Rocks, bones and bears
The first in a string of holidays is upon us, which of course means everyone’s at home and everyone wants to get away from the family. Ironically, holidays are the time most of get together and go to a movie, and producers are happy to oblige with a rash of family fare.
First up, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sees Dwayne Johnson bring all The Rock’s charm to bear in an adventure following four disparate high schoolers in detention who turn into avatars after they’re plunged into an early-Nintendo version of the board game in a reboot of Robin Williams’ 1995 action-comedy. Then in Paddington 2, London’s favorite Peruvian bear refugee is wrongly accused of stealing a pop-up book and later vindicated by his family and neighbors, with Hugh Grant stepping into Nicole Kidman’s hammy villain shoes.
And rounding out the holiday options, Coco follows the musically inclined Miguel (newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) on his trek through the Land of the Dead on Mexico’s most famous holiday, with the jangly Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal) in tow. Lessons about family and forging one’s own identity follow.
There are no real surprises in any of these films, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Jumanji lives and dies on the strength of its cast, which fortunately is stellar, with Jack Black reining it in and providing unexpected pleasure as a popular mean girl trapped inside a schlubby intellectual’s body. His chemistry with Karen Gillan, who’s a nerdy wallflower in real life and a Lara Croft type in the game, is a revelation. Their crash course on flirting is nearly worth the price of admission. The film’s jokes are obvious — the 90-pound weakling turns into Johnson, the jock become the diminutive Kevin Hart — and naturally everyone comes out of the ordeal a better person, but the cast sells it in a perfect, unchallenging Christmas entertainment.
In typical modern animation fashion, Coco is aggressively colorful and kinetic, but something’s missing — that intangible sweet, funny, emotional, smart essence that Pixar nailed in The Incredibles, Up and Wall-E. This is template filmmaking from a former trailblazer that should take some tips from parent company Disney — who thoroughly stole Pixar’s thunder with last summer’s impeccable Moana (which had better songs too). Still, weak Pixar is better than most, and there are enough sight gags and sincerity on hand to make it work, even if, in the interest of cultural sensitivity, Coco’s filmmakers go overboard in making Miguel the most Mexican kid ever to have come from Mexico. Ultimately Coco is the resonant story of a boy figuring out how to break free of family obligations while staying true to the family itself. And kudos to Pixar for figuring out how to navigate the subject of death for kids.
Finally, it’s Paddington Bear to the rescue once again. Like director Paul King did with the first film in 2014, he puts Hollywood to shame with this mix of CGI, live action, comedy, and simplistic morality. All the elements are in perfect balance, and the moralizing is organic (and feels utterly genuine) rather than heavyhanded. When Paddington (again voiced by Ben Whishaw) gets mistakenly tossed in the pokey, Paddington 2 becomes a furry The Grand Budapest Hotel for a narratively complete tale of kindness and gratitude, told through gorgeously rendered images that never stoop to distracting, in a film that knows when its story is over. Grant is a riot as vain, washed-up actor Phoenix Buchanan, and Brendan Gleeson nearly steals the show as the gentlest prison thug of all time. And it’s just as funny as the first outing, particularly if the loud laughter from a little boy two rows back is any indication. It’s really — wait for it — unbearably charming.