished throughout the film, with the possible exception of some of the battle flashbacks, where things understandably look considerably more dour.

Goodbye Christopher Robin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Goodbye, Christopher Robin features an enjoyable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that bursts into rather surprising life courtesy of some of the battle flashbacks Blue experiences. But even in quieter moments, as in the walks Blue and Billy take through Ashdown Forest, there's good attention paid to the sounds of nature, which regularly dot the surround channels. All of that said, this is a pretty relentlessly talky feature, often in that kind of clipped British way, and as such there are ebbs and flows to immersion throughout the presentation. Dialogue is always rendered cleanly, and the film features a rather winning score by Carter Burwell, which resides comfortably in the side and rear channels.

Goodbye Christopher Robin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Simon Curtis and Frank Cottrell-Boyce


• Promotional Featurettes are all brief EPKs with some good interviews, behind the scenes footage and clips from the film:

  A Walk in the Woods (1080p; 2:34)

  Healing a Nation (1080p; 2:11)

  A.A. Milne (1080p; 2:01)

  Hello Billy Moon (1080p; 2:32)

  Daphne Milne (1080p; 2:17)

  The Story (1080p; 2:24)

  Christopher Robin & His Nanny Olive (1080p; 3:18)

  The Cast (1080p; 2:32)

• Gallery (1080p; 2:08) features both an Auto Advance and a Manual Advance option. The timing is for the Auto Advance option.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:31)

Goodbye Christopher Robin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The historical accuracy of Goodbye, Christopher Robin has been questioned by experts with far more knowledge of the Milne story than I have, but even within the confines of "fictionalized" history, this film is a bit of an uneven journey. It's downright odd that all three of the main characters (Pooh is excepted, since he has very few lines) are at least at times kind of unlikable. That said, the story here is interesting, if perhaps overly melodramatic (especially in the bookending conceit, which is needless). Technical merits are first rate, and Goodbye, Christopher Robin comes Recommended.