forcing father and son to actually spend time together and bond. Lessons can be learnt from this film, no matter how much you work, your children want you.Thoroughly enjoyable film on many levels. Rating 10 out of 10

thinking"....and then he wrote about Christopher Robin...and Pooh... all rolled into one...tears and laughter and a realizing of a change in self as profound as when I watched other greats...thanks!

is an obviously frosty, distant relationship between AA Milne and his son, you'll probably be surprised how gloomy the family's home-life really was. A.A Milne was already a successful journalist and playwright, but his war experiences motivates him to write an anti-war book, he moves the family to the country to concentrate on this. They take on a nanny Olive who builds a close relationship with their son. Unfortunately the author suffers with writers block and this results in his wife selfishly moving back to London until he can get his head in order and write again. The wife is a very un-likable irritating character, there was nothing redeeming about her personality! With the wife away the film becomes so much more interesting when the father starts to pay attention to his son and a friendship develops, this unlocks A. A. Milne's imagination. The book is written at a time when the population needed uplifting, and the book does that splendidly. The book and his son quickly become a worldwide success, although the sudden fame has a negative effect.The older version of the son is sent to boarding school and is constantly bullied until the students are conscripted to World War2. Unfortunately the son fails the army physical / medical although his burning ambition is to go to war, so he asks his father to pull strings to get him in and he does. We see the son in military uniform leaving on the train but soon a telegram 'missing in action-presumed dead' is unfolded.This is where many of the audience pulled out their tissues.I would not recommend this film for children, the very emotional WW2 scenes makes this probably not suitable for a young audience.

for it. It was touching, heart breaking and had times that all parents can relate to. In the end it showed me how important it is to spend time with your children.It is a movie I will be adding to my collection.

children seemed frowned upon for all but the poor. Milne's wife fared even worse as a mother, never forgiving her son for the pain of childbirth, leaving the child to be raised in the main by his nanny. The damage done to their relationships was permanent. Even the time Christopher got to spend with his dad seemed to be either in research for his books or on an endless promotional tour of the books. The most poignant illustration of this was when he allowed Christopher to be photographed in the enclosure with the bear from who Winnie The Pooh got his name. It is a poignant and touching film about a dysfunctional family. However accurate it actually is I found it moving and captivating.

of having his life turned upside down when his fathers book, Winnie the Pooh, becomes an enormous and unexpected worldwide hit and inadvertently makes a celebrity of Christopher Robin.This is a film primarily about family relationships and it is extremely well written too. Will Tilston, who plays Christopher Robin at 8 years old, puts in an exceptionally competent and sweet performance that makes you genuinely feel for the character.He finds the only person who actually understands and shares his anguish is his nanny, Olive Kelly MacDonald . Olive too notices how unhappy Christopher Robin becomes but her pleas fall on deaf ears.The only real flaw in any of the characterizations is Margot Robbie's turn as Daphne, Christopher Robin's mother. Whilst Domnhall Gleeson's AA Milne at least has some back story to explain why his mentally tortured writer is struggling to shake off his demons and thus oblivious to his son's reluctant celebrity status, Daphne comes across as somebody who is a bit cold and shallow and has no problems with watching her son get exploited to make the book a success. This may of course be what she was really like but the film doesn't dig very deep into her character. However this is a minor quibble in an otherwise well made film.There are moments of humour in the script and no bad language so I expect this film will appeal to older audiences as well as families. The film is also just about the right length too if you like a good old fashioned biopic/drama. There is also a moral at the heart of this tale about the need to let children have a normal childhood, which is very much applicable even now.

disappointed at all after seeing it today, it was a lovely biographical drama even with Milne's life not being what one would expect reading the stories or being familiar with the timeless characters, his dark and troubled personal life being the anti-thesis of the innocent and charming world created in his Winnie the Pooh stories. That was actually what was so fascinating about 'Goodbye Christopher Robin'.'Goodbye Christopher Robin' in biographical terms fascinates and illuminates. But the film fares even better judging it as a film on its own merits, on this front it is a lovely very good film that is neither the potentially cutesy cookie-cutter film one might think it would be reading the title or the overly dark and joyless one that one would fear upon looking up what the film is about. It's more layered than either.The film looks great for starters. The beautiful cinematography, with its vibrant hues, really brings the film to life in a way that reminds one of how a story book would. The settings and costumes are both sumptuous and vivid, making the viewer feel like they've been transported in time to that period and being part of it. Carter Burwell's string-heavy score is luscious and stirring in its elegance. Both combined creates a really nostalgic quality that could have been at odds at the dark portrayal of Milne's and his family's personal life but it's an effective contrast.When it comes to the writing, 'Goodbye Christopher Robin' is very intelligently and thoughtfully written and, considering that it has a subject matter where it is so easy to go heavy-handed and be too much of one tone, has evidence of sensitivity and nuance with touches of bitter irony in how such a happy childhood depicted in the stories was very much a miserable one in real life. The nods and references to Milne's work are clever and affectionate, enough to make one's eyes well up with aching nostalgia. The story is cohesive and never feels like it's jumping around too much or lacking momentum, it also has a lot of heart and affecting poignancy in how Christopher tries to get his father to loosen up and the interaction with his nanny along with Christopher the warmest and most sympathetic character in 'Goodbye Christopher Robin' .Direction lets the story to breathe but doesn't fail in giving it momentum. The performances are near-uniformly strong. The central character in fact is Christopher Robin himself, and while Alex Lawther does very well with teenage Christopher the star here is Will Tilston, who gives a touching and far more layered performance than one would think he was capable of. Instead of being overly-cute, he evokes tears of both playful joy and vulnerable sadness and the film particularly comes alive with the father/son relationship.As Milne, Domhnall Gleeson is excellent, whether one feels empathy for him is another story but he portrays Milne with an appropriately straight back and reserve and he is every inch the troubled figure. The levity of the story comes in the nanny character played by Kelly McDonald, the warmth and charm of her portrayal is much needed and her common sense invaluable.By all means, 'Goodbye Christopher Robin' is not without short-comings. The biggest one being the one-dimensional and without-redeeming-qualities character writing for Daphne which consequently makes Margot Robbie portray her far too firmly and coldly, even in the subject matter these approaches didn't gel.Short-coming number two is not buying and being put off somewhat by Milne and Daphne's far too casual, uncaring even, attitude for Christopher's welfare. This is something that makes one endear to them even less.Overall, lovely, moving film. 8/10 Bethany Cox