Prepare for bottle.
Vin Diesel redefines what it means to be an action hero in the heart-warming family action-comedy The Pacifier. Diesel stars as Navy SEAL Shane Wolfe who, as an elite member of the world's fiercest and most highly trained force thought he was prepared to take on any duty no matter how perilous or impossible... until he tried baby-sitting.
Assigned to protect the five out-of-control children of an assassinated scientist working on vital government secrets, Shane is suddenly faced with juggling two outrageously incompatible jobs: fighting the bad guys while keeping house. Replacing his usual arsenal of wetsuits and weapons with nappies and juice boxes, Shane not only must battle a deceptive enemy but wrangle teen rebel Zoe (Brittany Snow), sullen 14-year-old Seth (Max Thieriot), 8-year-old Ninja-wannabe LuLu (Morgan York) as well as 3-year-old Peter (Kegan Hoover and Logan Hover) and baby Tyler - not to mention their off-beat Romanian nanny. But while drop zones, demolitions and destroying enemy targets come naturally to Shane, he has no idea what tough really is until he pits his courage against nappy-changing, den-mothering and driver's education.
Special Agent Matti
Hee, hee, hee: The Pacifier is actually funny! Despite the cheesy script and the obvious gags and the (roll your eyes) heart-warming Disney moments, there are plenty of guffaw points that will have you... guffawing.
Vin Diesel is pretty over-the-top but it suits the family adventure atmosphere. (Speaking of which, I was surprised to discover that the father was killed during the course of the movie, even if it did happen off-screen: people tend not to die in Disney films.) The kids are run-of-the-mill kids and the teachers are dorks - except for the Principal, who is an ex-Navy babe, as Principals tend to be, don't they?
The bad guys are obvious but you don't go to see a film like The Pacifier in order to be surprised, you go in order to baby-sit over the school holidays. It's fun for the whole family, especially with popcorn.
PG (Medium level violence)
95 minutes (1:35 hours)
Film: 24 March 2005 - Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria
Film: 7 April 2005 - New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia
VHS rental: 20 July 2005
DVD retail: 20 July 2005
