★☆☆☆☆ Men. Are you working too hard? Is the boss a brute? Are home pressures getting you down? It sounds as if you need the Christopher Robin treatment! Yes, enjoy a spurious plot device that propels you back to your childhood home, where you will play with some imaginary friends that aren’t, it transpires, that imaginary and live in an as yet undiscovered fourth dimension accessible only by a quantum portal in your back garden. Sponsored There, while engaging with these phantasms — which include a fluffy tiger, a fluffy bear and a fluffy donkey — you will fall into a giant puddle and realise the error of your ways, before returning to your wife and child and your big-city boss, all of whom will now,<doc-sep>Dir: Marc Forster; Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael, Mark Gatiss (in person), Jim Cummings, Brad Garrett, Nick Mohammed, Peter Capaldi, Sophie Okonedo, Sara Sheen, Toby Jones (voices). PG cert, 104 mins. ​ Halfway down the stairs – please stop me if this sounds familiar – is a stair where Christopher Robin sits. Marc Forster’s new film is not at ground level, playing party games with Paddington, but nor is it at the top with Goodbye Christopher Robin, last year’s honey-toned AA Milne biopic. Instead, it is perched half-dreamily, half-dolefully between the two, getting in everyone’s way, and the urge to tell it to pick itself up and just choose a floor is overpowering. In other words, it is hard to suss out exactly who this live-action, postwar-set sequel to Disney’s Winnie-the-Pooh animations is for. The story is adult-centric, but ostensibly aimed at children, like a remake of Mary Poppins that spends most of its time at the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely, Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank. Christopher (Ewan McGregor) is now a fully grown father of one, with an all-consuming job at a luggage manufacturer in London and a boss (a fantastically stoat-like Mark Gatiss) who expects him to work every hour God sends. His wife and daughter, played by Hayley Atwell and Bronte Carmichael, are long accustomed to coming a very distant second, so when a looming deadline makes Christopher renege on a family weekend in the country, they just go without him, leaving him to his ledgers and red ink.<doc-sep>After a supercharged few months, the end of popcorn season is approaching. The domestic box office weekend looks to be a battle between Disney’s “Christoper Robin” and the sophomore frame of Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” as both titles head for three-day totals around $30 million. Newcomer “The Spy Who Dumped Me” is targeting low double-digits. “Christoper Robin,” Disney’s live-action adaptation based on the characters from Winnie the Pooh, hopes to tap into nostalgia when it opens on 3,500 screens. Ewan McGregor plays an adult version of Winnie the Pooh’s old pal Christopher Robin, who is now a businessman who has lost his sense of imagination. He reunites with his stuffed friends — including Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet — who help him find his way. Marc Forster directed from a screenplay by Alex Ross Perry and Allison Schroeder. Jim Cummings returns to voice Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, while Brad Garrett joins as Eeyore. The cast also includes Hayley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael, and Mark Gatiss. Last weekend, the sixth installment of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise opened with a series-best $61.2 million. “Fallout’s” predecessor, “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” only dropped 48% in its second weekend. Should the latest chapter have a similar hold, the spy thriller could surpass “Christopher Robin” and take the No. 1. slot. Meanwhile, Lionsgate and Imagine’s “The Spy Who Dumped Me” is shooting for a release between $10 million and $15 million. That opening would be a head start on Kate McKinnon’s previous comedy, “Rough Night,” which launched with $8 million. It went on to earn $47 million worldwide on a $20 million budget. In “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” Mila Kunis and McKinnon portray two best friends who get chased through Europe by assassins after they unwittingly get caught up in an international conspiracy when one finds out the boyfriend who dumped her works for the CIA. (You know, that old story.) Susanna Fogel directed and co-wrote with David Iserson, while Justin Theroux, Gillian Anderson, Hasan Minhaj, and Sam Heughan round out the cast. The final wide releases are each aiming for single digit debuts. Fox’s young adult sci-fi thriller “The Darkest Minds” is hoping to collect around $8 million when it opens on 3,127 screens. It will need to pick up steam in its theatrical run to justify its $34 million price tag. Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who had a hand in “Kung Fu Panda” and helmed its two sequels, is making her live-action directorial debut. Chad Hodge penned the script, based on Alexandra Bracken’s novel. “The Darkest Minds,” starring Amandla Stenberg, Mandy Moore and Gwendoline Christie, follows a group of teenagers who are on the run from the government after mysteriously getting superpowers. Finally, Dinesh D’Souza’s controversial documentary “Death of a Nation” is aiming for $3 million. In his review for Variety, Owen Gleiberman says, “Dinesh D’Souza goes over the top — of hate, and of truth — in his latest documentary, a radical-right screed that equates liberalism with Nazism.” It’s been a strong summer at the box office for documentaries, though acclaimed titles “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” “RBG,” and “Three Identical Strangers” have opted for themes of encouragement and sincerity. D’Souza’s last movie was “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party,” which made $13 million. His first, “2016 Obama’s America,” topped out with $33 million. Elsewhere at the box office, Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade” is expanding nationwide. It began its limited run with the best-per-screen average of the year and has since picked up $3.1 million. Elsie Fisher stars in the coming-of-age comedy about a middle schooler navigating her last week of eighth grade. Another A24 title, “Never Goin’ Back,” is also opening at the specialty box office. The stoner comedy, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, stars Mia Mitchell, Camila Morrone and “Saturday Night Live’s” Kyle Mooney.<doc-sep>
Like the Hook of the Winnie-the-Pooh cinematic universe, Christopher Robin finds its protagonist – who should be forever preserved in childhood – all grown-up and unable to remember his adventures. It’s a delightful concoction that will work your tear ducts gently but consistently over its runtime. Better suited to nostalgic parents than restless infants, this is pared-back, old-fashioned family entertainment. Where the recent Goodbye Christopher Robin focused on the harrowing effects A.A. Milne’s celebrated books had on his son, this Disney version of the story takes a more family-friendly approach. And as Disney actually owns the necessary rights, Pooh and his Hundred Acre Wood friends pleasingly appear in familiar form, as does all the key iconography you remember. Marc Forster’s film serves as an extension of the storybooks, quite literally in the economical opening montage, which shows what’s happened to Robin in the years since he was best pals with Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger. Boarding school, followed by World War 2 and a soul-crushing job in the city have turned Robin (Ewan McGregor) into an absent, overworked father, whose relationship with his wife, Evelyn (Hayley Atwell), and young daughter, Madeline (Bronte Carmichael), is hanging by a thread. When work causes Robin to miss a family weekend away, a walking, talking Pooh (Jim Cummings) arrives back in Robin’s life, and his brand of philosophical aphorisms might help Robin reclaim a shred of his youthful spirit and reconnect with his family. For a film with three credited screenwriters (and two more credited for the story), it has a surprisingly elegant simplicity to it: you could scribble the full synopsis on the back of a postage stamp. But within that simple framework, there’s much pleasure to be had. Everything seems crafted for a nostalgic glow, from the familiar voices to the Disneyfied vision of post-war London and the cartoonish supporting cast (Mark Gatiss is good fun as Robin’s loathsome boss). While there are some comic set-pieces and pratfalls, and it never goes that long without an animated animal on screen, this isn’t a Paddington-style laugh-a-minute romp. The tone is more Eeyore than Tigger, and the callbacks are subtle and muted: when the classic theme song returns, it’s in a low-key, wistful way. McGregor is on charming form (as are Atwell and Carmichael), ensuring that you root for Robin even though he’s a bit of a misery. But it’s really Pooh who’s the MVP here. You’ll want to hug him and use his soft fur to mop up your tears. A bittersweet delight.