History Film / ChristopherRobin

* FisherKing: The weather in the Hundred-Acre Wood seems to adjust to reflect Christopher Robin's moods. When he's a child, it's blissful and idyllic. As he grows up, we see it alter to reflect how he feels about the things happening to him (when he learns his father has died, there's snow; when he meets Evelyn, it's pleasant again, and so on), until when he finally returns as a stressed-out and emotionally-distant adult, it's dark, gloomy, overcast, and full of shadows. When he finally starts unwinding and enjoying life again, it's bright and cheerful. When he has to leave again, it's a bit overcast to reflect his regret, but otherwise remains pleasant as he takes his lighter mood with him. Finally, when he and his family visit at the end (with the implication that they'll all be visiting more frequently), it's idyllic once again.

* AudienceShift: Downplayed. The film is still largely family friendly and lighthearted. However, unlike the previous animated films, which were primarily aimed towards children, the film is aimed more towards an older audience and contains several scenes that would have been out of place in the previous animated films (such as Christopher Robin fighting in WWII). It's also the first Pooh project to get a PG rating as opposed to G like the previous films.

** It's also perhaps worth noting that while [[spoiler: ''international'' travel declined in post-war Britain for obvious reasons, the post-war period actually saw a bit of a boom in people going on holiday to locations ''within'' Britain (in particular, the classic "seaside holiday" and holiday camps such as Butlins and Pontins really started to take off around the time the movie is set), largely because they were cheaper and easier for most people to get to. It's suggested that the company have previously focussed more on selling luxury luggage designed for wealthy people going on long international cruises and the like, and so have overlooked the fact that even people just going on a weekend to Blackpool, Whitley Bay or the Norfolk Broads still need something to carry their clothes in.]]

** It's also perhaps worth noting that while [[spoiler: ''international'' travel declined in post-war Britain for obvious reasons, the post-war period actually saw a bit of a boom in people going on holiday to locations ''within'' Britain (in particular, the classic "seaside holiday" and holiday camps such as Butlins and Pontins really started to take off around the time the movie is set), largely because they were cheaper and easier for most people to get to. It's suggested that the company have previously focussed more on selling luxury luggage designed for wealthy people going on long international cruises and the like, and so have overlooked the fact that even people just going on a weekend to Blackpool, Whitley Bay or the Norfolk Broads need something to carry their clothes in.]]

** It's also perhaps worth noting that while [[spoiler: ''international'' travel declined in post-war Britain for obvious reasons, the post-war period actually saw a bit of a boom in people going on holiday to locations ''within'' Britain (in particular, the classic "seaside holiday" and holiday camps such as Butlins and Pontins really started to take off around the time the movie is set), largely because they was cheaper and easier for most people to get to. It's suggested that the company have previously focussed more on selling luxury luggage designed for wealthy people going on long international cruises and the like, but have overlooked the fact that even people just going on a weekend to Blackpool, Whitley Bay or the Norfolk Broads need something to carry their clothes in.]]

** It's also perhaps worth noting that while [[spoiler: ''international'' travel declined in post-war Britain for obvious reasons, the post-war period actually saw a bit of a boom in people going on holiday to locations ''within'' Britain (in particular, the classic "seaside holiday" and holiday camps such as Butlins and Pontins really started to take off around the time the movie is set), largely because they was cheaper and easier for most people to get to. It's suggested that the company have previously focussed more on selling luxury luggage designed for wealthy people going on long international cruises and the like, but even people going on a weekend to Blackpool or Whitley Bay need something to carry their clothes in.]]

* ThemeTuneCameo: The iconic song "Winnie the Pooh" is used a few times during the film, the first time being when Pooh wakes up in his home. Pooh also sings "Up, Down, Touch the Ground", and Tigger sings "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers".

* DeusExMachina: It's pure luck that, [[spoiler:of all the windshields of all the cars on the streets of London, the one Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet land on is Christopher Robin's.]]

* DownerBeginning: While the opening has the whimsy and fun wordplay of the classic stories as Pooh and friends throw Christopher Robin a party, it's a goodbye party as he's being shipped off to boarding school. It only goes downhill from there, as we see over the credits how he grows up - the school is pretty much militant, he learns of his father's death while there, and is eventually shipped to the front lines of World War II. The only bright spot is him meeting Evelyn (and even that has a sour point to it, as they conceive Madeline only for Christopher to be presumably drafted).

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Thanks to Pooh and friends, Christopher Robin is not only able to reconnect with his wife and daughter, but he's able to find away to keep everyone's jobs and call out his boss for making him work the weekend away without contributing anything.]]

* EurekaMoment: [[spoiler:When Evelyn tells Eeyore "it's all how you look at it", Christopher looks at the one important paper Madeline saved, turns it upside down and comes up with his improvised idea for the budget meeting.]]

* FisherKing: The weather in the Hundred-Acre Wood seems to adjust to reflect Christopher Robin's moods. When he's a child, it's blissful and idyllic. As he grows up, we see it alter to reflect how he feels about the things happening to him (when he learns his father has died, there's snow; when he meets Evelyn, it's pleasant again, and so on), until when he finally returns as a stressed-out and emotionally-distant adult, it's dark, gloomy, overcast and full of shadows. When he finally starts unwinding and enjoying life again, it's bright and cheerful. When he has to leave again, it's a bit overcast to reflect his regret, but otherwise remains pleasant as he takes his lighter mood with him. Finally, when he and his family visit at the end (with the implication that they'll all be visiting more frequently), it's idyllic once again.

* GrowingUpSucks: Christopher Robin has a real bad case of this. He has a wife and daughter whom he loves very much, but his demanding boss forces him to come to the office on a weekend and skip out on a planned family getaway, much to his daughter's disappointment. Then he finds out that his boss wants to cut 20% of the workforce and he's to be the hatchet man. Christopher Robin protests saying he promised his workers good jobs, but his boss won't budge.
* HateSink: Winslow Jr. Being a Winnie the Pooh story, the film has no actual villains. Winslow Jr serves the purpose of being a character the audience can root against.
* HellIsThatNoise: Once Christopher returns to the Hundred Acre Wood; it's covered in dense fog. All the while, nightmarish elephant sounds seem to be chasing him everywhere, as it seems a Heffalump is stalking its prey. [[spoiler: Ultimately, it turns out to be Owl's weather-vane scraping against some metal]].
* HonestCorporateExecutive: When his boss Giles Winslow, Jr. tells him their company needs to cut their workforce, Christopher Robin protests, reminding him that he promised the workers good jobs. However, Winslow, Sr. is a straighter example of this, [[spoiler: embracing Christopher’s solution to the budget crisis and chastising his son for slacking off and forcing Christopher to do all the work.]]

-->'''Christopher Robin''': You can't just take a teddy bear from a grown man!

* MeaningfulName: The name Winslow sounds similar to ''[[WickedWeasel weasel]]'' which in turn sounds like Woozle. Winslow, Jr. is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who puts all the work on Christopher Robin while he [[spoiler:goes off golfing]]. [[spoiler:This is how Christopher Robin is able to get the point across to Pooh of why he needs his papers (by saying that Winslow Jr. is a Woozle who would eat him if he doesn't have them) and what sparks Pooh and his friends to travel to London with Madeline when they realize that Tigger didn't put those important papers back in his bag.]]

** Tigger's design stands out among the group as being a little unusual in a few respects. Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore have all been designed to look like worn out stuffed animal versions of their pre-Disney counterparts. Tigger on the other hand keeps his very distinctive Disney head shape, and for some reason, his stripes are even ''more'' faded than his original stuffed animal (although like all the original designs and unlike Disney, his hands are plush stumps with no thumb.)
* NotAllowedToGrowUp: While Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore appear to have aged a bit since they last saw Christopher Robin as a child, Piglet and Roo appear to be two of the few residents of the Hundred Acre Woods that still show no signs of aging after all these years. Even more evident for Rabbit and Owl, who are in fact real animals instead of stuffed toys like the others yet seem the same as ever.

* RealIsBrown: Unusual for a Disney and Pooh film, all of the colors are very desaturated to emphasize the depressing reality of what it means to grow up and lose your innocence -- even Pooh looks worn and depressed. It's a deliberate example of this trope, as the opening of the film has a brighter, more vibrant color palette, as do the Hundred Acre Wood scenes when Christopher reconciles with his old friends. Even so, the characters themselves were designed to resemble actual plush toys whose fur has faded and pilled with age.

** While Pooh's antics are amusing to his friends and the audience, to an overstressed Christopher Robin they are a major annoyance and frustration. After Pooh nearly causes him to lose important work documents, he finally loses his patience as he recovers them and blows up at Pooh.

** In a less serious sense, Christopher is frantic when he sees Eeyore being dragged to the edge of the waterfall, but when he jumps in to perform a rescue he's surprised to discover that the water only comes up to his ankles. Then he remembers that he's grown taller while the Wood has stayed the same, and could have just waded in at any time.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Old Man Winslow turns out to be this; he's a bit hard-nosed and curt, and isn't particularly impressed with Christopher's abandoning of the meeting (or the fact that his briefcase is full of acorns and an Eeyore tail). But once things settle down a bit he gives Christopher's ideas respectful consideration, shows appropriate disapproval of his son's feckless laziness, and displays a more good-humoured attitude than he initially seemed to possess.

-->'''Giles''': What the devil is a "Woozle"?\\
'''Christopher Robin''': A "woozle" is a slinking little monster who gets everyone else to do his work for him, and hopes that we forget what's important in our lives: our families, our dear friends, the people who love us, the people whom we love. Well, we're here to tell you, I'm here to tell you that we're not afraid of Heffalumps or Woozles anymore, are we?

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: While Pooh, Piglet, Kanga and Roo's cute appearances has been toned down a bit in this film compared to their animation counterparts, they still maintain their friendly appearance even in live-action form. The fact they along with Tigger and Eeyore look like real, well-loved stuffed animals in fact yields its own form of looking very cuddly and endearing.

* SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay: The other inhabitants of the Hundred-Acre Wood initially refuse to believe Christopher isn't a Heffalump because he claims that monsters don't exist, which is something the Christopher Robin they remember would never say. Christopher takes this on board and convinces them of who he is by pretending to defeat a Heffalump in combat instead of dismissing its existence.

** The film can also be seen as the true successor to ''Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin''. Both films contend with the concept of Christopher Robin growing up and its effect on his childhood friends he has to leave behind, but whereas ''Pooh's Grand Adventure'' mostly focused on whether Pooh and friends would be able to live their lives without Christopher and their immediate reaction to the prospects of it, this film shows the long term consequences of the inevitable head-on.

* TheStinger: [[spoiler:During the end credits, an old-fashioned film plays showing the Winslow employees ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Christopher's neighbor]]) on a beach and singing about doing nothing. The last scene also features Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore sitting in beach chairs and wearing sunglasses, and [[Music/TheShermanBrothers Richard Sherman]] as a singing piano player.]]
* SuddenEyeColor: Of all the plush inhabitants of the Hundred-Acre Wood, only Pooh retains his animated counterpart's BlackBeadEyes. Everyone else gets coloured irises. Tigger's are bright green, Eeyore's are amber, and Piglet, Kanga and Roo's are all dark brown.

** The growing difference in maturity and intellect has taken it's toll between Pooh and Christopher Robin, with the latter frequently getting frustrated with the former's childishness. It soon becomes clear he loves his silly old bear as much as before however.

* VocalEvolution: Pooh's and Tigger's voices have clearly aged after all these years.

** The opening is mostly a faithful adaptation of the final chapter of ''The House at Pooh Corner'', which was previously adapted both at the end of ''[[WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Many Adventures]]'' as well as the ending of ''WesternAnimation/PoohsGrandAdventure''. But this time, they included the party for Christopher and Eeyore's feeble attempt at poetry, which is lifted from the book.

** A flashback adapts a moment in the Milne books never covered in any of Disney's prior adaptations: the going away party for Christopher Robin that his friends hold for him. His final goodbye to Pooh, on the other hand, did get adapted for both the epilogue of ''The Many Adventures'' as well as ''Pooh's Grand Adventure''; the latter also used the "even when I’m a hundred" line.

** In the novelization, Christopher Robin is bullied by some boys at boarding school. He compares them to Heffalumps in his mind and thinks that Pooh would probably end up liking a Heffalump if he met one, even though he probably wouldn't like the boys. Of course, when Pooh did meet a Heffalump, he did end up liking him.

* NeverTrustATrailer: One of the promos for the film has Pooh surprising a policeman that he can talk. In the film, he is actually speaking to Madeline.

** Rabbit and Owl are portrayed as a real, living rabbit and owl living amongst the stuffed animals. Similarly, [[spoiler:Heffalumps in Christopher Robin’s nightmare are portrayed as very realistic looking elephants with no anthropomorphism.]]

** And in a spiritual sense too, having the blood of countless men forever staining his hands in World War II, Christopher may never ''truly'' fit in the joy and innocence of the Hundred Acre Wood again.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Pooh's unending quest for honey is actually what drives him to enter the real world in search of Christopher Robin. Piglet's love of haycorns also plays a small role once Christopher Robin returns to the Hundred Acre Woods.

* YourMindMakesItReal: The Hundred Acre Wood becomes gloomy and morose when Christopher returns to it, and doesn’t brighten up until he begins to have fun and reunite his old friends.

* AdaptationalBadass: While not real, the Heffalumps and Woozles are given joy-eating, dream-stealing properties. In the books and cartoons, they just stole honey.

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: While Pooh, Piglet and Roo's cute appearances has been toned down a bit in this film compared to their animation counterparts, they still maintain their friendly appearance even in live-action form. The fact they along with Tigger and Eeyore look like real, well-loved stuffed animals in fact yields its own form of looking very cuddly and endearing.

** When Christopher Robin gets stuck in a gap in a tree, Pooh asks if he just ate honey, a nod to ''[[Disney/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree]]'', where Pooh got stuck in Rabbit's burrow after eating too much honey.

** The opening is mostly a faithful adaptation of the final chapter of ''The House at Pooh Corner'', which was previously adapted both at the end of ''[[Disney/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Many Adventures]]'' as well as the ending of ''WesternAnimation/PoohsGrandAdventure''. But this time, they included the party for Christopher and Eeyore's feeble attempt at poetry, which is lifted from the book.

* ForegoneConclusion: If this movie is to be taken by canon, it's come clear that Christopher Robin doesn't begin a relationship with Winifred in ''[[WinnieThePoohAValentineForYou A Valentine For You]]'', given that he marries Evelyn.

** Pooh's predicament at the start of the film, that he can't find any of his friends, hearkens back to his storyline in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI Kingdom Hearts]]'', complete with Christopher Robin fulfilling Sora's role in finding them (ironic, as Sora basically replaced Christopher's role in the story).'

* RapidFireNo: By Christopher when he wakes up the following morning after meeting all his friends and realizes he's late for work.

** Pooh's predicament at the start of the film, that he can't find any of his friends, hearkens back to his storyline in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI Kingdom Hearts]]'', complete with Christopher Robin fulfilling Sora's role in finding them (ironic, as Sora basically replaced Christopher's role in the story).

* RoleReprisal:
** Most of the ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' voice actors of previous Disney works have been replaced, though Creator/JimCummings returns as Pooh himself and Tigger (although it was originally planned that Chris O'Dowd would voice the latter). Creator/BradGarrett also reprises Eeyore, having provided his voice in ''VideoGame/DisneysAnimatedStorybook: 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.
* RunningGag: Whenever the human characters are carrying the animal characters through London, they will at some point have to interact with someone else (a train ticket collector, a salesman, a police officer, etc.). When they finish, the animal character will politely repeat the human character's thanks to the person they were interacting with.

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: While Pooh, Piglet and Roo's cute appearances has been toned down a bit in this film compared to their animation counterparts, they still maintain their friendly appearance even in live-action form. The fact they along with Tigger and Eeyore look like real, well-loved stuffed animals in fact yields its own form of looking utterly cuddly and endearing.

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: While Pooh, Piglet and Roo's cute appearances has been toned down a bit in this film compared to their animation counterparts, they still maintain their friendly, cuddly appearance even in live-action form. The fact they along with Tigger and Eeyore look like living, well-loved stuffed animals in fact yields its own form of endearing.

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: While Pooh, Piglet and Roo's cute appearances has been toned down a bit in this film compared to their animation counterparts, they still maintain their friendly appearance even in live-action form.

** Tigger's design stands out among the group as being a little unusual in a few respects. Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore have all been designed to look like worn out stuffed animal versions of their pre-Disney book illustrations. Tigger on the other hand keeps his distinctive Disney head shape (and for some reason, has his stripes even ''more'' faded than his original stuffed animal counterpart).