Christopher Robin (2018)

Director: Marc Forster
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael
Runtime: 104 minutes

Synopsis: A now grown-up Christopher Robin stumbles upon an old friend who needs his help.

• Performances: 5/10

Why? Ewan McGregor is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best actors working today. However, I had a hard time connecting with him as the titular character in "Christopher Robin". And while a lot of it had to do with the fact that he lacks development, McGregor didn't really help making the iconic character as fascinating as he needs to be. The rest of the cast didn't exactly shine as well, except maybe for the actors voicing Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends.

• Screenplay: 3/10

Why? Yes, it has cheesy dialogue, sloppy comedy, and underdeveloped characters, but my biggest issue with it was the fact that it didn't know what its target audience was. It's quite obvious that the writers wanted to tell a more adult and to some extent realistic story centered around themes like stress and happiness in the workplace, but, for some reason, it's presented as if they also wanted children to enjoy it, too. I couldn't help but feel that it tried to be appealing to people of all ages, but instead turned out to be this sort of schizophrenic story that I didn't care for at all.

• Special Effects: 7/10

Why? I quite enjoyed the way Winnie and his friends were designed. They were much closer to their description in A.A. Milne's work than to the way they were drawn in the animated show/movies, which gave the film a more authentic look.

• Costumes/Makeup: 4/10

Why? While they did a good job representing the era in which the story takes place, I also found them terribly inconsistent with the timeline. I mean, don't you hate it when a character sleeps in the mud under the rain and somehow manages to stay clean in the following scenes?

• Editing: 6/10

Why? The film's pacing was incredibly slow, but that had more to do with its script. I don't really have a lot of complaints about the way it was edited, except maybe that some transitions didn't feel very organic.

• Cinematography: 5/10

Why? Pale, bland, and boring. It gave the film a realistic atmosphere that didn't work well with the script.  

• Score/Soundtrack: 6/10

Why? While I would've loved to see what Johan Johansson would've done with it (he was hired to write the score before his unfortunate death), I sort of enjoyed his replacements' work. Brion and Zanelli didn't compose something that will be remembered as groundbreaking, but rather a simple score that was pleasing to listen to and worked well with the film's general tone.

FINAL GRADE: 4/10