Goodbye Christopher Robin

In the 1920s, British playwright A.A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) writes stories about Winnie-the-Pooh to amuse his son Christopher (Will Tiltson, later Alex Lawther), and the stories’ popularity creates family tensions that boil over when young Milne grows to “hate that blasted bear.” The mini-genre of movies purporting to tell the back story of beloved childhood classics (Finding Neverland, Saving Mr. Banks) may have worn out its welcome with blatant inventions, but at last we get one with the gentle ring of truth—right down to the portrayal of Milne’s wife Daphne (Margot Robbie) as a bit of an ice-bitch. But even she gets her due of humanity, however fallible, in Frank Cottrell Boyce and Simon Vaughan’s tender script and under Simon Curtis’ delicate direction. Young Tiltson all but steals the show from his elders. J.L.