CHICAGO - MOVIE REVIEWS BEDTIME STORIES

MOVIE REVIEWS BEDTIME STORIES

Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times begins his review of Bedtime Stories with a prediction "This is a harmless and pleasant Disney comedy and one of only three family movies playing over the holidays," he writes. (The other two are the animated The Tale of Despereaux and Marley & Me ). "It will therefore win the box-office crown big time, with Adam Sandler crushing Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Kate Winslet and others not in harmless Disney comedies." In his lede, Ebert also remarks that the movie "is not my cup of tea. Even the saucer." It's not most other critics', either. "If you listen carefully to the strains of 'When You Wish Upon a Star' during the Disney corporate intro, you may hear Walt moaning in his grave," comments Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal. Claudia Puig in USA Today calls it a "ho-hum tale," while Kyle Smith in the New York Post dismisses it as a "bizarrely clunky kiddie flick." The real issue, Liam Lacey suggests in the Toronto Globe & Mail boils down to what he calls "a taste test for moviegoers Do you prefer your Adam Sandler regular strength or in the new mild format?" (Lacey suggests he prefers neither.) But Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News observes that Sandler seems "at home" playing parts like his character in Bedtime Stories. "Sandler's shambling Yogi Bear-ness will be the big appeal to holiday-vacation audiences," he writes. And Jonathan Curiel concludes his review in the San Francisco Chronicle by writing, "For prepubescent kids, Bedtime Stories will be a perfectly enjoyable work -- a PG-rated introduction to a heralded comic actor trying to inspire a new generation of Adam Sandler fans."

25/12/2008