The Pacifier (2005)

Director:

Adam Shankman

Writers (WGA):

Thomas Lennon (written by) &
Robert Ben Garant (written by)

Release Date:

4 March 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Family | Thriller

Tagline:

Welcome to the infantry.

Plot:

Disgraced Navy SEAL Shane Wolfe is handed a new assignment: Protect the five Plummer kids from enemies of their recently deceased father -- a government scientist whose top-secret experiment remains in the kids' house.

Plot Keywords:

Navy Seal | Vice Principal | Cheerleader | Baby | Wedding Ring

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Nov. 28

12:30 PM

USA

Cast

Vin Diesel	...	Shane Wolfe
Lauren Graham	...	Principal Claire Fletcher
Faith Ford	...	Julie Plummer
Brittany Snow	...	Zoe Plummer
Max Thieriot	...	Seth Plummer
Chris Potter	...	Capt. Bill Fawcett
Carol Kane	...	Helga
Brad Garrett	...	Vice Principal Dwayne Murney
Morgan York	...	Lulu Plummer
Kegan Hoover	...	Peter Plummer (as Keegan Hoover)
Logan Hoover	...	Peter Plummer
Bo Vink	...	Baby Tyler Plummer
Luke Vink	...	Baby Tyler Plummer
Tate Donovan	...	Howard Plummer
Scott Thompson	...	Director

Also Known As:

Gnome (Philippines: English title)
Le pacificateur (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for action violence, language and rude humor.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English | Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Taiwan:GP | Iceland:L | Spain:T | Malaysia:U | Norway:11 | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Brazil:12 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:MG6 | Peru:PT | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG (certificate #41513) | UK:PG (cut)

Filming Locations:

Key West, Florida Keys, Florida, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

The scene where Lulu tells Shane that she thinks he's cute and Shane's embarrassed response was based on a real life incident on set. Morgan York (the actress who plays Lulu), upon meeting Vin Diesel, actually said that to him and he awkwardly responded with a "thank you". The director thought it was so funny that he put it in the film.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Classified information can never be viewed outside of a cleared area - especially not in public, as when Shane looks up information on the housekeeper while in the home, or when he looks up information about the principal while out on the playground. This would be considered a serious security breach.

Quotes:

[after seeing Woody Woodchuck's kiddie restaurant]
Shane Wolfe: And they say war is hell.

Movie Connections:

Features Ghost (1990)

Soundtrack:

The Sound of Music

A bit more cutesy than" Kindergarten Cop, "but more family-friendly, and Vin Diesel shows his versatility.

In brief: "A bit more cutesy than "Kindergarten Cop," but more family-friendly, and Vin Diesel shows his versatility."

I don't usually attend screenings for kids' movies, but when I first found out about this film, I was very curious to see how Vin Diesel would do in a kid's film. I've liked Vin Diesel ever since "Pitch Black", and while some may dismiss him as a muscle-bound action workhorse, I've long thought that there was more to him lurking behind that facade, and remembering the skepticism that greeted Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempts at comedy—skepticism that was greeted with what I thought were successful turns in "Twins" and "Kindergarten Cop", I was curious to see how successfully Diesel would play against type.

The result is a family film more cutesy and farcical than "Kindergarten Cop", (the model my mind kept going back to for comparison), with an unfortunately greater focus on infant waste products, but greater conflict between Diesel and his young charges, which lends itself to more heartwarming moments of rapport-building.

Diesel plays Lt. Shane Wolfe, a Navy SEAL assigned to protect the five children of a top scientist (Tate Donovan), and find a hidden computer program that may be secreted in his house while their mother (Faith Ford) and Wolfe's C.O. journey to Zurich to try and find the right code word for the scientist's safety deposit box. A simple assignment, it seems, except these kids have issues. Eldest son Seth is defiant, suffers bullying from fellow students and the school's V.P., and is negligent in his wrestling team responsibilities. Oldest daughter Zoe ("American Dreams"'s Brittany Snow) is truant in her Driver's Ed class, and willfully disobedient. The problems of the youngest three, Lulu, Peter, and Tyler, seem simpler, but are no less mountainous for Wolfe, who first tries addressing these problems with the roughshod military discipline he's accustomed to, but soon finds himself changing tactics by listening to these kids' problems, and helping them out more as a parent than a military bodyguard. Whereas Schwarzenegger's character was instantly ingratiated with the object of his protection in "Kindergarten Cop" by becoming friends and eventually boyfriend to his mom, and merely had to win his class' attention, here Wolfe has the more difficult task of cutting through the layers of resentment in a pair of teenagers, taking care of an infant and two young children, and protecting them from assassins that come crashing through windows, which lends itself to both some genuinely warm moments when he opens up to Seth and Zoe, and some surprisingly interesting but funny action sequences that seem evocative of Jackie Chan, with a really nice setup-and-payoff when Wolfe realizes the secret to getting to the computer program.

This is obviously a film geared more for the kids, as evidenced by the kooky overacting, the silly Swiss stereotypes (which I didn't even realized existed), and the goofy actions on the part of the bad guys, such as the revelation, for example, that squirting a juice box into a bad guy's face is akin to spraying it with acid (and somehow keeps the bad guy from falling backward in response), but while that may be a let-down to the older folk, the parents will probably be pleased, since I recall some parents being upset with the more adult scenes in "Kindergarten Cop".

The bottom line is, bring the kids to see it, but if unless you're a die-hard Diesel fan, and want to see anything he does, it probably won't be your cup of tea if you're past grade school.