Below are Mini Reviews from Cineman Syndicate for two films opening on June 12, 2009.

IMAGINE THAT. Eddie Murphy goes from capitalist tool to dancing fool (and back again) in a family fable with more depth than you might envisage. Buying into his six-year-old daughter's imaginary world, where fairy princesses understand high finance, a Denver investment advisor prospers. Until he's deprived of the magical blanky that affords access to this unusual, performance-enhancing realm. As his rival who spouts Native American hokum, Thomas Haden Church is a perfect foil and newcomer Yara Shahidi is genuinely cute. Consequently, Murphy, while trotting out many familiar tricks, doesn't have to provide all the laughter or sentiment. The result is long and certainly predictable, yet quite effective. (PG) GOOD COMEDY. Director - Karey Kirkpatrick; Lead - Eddie Murphy; Running Time - 106 minutes. 

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3. Tony "Top Gun" Scott updates the 1974 crime thriller with contemporary trappings that make for a first-rate summer nerve-jangler, if not an improvement on the original. Its crux is the relationship between two formidable characters and actors, the criminal (John Travolta) who orchestrates the seizure of a New York subway train and the dispatcher (Washington) with whom he negotiates regarding what the city will pay in exchange for the lives of eighteen straphangers. Without traversing any new ground or piping subway smells into the theater, Scott's film is topical and visceral. Sic transit gloria Hollywood sums up the overall response. (R) GOOD THRILLER; Director - Tony Scott; Lead - Denzel Washington; Running Time - 105 minutes. 

COPYRIGHT 2009 CINEMAN SYNDICATE LLC

(Both capsule reviews by John P. McCarthy.)