From “Mary Poppins” to “Freaky Friday” to “The Santa Clause,” Disney’s movie library is filled with stories of work-distracted parents learning that family is more important than career — but it’s jarring to see that idea applied to Winnie the Pooh’s human friend in the live-action tale “Christopher Robin.”
It’s jarring in part because of Disney’s interpretation of A.A. Milne’s stories and Ernest Shepard’s drawings that usually put Christopher Robin on the sidelines, gently tut-tutting the “silly old bear” after one of his misadventures. Here, he’s front-and-center, a harried adult played by Ewan McGregor.
In the movie’s downbeat prologue, we see Christopher Robin’s forced march into adulthood.