Christopher Robin

After a farewell tea with his pals Winnie-the-Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet et al., young Christopher Robin (Orton O’Brien) grows up to be a dull workaholic schlub (Ewan McGregor) who neglects his family (wife Hayley Atwell, daughter Bronte Carmichael); it takes a visit from Pooh and the gang to set him straight. Earnest acting, brilliant CGI and a few good lines (from Brad Garrett as the voice of Eeyore) can’t conceal that the script (by Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, Allison Schroeder, Greg Brooker and Mark Steven Johnson, all working separately) is a half-hour’s worth of stale whimsy dragged out to 104 minutes, directed at a plod by Marc Forster and murkily photographed by Matthias Koenigswieser. The result is, essentially, Mary Poppins without Walt Disney, Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, songs or charm.