Sharing Nostalgia: My Trip to The Hundred Acre Wood

Hey, everyone! Since Lady Diceacorn has written 2 of the recent “ELS Ladies” blog posts, I, Meepline, will helm this one!As many of you know, I have 3 sons, the Meeplteenies. My oldest is 11, the middle one is 4, and my youngest (the unofficially official ELS baby) will be 2 on Sunday. As those with kids can tell you, they go through phases of being obsessed with certain movies, usually starting around 2 years old. At 2, my oldest rode the Cars wave, my middle one started his dino obsession with The Good Dinosaur, and now the little one is obsessed with all things Winnie the Pooh.

Anyone who has been on this planet for any amount of time has at least a passing familiarity with the chubby little cubby who’s stuffed with fluff. There have been re-releases of the original books,movies, television shows, and songs about him, and he still adorns baby paraphernalia (I still have a Winnie the Pooh Pack n Play). However, if you were a 90s Disney kid like I was, you had more than a passing familiarity. The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was a staple show on the Disney Channel (back when you had to pay for it like HBO), Full House had an entire episode centered on Aunt Becky singing House at Pooh Corner by Loggins and Messina, and there was Pooh-laden clothes for all ages available at the Disney Store (can we talk about the amount of jean clothes that were embroidered with Pooh characters?). Nowadays, though, Pooh has mostly been in the background, something we all remember from our childhoods. There have been attempts to bring him back to the forefront with shows on Disney Junior (My Friends Tigger and Pooh) and a slew of movies focusing on other characters (The Tigger Movie, Piglet’s Big Movie, The Heffalump Movie), but nothing really gripped the kids. So, it seems Disney switched focus to the adults.

After watching the original Pooh movie from 1977 10 times in 4 days, I started searching Amazon for other Pooh movies. We watched Winnie the Pooh (2011) a few times, and then I found Christopher Robin (2018). I had forgotten about this movie, which I had wanted to see when the first trailer came out, but small children makes it difficult to go to the theater/watch what you want to watch. So, I hunkered down with the 2 youngest Meeplteenies to watch it. If you haven’t seen it, it opens with the last scene in the books, in which Christopher Robin says goodbye to his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh and Christopher Robin break away from the party that’s being thrown and walk together to a Special Spot, where they sit and Christopher tells Pooh that he is going away, where he will never do Nothing again. He then makes Pooh promise to never forget him. This point in the movie was the first time I cried. It was Christopher Robin saying goodbye to childhood, something I remember doing myself at some point. It’s the feeling behind the song House at Pooh Corner; growing up and leaving the make believe behind.

The movie then goes on to show Christopher Robin growing up, going to a strict boarding school, being told to grow up and leave childish fancies behind, meeting his wife, having a child, going off to war… All things serious for a Serious Grown Up. It’s set in the 40s/50s era in London, when it was demanded of everyone to be Very Serious. As the story progresses, Pooh leaves the Hundred Acre Wood, meets with Christopher Robin, and reminds him what childhood really is. I won’t spoil the movie too much (the story itself is lovely, and the movie stars Ewan McGregor as Christopher Robin and Hayley Atwell as his loving, but much put out, wife), but near the end, an adult Christopher Robin and Pooh go back to the Special Spot in the Hundred Acre Wood and have another conversation. This was the third time I cried in the movie (I’m an emotional person) and felt like a Welcome Home moment (which Kenny Loggins also added to his old song, which he renamed Return to Pooh Corner).

This catering to the adults and reminding us of childhood is something many movies have done before (most notably recently, The Lego Movie), but Christopher Robin really touched that Nostalgia Button in my heart. And it was made especially poignant sitting there with my sons, watching their childish wonder as Pooh and his friends wreaked havoc in the real world. We’ve all had to say goodbye to our childhoods, to stuffed animals that were our best friends, to imaginary friends, to flights of childish fancy. These movies bring the nostalgia to our forefront, and remind parents to allow their kids to play and be kids, but I think the message is more than that. All adults, whether you have kids or not, should remember what it was like to be a child. All adults should be able to let your inner child out and wonder at the world.

Take a moment today, and Wonder.

April’s Game of the Month- Mixtape Massacre by Bright Light Media- This game is one of my new favorites! I found it on a Facebook ad, bought it, and fell in love. You play as a stereotypical horror movie killer (there’s a creepy clown, a demon with pins all over his head, a creepy ghost girl) and try to kill all the teenagers in Tall Oaks, and be the last Killer standing. Bright Light Media currently has a Kickstarter for the sequel, Escape from Tall Oaks, in which you play the teenagers, fed up of all the killers taking over your town, so you fight back! Along with this game, there will also be rules to combine the two games, so you and a large group of your friends can play Killers vs Teenagers! There’s 2 weeks left on the campaign, so go back them, buy the original, and come to ELS Day on April 14 to learn how to play!