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Vin Diesel, whose really only made a couple of action movies,
obviously believes he’s much more of a box-office action
hero than we do, because he’s doing something here that
Arnold Schwarzenegger took a good decade to do – spoof
the image he believes filmgoers know him best as.
He’s obviously a man quite sure of himself.
But while the bald-headed bag of muscle could’ve waited
before he’d done a dozen more action pics and for the
offers to start drying up before he did The Pacifier,
he still earns a couple of points for taking such a risk.
This is like Kurt Russell jumping from John Carpenter back
to the Disney troupe – a questionable shift of gears
and then some.
Essentially using the same template as every other ‘hard-arse
looks after the kids and turns their lives upside down’
film – including Arnie’s Kindergarten Cop
and John Candy starrer Uncle Buck – The Pacifier
centres on a tough by-the-book Navy lieutenant (Diesel) whose
forced to play babysitter to a troupe of kids whose recently
deceased father, a government scientist, has hidden his top-secret
experiment in the family house. Somewhere.
Naturally, the kids hate the drill-sergeant at first –
he treats them like soldiers, making them get up early, wear
tracking devices and not letting them go out after dark. But
as you might expect, they start to rub off on him, and vice
versa. New buddies all round.
Naturally, he’s going to save them from an on-the-cards
threat too.
A lot less violent than Schwarzenegger’s turn to kid-ville
Kindergarten Cop, but also a little less intriguing,
The Pacifier is fun, but pure Disney. There’s
action, but only in a cartoonish kind of way, and essentially
only a couple of scenes where Diesel does what he ‘thinks’
he does best – kick butt.
Still, this is entertaining stuff. Diesel proves himself
to be quite the humour-hound and you’ll get a quick laugh
out of seeing him mortify himself in quite a few situations.
He also works well with his younger co-stars. If you’re
a fan of Diesel’s action hits, you’re not going
to be in heaven here – but your kids may very well be.
DVD Extras
Extras include some deleted scenes, goofs and a behind-the-scenes
featurette.
Conclusion: Movie 65% Extras: 40%
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