Bedtime Stories

One day a year I have no say in the movie I watch and that day is Christmas. Usually my family sees something worthwhile and entertaining, but after last years National Treasure: The Book of Secrets debacle, I did not have high hopes for anything this year. As the day approached I realized I was going to be subject to either Bedtime Stories or Marley and Me. Would I rather drown or be burned to death? It was a lose lose situation going in. The family, thankfully, did not choose Marley and Me, but that still meant I had to sit through an Adam Sandler family movie. Granted, it co-starred Russell Brand and it looked a lot like Night at the Museum, which was big cheesy fun and entertaining enough, so maybe this would not be so bad, but it starred Adam Sandler!

Raised in his family's small quaint motel, Skeeter(Sandler) loves the motel business. As a kid he had to watch his father sell the place, with a promise from the new owner that Skeeter would one day run the place. The small motel was turned into a massive luxury hotel and Skeeter, well Skeeter is the janitor there. The guy who will be running the place, Kendall(Guy Pierce), is a suck up who is dating the boss' daughter, Violet(Teresa Palmer, looking delicious in a gold bikini). Skeeter works hard, is well liked and still believes in the idea of hotels being magical places. Skeeter's sister, Wendy is losing her job as a school principal because the school is being torn down, but she has some prospects in Arizona and needs Skeeter to watch her kids. Skeeter has not been allowed to their house in three years because he punched out the kids' father, who is no longer int he picture and Skeeter does not know the first thing about kids. He will be splitting babysitting duties with Jill(Keri Russell) and he gets the night shift, which means bedtime stories. Skeeter's dad always told the best stories to him as a kid, so he tries his best with the kids. His stories come from real life but get transplanted into the middle ages, the future, the wild west, etc. After the first story, the next day, the story comes true and Skeeter has a chance to run the hotel, if he can come up with a better theme than Kendall. So, every night Skeeter tries out a new story, in hopes of getting the things he wants, but the kids control the stories, so what he wants and what they want clash, but the kids and Skeeter grow close and it is a family movie after all!

Considering my feelings going in, I was pleasantly surprised. Bedtime Stories has some charm and few laughs and Sandler is really good with kids, not that that should be surprising! The stories feature effects that are at times very impressive(The future space craft) and the not so impressive(Skeeter's flips on the chariot) and the story does get lost in the effects and the cheap laughs (The constant shots of that bug eyed guinea pig from the preview), but I was not bored and I laughed. yes, most of the laughs were courtesy of Russell Brand, but Sandler had his moments as well. I am not sure how it happened, but Keri Russell and Sandler have a really nice easy chemistry and it actually works that she could fall in love with him. Their date is one of the highlights of the movie in it's absurd comedy mixed with gentle sweetness. Sandler appears to be having a fun time in all the different costumes and time periods and it is clear he wanted to make a movie for his new family, as his baby girl has a small cameo, and there is nothing wrong with that. I have seen worse Sandler movies and I have seen better ones, but this is the first one my whole family could watch.

One of the things I liked about it until the very end, was the lack of gross out humor. Until the final act, there was no booger, fart, or gross out jokes, which was nice because PG movies for kids always feature farts because they are apparently funny. Then int he third act we get a slimy booger monster and then the bug eyed guinea pig farts at the end, congratulations on ruining that! Adam Shankman(The director) has directed far worse movies than this, but I thought he was turning a corner with Hairspray. He is out of his league with the effects and he does not have a confident eye, but in a family movie I guess it is not important. Also not important, is how the whole thing happened. It is never explained how and/or why the stories come to life. I was okay with it and each of the things in the story had an interesting way of coming to life, and I am sure if this movie ends up a hit, we will get a sequel or two. For my money though, this should be a one time thing. It had it's moments, like Russell Brand just agreeing with everyone at the end of every story, or the little nephew saying "What, she's hot" but I do not think I need a whole other movie of Sandler encountering random things, unless they bring back the gang of little people back. That was by far the funniest stuff in the movie.

Final Grade: C+