A Boy Called Christmas: The magic of Christmas and the power of hope

Movie Review: A Boy Called Christmas on Netflix

This back-story film on the origins of Father Christmas begins with Maggie Smith in character as Aunt Ruth telling a small group of sleepy-eyed children a Christmas bedtime story. The bedtime story becomes the essence of the narration. Now, who wouldn't love the legendary Maggie Smith to tell them a delicious bedtime story? And so it ensues.

A Boy Called Christmas is about a boy called Christmas--clever, no?--who live an impoverished life alone in a Norwegian forest. His father (played by Joel Fry) is a woodsman. Young Nikolas (played by Henry Lawfull) helps his father but dreams of his late mother, who died when he was very young but gifted him with dreams of elves and the hope of a life of wonder in Elfhelm, one of the magical kingdoms of Viking lore. But Nikolas's father doesn't exactly buy into the legends and forces Henry to live a more realistic and rustic life until one day the king (played by Jim Broadbent) challenges the people to search far and wide for tangible signs of hope to encourage the people of the kingdom. His father sets off with a bunch of local men in search of Elfhelm, leaving Nikolas in the care of his self-centered sister (played by Kristen Wiig) and a red cap knit by Nikolas's mother. When Nikclas inadvertently discovers a map sewn inside the cap by Nikolas's mother, Nikolas runs off the find his father to help him in his quest. Thereafter lie mayhem and conflict. Also a pet mouse, a flying reindeer, a city of elves intent on imprisoning Nikolas, and lots of cold, snowy, mountainous terrain. 

This is your usual boy against the odds battle to survive and be understood story. It's also about the magic of Christmas and the power of hope. There are lots of interesting characters and fun settings, and children will enjoy seeing themselves in the personas of the children receiving a bedtime story by a beloved character actor and watching imaginative characters coming to life on their TV screens. It's also a story good for adults who like a little fantasy in their fiction--perhaps some hope in tough times.

A Boy Called Christmas isn't full-blown fantasy like a Babes in Toyland or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But it is fantasy an audience can suspend disbelief in long enough to enjoy the story and tag along for the journey and the warm-hearted message. I'd rate it A for admirable effort.

Downsizing: A Satire that Can Be Fun but also Dark

Movie Review: Downsizing (2017)
Version: Library Blu-Ray borrow

Downsizing is a social satire on the moment in which humanity realizes it cannot sustain its assault on the natural world. The story takes on life in the form of Paul Safranek (played affably by Matt Damon), who with his wife Audrey (played by Kristen Wiig) decide to join the downsizing movement, which seeks to reduce its environmental impact by becoming physically much smaller, thus reducing the size of its needs and the refuse it puts into the environment. All is going well as Paul and Audrey sell off their normal-scale belongings and prepare to downsize, right up until the moment the organization doing the downsizing shaves off all their bodily hair. Suddenly, Audrey isn't so sure about her commitment to the movement and, not coincidentally, Paul. But Paul doesn't find out until he has been irreversibly reduced to five inches tall.

Waking up in the much smaller world nude and vulnerable and concerned that Audrey isn't by his side as promised, Paul receives a phone call. It's Audrey. As her hair is being shaved and a single eyebrow has been removed, she realizes she has been doing this for Paul and what she really wants is to do something for her self. This sends Paul for a loop. What does she mean, she was doing it for Paul? They were in this together. And doing something for herself? What about him? But alas, it's too late and now Paul is on his own.

Paul is taken to his new home, a gigantic mansion -- now for one. But Audrey sues for divorce. When they sold off their assets it translated into much greater value in the smaller world, but now that is reduced severely with the settlement and Paul finds himself living in a small apartment, alone. He tries dating, meeting a single woman whom he invites to his unimpressive new home. But the neighbor upstairs is throwing a party, and it's too noisy for an intimate dinner. Asking the neighbor to tone it down, Paul meets Dusan Mirkovic (played by Christoph Waltz), a bon vivant character who has learned how to profit from the downsizing movement. And who, incidentally, has connections to the leader of the downsizing movement in Norway, Dr. Jorgen Asbjørnsen.

Invited to one of Mirkovic's parties, Paul meets figures from around the world who have joined the downsizing movement, and he is encouraged to join Mirkovic on a trip to Norway to meet Asbjørnsen. They make the journey, which takes them to the original downsized village, where they discover there is bad news: not enough people have joined the downsizing movement and global warming has resulted in the melting of the Arctic permafrost, releasing historic amounts of methane, which will result in a huge extinction event. The only way for humanity to survive is for the colony to retreat to a secure facility deep in the mountains, and Paul is invited to join them. Thus, Paul has a life-changing decision to make.

Early in Downsizing, this is a fun film, the screenwriters and director and crew envision a world in which people are made small and what life might be like that tiny. And how small people might live side by side with big people. Matt Damon is perfect in the role as Paul, doing his best to get along in life to make things better for others. But the story begins to take a dark turn when Audrey changes her mind, then divorces him, and his new life turns sour. Even when he meets Ngoc Lan Tran (played by Hong Chau), Mirkovic's apartment cleaner, and falls in love with her, there are bitter aspects to their story, keeping the story dark despite turns of humor. In the ending, it is deeply dark as we find out that Earth is struggling for survival.

As I said, Downsizing is a social satire. This film is a satire about humanity's struggle and often failure to do the right things. When they most count, humans often do what is best for themselves, as the character Audrey does, leaving in their wake those who live more largely by doing what is best for the whole, as the downsizing colony had been trying to do. Caught in the middle are those who try make the right decisions to make the world a better place.

This can be a depressing film watched to its end. Don't see it thinking it will be all fun. Do watch it for its message as warning about the future of our planet, however, because we are surely headed for an environmental apocalypse. There just isn't any way to downsize people to reduce their environmental footprint, and likely they wouldn't if given a choice anyway. Perhaps this film is more real thematically than we can imagine.

I give Downsizing enthusiastic thumbs-up for imagination. The juxtaposition between small and large worlds is fun, and the bit about shaving big people before and exposing their vulnerability is very interesting. However, it was a little strange to see how small Paul's apartment was only to see him go upstairs one floor and see how expansive Mirkovic's apartment was -- that looked like a plot hole. And as satire can be, it seemed a bit preachy under the surface. I get the idea, but are you willing to sit through a film with a message?

To recap, Downsizing is initially a fun story about people downsizing to save the planet that turns dark and depressing at the end. It has definite fun moments, but you may have to fight to stick with it to the end.

Despicable Me 3: Gru Meets Dru and the Fun Begins Once Again

Movie Review: Despicable Me 3 (2017)

Version: Paid movie theater viewing

They're back -- Gru, Lucy, Margo, Edith, Agnes, and all who knows how many adorable minions each who has a name -- in Despicable Me 3. You would think after two tries that a third movie would fall flat on its despicable face. Not so. Despicable Me 3 finds the crew as irrepressibly lovable and fun as the first time we met them. And this time, there's one more member of the crew to love: Gru's twin brother, Dru.

Gru and Lucy are fired from the Anti-Villain League for failing to catch Balthazar Bratt, newest arch enemy of goodness, even though they retrieved the target of Bratt's villainy, the world's largest gem. So for the rest of the movie there is battle between Gru and Lucy to retrieve the gem. Meanwhile, Gru and his family receives a mysterious invitation to visit a far off property which turns out to belong to his long lost -- and unknown -- twin brother, Dru. It turns out Gru's mother and father were spies during the Great War and had a falling out, each deciding to take and raise one son. Dru was raised in the shadow of his father's success as an evil spy while also watching his brother's success as an international bad guy. Now seeing Gru unemployed, Dru wants to join forces to do evil together, as it was meant to be. Gru, of course, has a family to think of, and is resistant, but Dru draws him into intrigue. And there's the matter of Balthazar Bratt to deal with.

The minions, meanwhile, have left the household, having lost faith in Dru because he has been fired but also because he refuses to turn back to doing evil. Theirs is a hilarious side story of getting into trouble, ending up in prison -- which they dominate as a tribe, escape and run off in search of a mission, only to be reintroduced to Gru with Dru. In my opinion, they steal the show, once again.

Gru and Dru are played with delicious joy once again by Steve Carell. Returning as his adorable wife Lucy is Kristen Wiig. The quirky Balthazar Bratt is played by Trey Parker. Also returning, Miranda Cosgrove is daughter Margo, Dana Gaier is daughter Edith, and Nev Scharrel is huggable daughter Agnes. You can't find a more wonderful ensemble cast for an animated film. The ensemble cast for all those adorable minions is one guy: Pierre Coffin. I'd love to have a conversation with him about how he assembles that dialogue!

Technically, the animation is flawless, from color to set decoration to character creation to lighting and on and on. The Despicable Me franchise remains one of my favorite for story telling and attention to detail. It is consistently excellent, and that continued in Despicable Me 3. The history of sequels in film isn't very good, but with this franchise they have kept our faith through two. I'd love to see a third sequel.

I don't know how long Despicable Me 3 will remain in theaters. It opened at the end of June in most markets, early July in some others, and late August in a very few others. But it's worth paying to see on the big screen. If you miss it in theaters, definitely see it on DVD or Blu-Ray or on cable or satellite TV. It's great fun!