Trivia / Christopher Robin

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• All-Star Cast:
  • On the veteran voice acting side, we have Pooh and Tigger who as usual are being voiced by Jim Cummings, and Eeyore, who's being voiced by his tertiary voice actor Brad Garrett (with Peter Cullen as the primary and Gregg Berger as the secondary). On the celebrity side of acting, the rest of the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood are being voiced by some of the UK's most acclaimed actors and actresses.
  • Let's not forget the human cast with Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell and Mark Gatiss.
• Banned in China: The film has been denied a release in China, with the closest being a release in Hong Kong. It is heavily speculated that this is due to controversy at the time revolving around memes comparing Pooh to Xi Jinping (which led to a crackdown on Chinese social media shortly after), though contrary to popular belief, Pooh is still allowed to be used in a ordinary context, so this is unlikely to be the case. Why it is denied is unclear.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Japanese dub, the titular character is voiced by the actor Masato Sakai, which many non-Japanese viewers can recognize him as Taira no Shigemori from Sukiyaki Western Django, Rei Fukai in Sentou Yousei Yukikaze, and Kray Foresight in Promare.
• Cross-Dressing Voices:
  • For the second time since Tigger Too, Roo is voiced by an actress, Sarah Sheen, instead of a young boy.
  • Averted in Hungarian, where Piglet was always voiced by a woman (Margit Földessy). She was replaced by the male Ferenc Elek.
• Fake Brit: Half true for Ewan McGregor. He’s a Brit from Scotland in real life, but in this he plays a Brit from England.
• Missing Trailer Scene: In some commercials and promos leading up to the film's release. Pooh is seen telling Christopher Robin "You need to remember who you are." after reuniting with him at the park bench. This line is never once uttered by Pooh in the entire film.
• Not Screened for Critics: Unfortunately the case for this film. Any review was withheld until release and is usually a sign that a studio doesn't think it will be well-received or good enough. The latter turned out to be the case with Christopher Robin, as of this writing, receiving a Tomatometer score of 73%^note Which is still considered "Fresh", to be honest on Rotten Tomatoes (though audience reaction has been more positive).
• The Other Darrin: Apart from Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger, Christopher Robin's childhood friends are voiced by a who's who of actors from the United Kingdom instead of their usual voice actors.
  • Initially going to happen with Chris O'Dowd as Tigger rather than Jim Cummings. However, Jim later rerecorded the dialogue and reprised his role, as seen in one of the trailers. Why the producers sought to replace him initially as Tigger, since he's back as Pooh anyway is anyone's guess.
  • Eeyore is a technical example since Peter Cullen is still considered his official voice actor, but Brad Garrett has voiced him in some video games (including one of Disney's Animated Storybook titles).
  • In the Japanese dub, only Pooh's voice actor was replaced, while the rest keep their voices from the animated adaptations.
  • In Brazilian Portuguese, most of the toys' voice actors were replaced except Pooh and Piglet. Mauro Ramos had done the singing voice of Tigger in the 1990's.
  • Pooh's longtime German voice actor, Michael Rüth, retired in 2012. He was replaced by newcomer Toni Nirschl.
  • In the Italian dub Rabbit is voiced by Oliviero Dinelli, as his original voice actor Valerio Ruggeri died in 2015. Roo is also at his fourth voice actor since he is usually voiced by children.
• The Other Marty: Chris O'Dowd was originally cast as the voice of Tigger instead of Jim Cummings, but after test audiences reacted harshly to O'Dowd, Cummings stepped back in.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Brad Garrett as Eeyore. Usually, he voices an oaf or a thug. This toy donkey is neither.
  • A small example, but Matt Berry, who tends to be cast as loud, over-the-top braggarts, obnoxious Jerkasses and Large Hams, has a small, low-key part as a policeman who seems rather down-to-earth and pleasant (at least to children).
• Reality Subtext: In the film, Christopher Robin ended up getting involved in the fields of World War II. This wasn't just put it to have him lose his innocence; the real-life person Christopher Robin was based on also ended up getting enlisted into WWII.
• Real-Life Relative: Bronte Carmichael, who plays Madeline, is the daughter of Katy Carmichael, who plays Christopher Robin's mother.
• Role Reprise:
  • Most of the Winnie the Pooh voice actors of previous Disney works have been replaced, though Jim Cummings returns as Pooh himself and Tigger (although it was originally planned that Chris O'Dowd would voice the latter). Brad Garrett also reprises Eeyore, having provided his voice in Disney's Animated Storybook: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.
  • In the European Spanish dub, all the toys and animals' voice actors (except Roo) reprised their roles. Even Tony Canal, who was semi-retired, returned as Pooh.
  • The same goes in the Latin American Spanish dub, when the voices of all the dolls and animal characters reprise their roles, excluding Eeyore and Roo.
  • In the Japanese dub, all the voice actors from the animal and plush characters reprise their roles, except Pooh.
  • Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Piglet, and Kanga's German voice actors returned.
  • In the Italian dub most of the animal and plush characters have their classic voices (or the most recent ones in the case of Tigger and Piglet, which were recast a few times over the years), with the only exceptions being Rabbit and Roo as seen above.
  • The Norwegian dub also has the regular voice actors for Pooh and friends reprise their roles.
• Typecasting:
  • Peter Capaldi best known as the prickly, but affectionate Twelfth Doctor is cast as the similarly tempered Rabbit.
  • Mark Gatiss is no stranger to playing unpleasant characters; his casting as Christopher Robin's Mean Boss should come to no surprise to anybody who's ever seen him as Tycho Nestoris in Game of Thrones.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson was attached to the film, but died on February 9th, 2018. It was announced he was to be replaced by Klaus Badelt, but the scoring duties eventually went to Geoff Zanelli & Jon Brion.
  • Early reports mentioned Alan Tudyk auditioning to voice Tigger in this movie. And after that, it was reported that Chris O'Dowd had been cast in the role. He recorded his lines, but during test screening, audiences reacted very negatively. So Jim Cummings, who had been voicing Tigger for a while anyway (in fact, Cummings has been the voice of both Pooh and Tigger since Paul Winchell gave up the role of Tigger in the early 90s), recorded dialogue just in time for the second trailer.
  • The original script was reportedly aimed rather more at adults, and kept completely vague whether Pooh and the gang were real or just Christopher's coping mechanism for his troubles at work and home.

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