Christopher Robin

The gang’s all here.

(2018) Family (Disney) Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael, Mark Gatiss, Oliver Ford Davies, Ronke Adekoluejo, Adrian Scarborough, Jim Cummings (voice), Brad Garrett (voice), Peter Capaldi (voice), Sophie Okonedo (voice), Toby Jones (voice), Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Ken Nwosu, John Dagleish, Amanda Lawrence, Orton O’Brien, Tristan Sturrock, Katy Carmichael. Directed by Marc Forster

 

Growing up is inevitable. We leave our childish things behind and become young adults, and then adults. It is the natural progression of things. It happens to us all.

It even happens to Christopher Robin (McGregor), the son of the famous author who invented Winnie the Pooh and was himself the inspiration for his namesake character. He works as an efficiency expert for a luggage firm in London (the real Christopher Robin owned a bookstore) and is miserable. He rarely sees his family anymore and wife Evelyn (Atwell) and daughter Madeline (Carmichael) have grown exasperated with their absentee husband/dad and have gone to the countryside to the house where Christopher Robin grew up. Their presence alerts Pooh (Cummings), who has discovered that his cohorts are all missing and needs Christopher Robin to come back to the Hundred Acre Wood to find them, but Christopher Robin – certain that he is cracking up under the pressure – has other fish to fry. Will he rediscover the things that are important before he loses everything?

This is very much a Disney movie and has a whole lot more in common with other Disney movies than it does with the life of the real Christopher Robin. Still, if you let the movie’s charm just envelop you, particularly if you grew up with Pooh, have a child growing up with Pooh or just like movies that are the cinematic equivalent of a grilled cheese and tomato soup, you might well find this a worthwhile investment of your time. Sure, the movie goes off the rails a bit during the climax and yes the clichés come thick and fast, but the Hundred Acre Wood is absolutely magical and the CGI creations, looking like the worn and beloved toys they once were, further that magic. This is perfect viewing for a rainy day or a summer night. Take your pick.

REASONS TO SEE: Remarkable CGI. Voice actors perfectly cast. A big warm down comforter of a movie.
REASONS TO AVOID: Standard Disney clichés. Loses oodles of steam during the final act.
FAMILY VALUES: There are some scenes of mild action.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Legendary composer Richard B. Sherman makes a cameo appearance during the mid-credits scene. Also, much of the movie was filmed at Ashdown Woods, the original inspiration for A.A. Milne’s Hundred Acre Woods.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, AppleTV, Disney Plus, Fandango Now, Google Play, Movies Anywhere, Netflix, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 12/123/19: Rotten Tomatoes: 73% positive reviews: Metacritic: 60/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Hook
FINAL RATING: 7/10
NEXT: The Aeronauts

Fred Claus

Elizabeth Banks stands out in any crowd but in THIS crowd...

(Warner Brothers) Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey, Rachel Weisz, Miranda Richardson, Kathy Bates, Elizabeth Banks, John Michael Higgins, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Bobb’e J. Thompson. Directed by David Dobkin

Although we love our brothers and sisters, our lives are one long game of “who’s better.” The term “sibling rivalry” takes on an additional dimension when one of the siblings is famous and successful.

Fred Claus (Vaughn) has a secret – he is the older brother of Nicholas Claus (Giamatti), better known as Santa. Nearly from birth his mother (Bates) made it clear which sibling was her favorite, with a barrage of “Why can’t you be more like your brother” remarks tossed Fred’s way. And to be truthful, Nicholas has a pretty long shadow to step out from. He is so filled with goodness that he becomes a living saint and as such, he and his family also become immortal (don’t ask me to explain it – just go with it and you’ll find your head aching less).

At an early age Fred learned to resent the attention his younger brother got and chose to turn away from his family. He lives in Chicago now, just skating by on charm and full of promises that he rarely keeps, driving his girlfriend Wanda (Weisz), who works as a meter maid, crazy.

When a misunderstanding with a group of Salvation Army Santas leads to a fight in a toy store, Fred has no choice but to turn to his little brother to bail him out of jail. He also needs cash to open an Off-Track Betting parlor directly across the street from the Chicago Mercantile and time is of the essence. In order to get the cash, Fred agrees to work for his brother as Christmas approaches.

Despite the misgivings of Annette (Richardson), Nicholas’ wife, Nicholas sends head elf Willie (Higgins) to fetch Fred via flying reindeer and sleigh. He arrives to find the situation in the North Pole not as hunky dory as you might expect. Longer wish lists and a population explosion of children have left the elves unable to keep up with demand very well. Nicholas copes with the stress by overeating and to make matters worse, the powers that be have sent Clyde Northcutt (Spacey) – an efficiency expert – to report on the state of things at Santa’s Workshop. If the report is bad enough, Clyde can shut the whole operation down…permanently.

Nicholas puts Fred to work in the Naughty/Nice department, making the determination which children get presents and which kids get nothing. In the meantime, he has to deal with a one-dimensional DJ (Ludacris) and an unrequited romance between Willie and Santa’s Little Helper, a tall and buxom number-cruncher named Charlene (Banks). To make matters worse, someone is actively trying to sabotage the operation and is using Fred as the fall guy. Can even a saint – or a saint’s brother – save Christmas?

This movie got scathing reviews when it was first released in 2007 and in some ways, I can see why. It advertised itself as a comedy (and with Vaughn in the cast, who could blame them?) and I think that might have been the original intentions of the filmmakers to produce one.

But this isn’t a comedy, and if you expect it to work as one, you’re going to dislike this movie intensely. What Fred Claus REALLY is, is a family holiday movie. Granted, there are some scenes that are actually funny (the Siblings Anonymous scene comes to mind off the bat) and the by-play between brothers Nicholas and Fred are pretty realistic and laugh-inducing, too.

What’s at the heart of this movie is the sibling rivalry between the two brothers, and Fred learning to grow beyond it. His life is empty without people in it and his relationship with his brother has informed all the other relationships in his life since. If Fred comes off as a bit of a huckster, well it’s more or less a defense mechanism. When he cynically informs Slam (Thompson), an orphan he has befriended, not to drink the Kool-Aid, it’s because he’s terrified of finding out the Kool-Aid actually tastes good.

There are a lot of good actors involved in this and production designer Allan Cameron has given them a gorgeous playground to work in. The North Pole sets are definite eye candy, particularly the magnificent Workshop that comes off as a cross between the Crystal Palace of London and a Rube Goldberg-designed factory.

There are some scenes that are genuinely heartwarming, and I really liked the Elf Ninjas who act as a kind of deranged Santa Secret Service. If you like either Giamatti or Vaughn, they are at the top of their games here and since I like both of them, it’s like getting an extra scoop of ice cream in your hot fudge sundae.

There comes a time in all our lives where we must assert our own identities and this movie is all about that. It took Fred centuries to learn that he was his own person and special in his own way; hopefully it won’t take most of us that long to get the same message.

WHY RENT THIS: The interplay between Vaughn and Giamatti is brotherly and fun. Some touching familial reconciliation tugs at the heartstrings. North Pole set design is off the hook.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Sometimes Vaughn gets a little bit out of control. If you’re expecting a comedy, this really isn’t one.

FAMILY VALUES: As with most Christmas movies, everything is fine for the kids.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Jeffrey Dean Morgan has an uncredited cameo as a parking ticket recipient who hits on Wanda.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: The Blu-Ray edition comes with a Ludacris music video as well as, oddly, a DVD games disc. There is also a featurette on sibling rivalry featuring several of the participants in the Siblings Anonymous scene.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

TOMORROW: The Holly and The Quill continues.