CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (2018) – My rating: 8/10

Christopher Robin is a fantasy comedy-drama directed by Marc Forster and written by Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, and Allison Schroeder, from a story by Greg Brooker and Mark Steven Johnson. The film is inspired by A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard’s book Winnie-the-Pooh and is a live-action/CGI adaptation of the Disney franchise of the same name. The story follows an adult Christopher Robin as he has lost his sense of imagination, only to be reunited with his old stuffed bear friend, Winnie-the-Pooh and friends. I wasn’t thrilled with this film but found it cute as far as stories for children go. I also found the visual and special effects to be excellent! A working-class family man, Christopher Robin, encounters his childhood friend Winnie-the-Pooh, who helps him to rediscover the joys of life.

A young Christopher Robin (Orton O’Brien – young / Ewan McGregor – grown up) is leaving for boarding school, so his imaginary friends, Winnie the Pooh / Tigger (Jim Cummings), Piglet (Nick Mohammed), Eeyore (Brad Garrett), Kanga (Sophie Okonedo), Roo (Sara Sheen), Owl (Toby Jones), and Rabbit (Peter Capaldi), all from the Hundred Acre Wood – threw him a goodbye party. Christopher comforts Pooh and tells him that he will never forget him. Christopher then leaves to go off to boarding school where he grows up, meets and marries an architect named Evelyn (Hayley Atwell), with whom he has daughter named Madeline (Elsa Minell Solak – young /Bronte Carmichael – older). In addition, he serves in the British Army during World War II. After the war, he works as an efficiency expert at Winslow Luggages.

Christopher’s demanding job position causes him to neglect his family, additionally, he has also decided to send his daughter, Madeline, to boarding school. With the company hitting hard times, Christopher’s boss Giles Winslow Jr. (Mark Gatiss) orders him to decrease expenditures by 20%, largely by choosing which employees to lay off, and to present his decisions by Monday morning. This causes additional neglect to Christopher’s family, who he has weekend plans with for a get-away at their countryside cottage, in Sussex.

Meanwhile back at Hundred Acre Wood, Pooh awakens and is unable to find his friends, so he decides to travel through Christopher’s door and finds himself in London. He reunites with Christopher as a grown-up, who is shocked to see Pooh and takes him to his London home. After a night and morning of chaos, Christopher escorts the bear back to Sussex, on the next train.

Christopher Robin’s adventure is just beginning.  This film is a well put together story that will delight children everywhere.  The Visual Effects are outstanding and the acting is brilliant.  I think Christopher Robin will be a worthy use of your time.  Check It Out!

[Christopher Robin is Oscar nominated for Best Visual Effects]

 

 

JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (2018) – My rating: 8/10

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a science fiction film and the sequel to Jurassic World (2015). Directed by J. A. Bayona, it is the fifth installment of the Jurassic Park film series, as well as the second installment of a planned Jurassic World trilogy.  While I wasn’t thrilled about another Jurassic anything movie, I forced myself to see this one so I would have something to write about.  I felt along with other critics that Jurassic World has run it’s course.  Despite negative critiques, it turned out to be pretty good — as this summer’s movies have not been that impressive.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is set on the fictional Central American island of Isla Nublar, off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, 6 months after the theme park incident.  A small team of mercenaries arrives on the abandoned island to collect DNA from the remains of the Indominus rex, which lie at the bottom of the park’s lagoon. After successfully collecting a bone fragment, the team barely escape the park’s Mosasaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex. During the emergency evacuation, the lagoon gate is inadvertently left open, allowing the Mosasaurus to escape into the ocean.

Three years after the Jurassic World incident, a U.S. Senate hearing in Washington, D.C. debates whether Isla Nublar’s dinosaurs should be saved from an impending volcanic eruption. Mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) testifies that the dinosaurs should be allowed to perish to correct John Hammond’s mistake of cloning them long ago. Meanwhile, Jurassic World’s former operations manager, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), has created the Dinosaur Protection Group to save the animals. When the Senate rules against their rescue, Claire is contacted by Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), Hammond’s former partner.

Soon after, Claire meets Lockwood and his aide, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall), at his Northern California estate. They reveal a plan to relocate the dinosaurs to a new island sanctuary. Claire recruits Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Jurassic World’s former Velociraptor trainer, for the mission after Mills expresses concerns about locating Blue, the last living Velociraptor.

—  SLIGHT SPOILERS below  —

The rescue group arrives on Isla Nublar and meets Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine), the mercenary commander. Claire and former park technician, Franklin Webb (Justice Smith), reactivate the park’s dinosaur trackers, while Owen, paleo-veterinarian Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda), Wheatley and other mercenaries search for Blue. Upon finding her, the encounter escalates and leads to a mercenary shooting Blue and Wheatley tranquilizing Owen. Zia works to keep Blue alive while Owen is left behind. After surviving a Baryonyx attack, Claire and Franklin reunite with Owen as the volcano threatens to erupt. They flee from the pyroclastic flow, then sneak aboard the mercenaries’ ship, where they find Zia with Blue. The ship, filled with captured dinosaurs, departs for the U.S. mainland.

At Lockwood’s estate, Lockwood’s orphaned, pre-teen granddaughter, Maisie (Isabella Sermon) overhears Mills and auctioneer Gunnar Eversol (Toby Jones) secretly planning something unprecedented, concerning the captured dinosaurs. They also discuss unveiling the Indoraptor, a new genetically-engineered dinosaur created by geneticist Dr. Henry Wu (B. D. Wong).

Overall, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was entertaining and the special effects were fantastic.  I won’t say anything about how the movie ended — I’ll leave that for the next sequel, if there is one.  As movies go, you wouldn’t be wasting you time or money by seeing this one.  Check it out!