The Pacifier (2005)

The Pacifier (2005): Dir: Adam Shankman / Cast: Vin Diesel, Lauren Graham, Faith Ford, Carol Kane, Brittany Snow: Corny family comedy about solution. In this case Navy Seals Lieutenant Shane Wolfe is assigned to guard five children after their father is murdered and their mother is away to crack a code that will reveal information on a disc. He also helps oldest daughter pass drivers education as well as assist the son in the play for The Sound of Music. He even reserves time to help the youngest daughter in her Brownies group. Director Adam Shankman previously made the dreadful Bringing Down the House and again here he is given a pitiful screenplay. Vin Diesel as Wolfe is stranded in corny situations in similar fashion Arnold Schwarzenegger did in Kindergarten Cop. We know that the outcome will be violent and that Wolfe will make his point. Wasted supporting work by Lauren Graham as the school principal who is seen as a potential romance. She should really go back to that Bad Santa guy. Faith Ford as the sustained mother is a recruit from the sitcom Murphy Brown and she is cardboard here. Then there is Carol Kane as the senile nanny in a role seen countless times in equally stupid films. Brittany Snow plays one of the spoiled snotty children. She is the typical bratty teenager represented here with no brain. This film should be tossed in a sewer. Score: 2 / 10

This is a remake of Uncle Buck. No one seems to get that mostly because of the back story which encompasses all of the first five minutes and last two minutes of the film. Everything in the middle is sometimes scene for scene a remake of Uncle Buck, particularly when he goes to the school to meet the principal because the kids are having problems in school. There's even a very subtle connection they expanded in this film as the vice principal in Uncle Buck was a Navy vet and in this film the principal is the Navy vet. The only thing they switched is that in both films the vice principal was an antagonist but in this film (because Diesel's character is also Navy, the vet becomes a love interest). Ultimately the rowdy older sister who hated him the most becomes the one who loves him the most and they're all best of friends by the time the parents return.

The Pacifier is directed by Adam Shankman and written by Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant. It stars Vin Diesel, Lauren Graham, Faith Ford, Brittany Snow, Max Thieriot, Morgan York, Carol Kane, and Brad Garrett. Out of Walt Disney Pictures, the plot sees Diesel as U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Shane Wolfe, who is assigned to protect the Plummer family after they lost their scientist father during Wolfe's last mission. There's also the small matter of locating some top secret technology the father had been working on. But first Shane has to deal with controlling five children...So it's Vin Diesel's turn to be the tough guy willing to send himself up in the name of family entertainment. Falling in alongside the likes of Kindergarten Cop (Schwarzenegger) and Mr. Nanny (Hulk Hogan), Diesel's movie holds absolutely no surprises, more so given that it is after all a Disney production. While the critics inevitably gave it a good kicking whilst scoffing at the big bucks it made at the box office ($100 million plus in profit). I guess the big question to ask is just what do you expect from a movie such as this? With its formula and premise clearly not setting out to bend the family comedy rules? OK, perhaps the film lacks a multitude of belly laughs, and the direction is by the numbers 101, but it actually does exactly what it says on the tin.Diesel dose send himself up, while also kicking some butt along the way. The kids are the requisite of adorable or bratish, there's potential romance and there's even a comedy bonus in the form of Garrett's cringe inducing turn as power crazy Vice Principal Dwayne Murney. Hey we even have a link to The Sound of Music in the story, while the soundtrack, although sparse, is perky and witty. The acting around Diesel is variable, but this is his movie, and most of the fun is garnered from watching him peel away the layers of his macho image. You may have to be the kind of person who laughs at dirty nappy jokes, or wish to see Vin jump in to a sewer, but this is still decent family fun.A film made to tickle the kiddies and put a smile on the faces of the adults. With that in mind, it's job done. 7/10

'The Pacifier' is a typical example of how Hollywood studios make family picture these days, in this case Disney and Spyglass. Get a star, throw in some actions (use car and kung-hu), add some jokes (slapsticks or toilet humour), and have some special appearances of celebrities or Oscar nominees, or if you can't, at least get some cute kids. Director? No matter. Just do it before someone else does it for this spring season. It is true that 'The Pacifier' is made with run-of-the-mill formula, but it does not follow that the film is not enjoyable. I actually smiled a lot, and the idea of putting muscular Vin Diesel (as Lt. Shane Wolfe from US Navy) in the dysfunctional family as body guard from underground organization is not bad. And as to the jokes, there are plenty of them, and the clever duck is also funny to see. Another good thing about the film is some of the relative newcomers. Among the kids, Morgan York playing precocious little girl Lulu is a real find. The director must have known it, for the film spends considerable time in showing her character. Surely his decision is justified. But there is something I do not like about the film. Though the death(s) are not directly shown, they are suggested, and the family who need Vin's protection in fact suffer from the death of the father. Isn't that unnecessary in making family pictures? In addition to this, there are many ill-advised decisions. Now let me count, 1) bullying wrestling coach (Brad Garrett) who is simply there to be despised 2) Helga, babysitting lady with intentionally heavy accent played by Carol Kane who looks like coming from 'The Addams Family' and 3) the 'ninja' idea which should have been dead back in the 80s. Oh, and 4) the suddenly introduced "love interest" (school principal played by Lauren Graham) for Vin Diesel, which is far from convincing. But the best way to describe the quality of 'The Pacifier' is to take a look at the CV of director Adam Shankman, which who has done J-Lo's unremarkable romantic comedy 'The Wedding Planner,' sweet but melodramatic 'Walk to Remember' and 'Bringing Down the House' so-so Steve Martin comedy. They are all commercially successful, but there are nothing particularly outstanding about them. Though it is fun to see, 'The Pacifier' does not change my impressions about his films.