6/10

After a young boy develops a strong relationship with a few of his imaginary friends, he leaves them behind in pursuit of adulthood. Later in life, when his family is on a vacation of sorts, Christopher Robin stumbles across his old friend, Winnie the Pooh, and races to get Pooh back to Hundred Acre Wood before a very important business meeting. Christopher Robin had much better graphics than expected; the animals almost looked real. The colors and atmosphere had a grayish tint, which I think added a real vintage quality to the film.

Though the story is extremely cheesy, it doesn’t feel cheap; I really bought into Pooh’s silliness, and even got emotional at some points, even though I wasn’t an avid reader of the books. The overall narrative, however, felt very clunky, and I leaving the movie I thought that the last third of the film was the only time I actually felt genuine tension and character development; the first two thirds beat the drum of Mr. Robin’s adulthood a bit too often, and the plot during that time felt very lacking. Whatever was there in the third act would have made a much better full-length picture than the one we have now. All things considered, however, the film brings out something concerning the use of imagination from which believer may glean.

Reason or Imagination?: A False Dichotomy

Throughout the film, Winnie the Pooh serves to help the reluctant adult Christopher Robin return back to his childhood roots. Mr. Robin is obviously averse to this, and so the majority of the film is spent developing theme of the mundanity of adulthood. This theme develops very well by the end of the film, maybe enjoying its stay a bit too long. But it is obvious nonetheless, and there is much here for Christians to think on. Dr. Kevin Vanhoozer, a very brilliant professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, makes a wonderful and winsome case for the use of imagination in the Christian life to keep him or her awake in the fight of the faith, and he uses C.S. Lewis as a guide (1). It is indeed very compelling to consider Lewis’ words in regards to this idea, and one wonders what has led the Christian church to such a false dichotomy between reason and emotion (2).

C.S. Lewis is known in the Christian community as the grandfather of imagination, and rightly so. His uses of applicable stories to the life of the church are timeless and continue to serve the church even today in helping us see things we may reason systematically in a compelling way through the use of fiction. Perhaps there is some truth in the negative outlook on adult Christopher Robin attempting to bury his childhood, and we may take note from Lewis in attempt to bridge the gap between reason and imagination with Mr. Robin. Lewis writes in a famous entry in one of his best works, “I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C. S. Lewis.”(3) Jesus, the truest human, is the King of both reason and imagination, and Lewis is his brother, following faithfully in his footsteps. Let aspire to use our imagination like these two, so that a willy, nilly, silly old bear doesn’t have to drag us back to our roots (4).

1. Vanhoozer, desiringGod. “In Bright Shadow: C.S. Lewis on the Imagination for Theology and
Discipleship.” YouTube, Desiring God YouTube, 21 Oct. 2013,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw2yDvX18q8&t=2937s.
2. Vanhoozer touches on this dichotomy in his lecture, suggesting we bring the two together.
3. Lewis, C.S., and Pauline Baynes. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. New York, NY: HarperTrophy,
1994. Print.
4. Consider Jesus use of stories in his parables. I may write on this in another article

Crazy Rich Asians released last week in theaters. The film earned the number one spot at the domestic box office two weekends in row. Attendance dropped only 6% in the second weekend, something that is nearly unprecedented in films. It is the first major studio film set in a contemporary setting to feature an all-Asian cast in the last 25 years. The last film being The Joy Luck Club. Crazy Rich Asians is a romantic comedy based on a best-selling novel by Kevin Kwan, and is helmed by director, Jon C. Chu. It stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, and Michelle Yeoh. The entire cast is fantastic in this film. Remarkably this is Henry Golding’s first feature film, but he gives a wonderfully charming performance as Nick Young.

The story follows Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), a young successful Chinese-American economics professor who has been dating for a year the charming Nick Young. Unbeknownst to Rachel, Nick Young is the heir-apparent to the insanely rich Young family of Singapore. When Nick invites Rachel to attend a wedding with him in Singapore to meet his family the hijinks ensue.
Crazy Rich Asians is an excellent romantic comedy. Both leads are instantly likeably, and share a fantastic chemistry. I found the movie to be hilarious. I was surprised at the depth at which it tackled issues of race, class, and cultural differences between Asian-Americans and Mainland-Asians. These all combine to create a warmly funny and moving film. I highly recommend Crazy Rich Asians to those who love a good romantic comedy, and encourage you to see it on the big screen if you can.

In Defense of Romantic Comedies

Some might wonder what biblical truth one could possibly pull from a romantic comedy such as Crazy Rich Asians. I firmly believe that Crazy Rich Asians could be a significant cultural event. There is more than I possibly write about in one small review so I will only highlight a few thoughts.
Romantic Comedies had seemingly fallen out of favor with audiences, but recently they have making a comeback primarily through streaming services such as Netflix. I personally have a deep affection for Rom Coms such as When Harry Met Sally and While You Were Sleeping to name a few. With the success of Crazy Rich Asians I hope this means we will see an increase in good Romantic Comedies on the big screen.

One often spouted critique of romantic comedies is that they are cliché. However, I find this critique to be misguided. When we think about the nature of Story in general we find that all stories follow basic patterns and archetypes. If it was the simple story beats of a romantic comedy that made them bad, then they would not tap into our desires, nor would there be an audience for such films. Now for sure there are many bad romantic comedies, just as there are many bad dramas. How the story is executed defines what makes a good film from a bad film.
We are drawn to the retelling of these familiar stories because we all bear the image of God. Romantic comedies like Crazy Rich Asians also reveal something about us as human beings: we all long to love and to be loved by someone. We all desire complete trust and intimacy with others. This is why we are so taken by films like Crazy Rich Asians. We all want to believe that we can find someone who will love us as we are.

This desire for love is universal. Crazy Rich Asians demonstrates that it does not matter what your race, class, sex, cultural background, or country of origin is; we all love to be loved and to love. We are all bearers of the Imago Dei and we are all beautiful in the eyes of God. We are all valuable. In the great metanarrative of Scripture we see this longing portrayed. Once we were in perfect loving relationship with God and each other, than sin entered the world and relationships were broken. We have lost the perfect intimacy and love that we so desire. The Gospel story is in this sense an epic romance, where God pursues those that he loves. We are so undeserving of his love yet God gives his love freely to us.

Furthermore, Crazy Rich Asians demonstrates the power of representation. One does not have look very hard online to see the impact this is having on the Asian-American community. The film shines a light on the beauty of Asian faces. One cannot underestimate the power of seeing someone like yourself being displayed as beautiful and valuable.
And if one should doubt that representation matters, let us be reminded, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Humanity became infinitely more valuable when Jesus who was fully God took on humanity. Jesus lovingly left his heavenly throne and descended to earth to become our representative to God the Father; “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).

Crazy Rich Asians points us toward the truths that all people regardless of race are intrinsically valuable because they are image bearers. It reminds us that there is power in being represented. It reminds us that we all long to love and be loved. This deep desire of our hearts is most fully fulfilled in life and death of Jesus Christ who became like us, so that we might become sons and daughters of God. And one day in heaven there will be a beautiful diversity of people of every tongue and every race praising God together. What a glorious day that will be we those who know the Lord will have the deepest longing of their hearts satisfied.

6.5/10

After an exhausting battle with Captain America and the Avengers, Scott Lang, known as Ant-Man, finds himself under house arrest. But no sooner does he settle in before he finds himself in yet another adventure, as he assists his old mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, in rescuing his wife from a mysterious place called the Quantum Realm by building a gate to get there. Ant-Man and friends are in for a bumpy ride, though, as two other characters, with very different motives, seek to obtain that same gate.
Ant-Man and the Wasp was definitely a surprise for many critics and audiences, as it was slightly less conventional than your average superhero movie with black-and-white protagonists and antagonists. Everyone is fleshed out in the film as all having very believable motives for wanting the same thing. The movie turns into a game of cat-and-mouse as our characters scramble for access to the quantum realm in a comedic but compelling way. The film’s biggest weakness was that it did not really feel like Ant-Man’s film; the movie was really about Hope, the Wasp, and finding her mother. Even the side characters had bigger goals and arcs than did Scott. There was, perhaps, something there in Ant-Man’s journey in the film that could have been fleshed out a little better, while not at the expense of the rest of the story, but it seemed like a missed opportunity. Overall, Ant-Man is not a complete waste of time, and holds audiences over after its amazing predecessor, Infinity War.

Many Redemptions

All the characters are in some need of redemption. Firstly, the film centers around the restoration of a lost loved one back from a mysterious realm. At the same time, our main character, Scott Lang, is seeking to be accepted by the people he loves after a series of poor decisions; Ant-man also struggles with his identity as a superhero, not being as powerful as he wants to be; and to make matters worse, his romantic relationship with Hope (Evangeline Lily) is suffering. The cherry on top of all this is an angry character searching for a shot at normalcy, after a tragic explosion has rearranged the molecular structure of her body. What’s really compelling is that there is no actual “villain”, though there is a character who has plunged headlong into love for money, having passed his moment of redemption, and now pursuing a criminal life.

There is much truth here to contemplate for the believer. When Christ restores us, he restores multiple areas of our lives. The film shows a myriad of people who are, together, caught in a web with their own losses and agendas. Christ brings together loved ones in eternity, restores broken romantic relations, restores human identity through sanctification, and establishes normalcy in a life mauled by the effects of the fall. He even holds out his arms for those who still reject righteousness for money while remains the day of grace. The godly may meditate on this film and remember that just as sin affected all areas of life, so also does the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Van Til once said, “The sweep of redemption is as comprehensive as the sweep of sin.” What was brilliant about this film is that depicts life as it often is: a compilation of hurting people seeking their redemption. The Christian worldview responds by saying that all forms of redemption are echoes of that eternal reality that is in Christ Jesus.

Cornelius Van Til, Christian Theistic Ethics (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980), 86-87.