Stories for bedtime. That come true. (Bedtime Stories (DVD))

Member Name: raypdaley182

Product:	Bedtime Stories (DVD)
Date:	02/05/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great dream sequences and clever how they become real events

Disadvantages: Brand & Sandler arent funny, annoying hamster too

This movie isn't Adam Sandler at his worst but it certainly comes close to him being at his usually annoying best. Aimed solely at kids Sandler said he wanted to make a movie his own kids could watch, they must have the patience of Saints if they tolerate him in this offering.

Sandler plays the son of a hotel owner (played by the amazing Jonathon Pryce in a blink and you'll miss it role) who is forced to sell up after falling on hard times, the hotel owner makes his buyer promise his son will always have a job at the hotel and this is where we meet Sandler who is pretty much odd job man or janitor where his father had forseen him in a more managerial role.

This job is already filled by Guy Pearce playing the smarmy lacky very well whilst being supported by an almost unrecognisable Lucy Lawless (I assure you that you won't recognise her as Zena, Warrior Princess) as the hotel concierge who is also Pearces lover.

Sandler is asked to look after his sisters kids (his sister being played by the rather under used Courtney Cox and if you were already struggling in accepting Sandler in a kids movie then like me you'll REALLY struggle to accept Cox as Sandlers sister even in a fictional movie universe) after she loses her teaching job and is forced to travel to find a new job and thus disfunctional family hilarity is supposed to ensue but doesn't.

Sandler is an unwilling uncle and an even more unwilling babysitter and seeks help in his role as a carer from a fellow hotel worker played by British Comedian Russell Brand (who is clearly unknown for his sexual & drug exploits in the US or they wouldn't have touched him with a bargepole for this kids movie) who is called on to provide the occasional interlude of comic relief and always fails because he simply isn't funny.

Sandler discovers that the bedtime stories his nephew & neice tell come true in real life, its quite a clever idea and seeing what the causes of some of the real dreams is fairly clever but its an idea I feel they didn't explore fully.

Throw in a bit of a love story between Sandler & the hotel owners daughter, a comedy CGI hamster that the little kids will love but most adults will probably find rather annoying and wait until Sandler tries to corrupt the dreams for his own employment advancement.

Throw in a side line of betrayal and a rather predictable if somewhat soppy and rather dull ending and you have Bedtime Stories. It's enjoyable once but won't stand up to repeated viewings I fear. Sandler tried a little too hard to make his kids movie but the end product fell a little short of the mark.

(this review also appears on ciao)

Summary: A kids movie from Adam Sandler