Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017)

GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN  (2017)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Simon Curtis
    Domnhall Gleeson, Will Tillston, Margot Robbie,
    Kelly McDonald, Alex Lawther, Stephen Campbell Moore
A movie about how A.A. Milne, successful playwright and shell-shocked World War One vet, came to write "Winnie the Pooh". More importantly, it's about the impact the book's publication and an obscene amount of media attention had on his son, nicknamed Billy Moon, but better known to everybody as Christopher Robin. It's one of those British period productions that looks just swell, and the script mostly hits the right notes, but something about it leaves you feeling less than totally engaged. Will Tillston plays the title role through most of it, and with his cute bowl haircut and dimples, he's exactly the way you'd expect a movie producer to want Christopher Robin to look. He's boringly perfect. Domnhall Gleeson plays Milne, standoffish and a little cold, even when he and Billy are having fun together. Margot Robbie, as Mrs. Milne, is simply horrid. Good thing Billy's got a loving nanny (Kelly McDonald) to provide some real affection. Despite it all, childhood was good for Billy, mostly. As he says looking back late in the movie, it was growing up that was hard. He survived, though, served in World War Two, and according to a title at the end, wound up running a bookstore. He never took a penny from the fortune that came from his father's bestselling books.