Disney released the first trailer (above) for their live-action Winnie the Pooh movie Christopher Robin, and, well, that’s Pooh all right. Directed by Marc Forster (World War Z), the film stars Ewan McGregor as a grown-up Christopher Robin who’s having a crisis. His boss (Mark Gatiss) tells him he has to lay off 20 percent of his employees and skip a vacation with his wife and daughter (Hayley Atwell and Bronte Carmichael). He’s having a bit of a bother on a park bench when a CGI Winnie the Pooh (voiced once again by Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh‘s Jim Cummings) appears to help him.
Is this a kid’s movie, or a horror film? Not everyone is sure, and Twitter users made jokes and mashup videos, starting with perhaps the most obvious joke of all:
Ewan McGregor incredulously saying the word "POOH?" really was the laugh I didn't know I needed today pic.twitter.com/8TGPkSoTWw
— Lucy James (@lucyjamesgames) March 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/971095091896029185
And since Ewan McGregor will forever be Obi-Wan Kenobi, people made Star Wars references and mashed up a scene between Obi-Wan and General Grievous in Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.
*Christopher Robin drops down silently from a tree behind Pooh*
"Hello there!"*Pooh turns around slowly, unsurprised by the company as if it were expected*
"General Kenobi…"— Jeff (@JeffPeli) March 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/antovolk/status/971073835897323526
It's over, Pooh. I have the high ground. pic.twitter.com/vU6NdETUg5
— Joseph Scrimshaw (@JosephScrimshaw) March 6, 2018
People also noticed the similarity between the live-action Pooh and other stuffed, talking bears and took sides:
https://twitter.com/misterpatches/status/971078550035095552
https://twitter.com/jmrivera02/status/971079021046960128
— karen han (@karenyhan) March 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/NifMuhammad/status/971087958269988871
am i too late pic.twitter.com/oQ8yPUPQVv
— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) March 6, 2018
It’s a high bar to reach. Paddington 2 is so critically acclaimed it’s the highest-rated movie in Rotten Tomatoes history. On the other hand, some people will gladly accept all CGI animals Hollywood has to offer:
— Craig Bro Dude (@CraigSJ) March 6, 2018
Perhaps the most common reaction, however, was to question if this is a horror movie. A grown man seeing a talking teddy bear during a midlife crisis could take a very dark turn…
Winnie The Pooh but it's a live action horror remake. #ChristopherRobin pic.twitter.com/HWB8SraK3y
— Georgie O'Boy (@Georgie_OBoy) March 6, 2018
Pooh: We need your help.
Christopher Robin: Pooh?!
Pooh: There has been a murder. Tigger is dead… pic.twitter.com/YQG88vEoJH
— Tanooki Joe (@TanookiKuribo) March 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/NifMuhammad/status/971085664904245248
There is definitely a part in this movie where Pooh rips someone’s throat out with his teeth pic.twitter.com/XC48UqV0JQ
— Sam Adams (@SamuelAAdams) March 6, 2018
I'm enjoying this mildly haunted Pooh that is both adorable & also could be screaming "I've been dead for 53 years" while a swarm of flies erupts from his mouth pic.twitter.com/CT1Os1HLBc
— Clarisse Loughrey (@clarisselou) March 6, 2018
And the movie’s poster even carries the tagline, “Sooner or later, your past catches up to you.” Is that a threat?
That’s real. That’s the poster. Are we sure this isn’t a horror movie?
"When you're down here with me, you float too" pic.twitter.com/BD3ZuNBH1f
— Matt Jacobs (@majacobs) March 6, 2018
Everybody floats in the Hundred Acre Wood this August 3rd.
(Via Dorkly, Screen Rant, Inverse, and Disney)
