Movie Review: The Pacifier

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Family friendly laughs and action

Cons: Predictable, some laughs didn’t work for me

The Bottom Line:

A Seal babysits

Out of water comedy

That has its moments

Mindless Disney Fun

There are many movies on my “I’ll see them someday” list, and The Pacifier was on it.  It looked like it could be fun.  So when some friends wanted to watch it recently, I didn’t put up any fight at all.

This movie centers on Shane Wolfe (Vin Diesel), a Navy Seal.  When a mission goes horribly wrong, Vin finds himself in the hospital for a couple of months recovering from his injuries.  His first assignment back isn’t one he expected.  He’s assigned to the Plummer family.  The father, who was developing an amazing new piece of technology, has died, and the mother, Julie (Faith Ford), needs to go to Switzerland to retrieve the contents of the box he had there.

And so, Shane finds himself responsible for the daily care as well as the safety for five kids ranging from teens down to a baby.  None of them trust him.  None of them want him there.  Can he convince them he is a good guy?  Are they in danger?

Anyone familiar with a family comedy can pretty much guess where things go from here.  The things that I didn’t see coming were things I should have seen coming.  But, as I have said before, as long as you are having fun, it really doesn’t matter.

And there is fun to be had here.  The cast is filled with many familiar names, especially for 2005, like Carol Kane and Brad Garrett.  As you’d expect, they all make the most of their scenes, giving us plenty of laughs.  The emotional moments work as well, and I teared up a time or two.

Yet, some of the scenes don’t work like they were supposed to, and I found a couple of the characters who were supposed to be funny to be more annoying.  I get what the laughs were supposed to be; they just didn’t work for me.

Vin Diesel is known more for his action movies than his comedy.  He works as the out of his element Navy Seal here, but part of the reason he works in this role is because the film calls for plenty of action.  Don’t worry, it is in keeping with the family friendly movie, but I enjoyed that aspect of things.

I am glad I saw The Pacifier.  I’m not sure I need to see it again, but it was enjoyable to watch once.  If you are a fan of the cast or curious about it, give it a shot.