User reviews

It's not rocket science, but who cares. Turn off the brain, and sit down with the kids for a good solid family comedy. Vin Diesel plays a tough guy with a big heart, he just has to find it. In the process he helps to save the world and defeat the bad guys. The children playing the Plummer family work well together, you could believe that they could be a real family (problems and all). Lauren Graham plays the principal of the school and the "love" interest for Vin Diesel very well. Their attraction is "cute" but not overdone. Brad Garrett as the vice-principal provides the off the wall character that is often presented in this script formula. His character was probably one of the main characters that could have been written better, but was passable. Pop the popcorn for a bit of a corny film and have some fun

Okay, first this movie is great for what it is meant to be, a family friendly comedy romp. It has funny moments, touching moments, it gives you chuckles and even a few laughs. It isn't trying to win awards or stun the audience with special effects. You sit down, watch it, laugh a little, think about how cute the kids are, then go on with the rest of your day. A lot of action stars have taken a turn at comedy to soften their image, Stallone and Arnold S. to name a couple, so Vin Diesel is in good company there. I think it is a decent, light movie worth at least a matinée viewing. The kids are charmers, Vin Diesel doesn't seem to mind being the but of jokes, and most of the acting is good. And ladies, he spends most of the movie in tight t-shirts, and according to my wife has a nice posterior region. Guys you have to settle for Lauren Graham's sweet smile.

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.

I was fortunate to win tickets to a preview of this movie from a local radio station,for myself and my three daughters (9,11 and 14). I did not expect to enjoy this movie, and was simply glad to be there for their sake. It was very entertaining and Vin Diesel did a great job, especially considering it was a comedy. Often when an action star attempts comedy it fails miserably. I rate this movie 8 out of 10 stars, and my daughters all loved it as well. We talked and laughed about it all the way home. I am certain that a few of the catch phrases will be with us for a while. This movie was a blast. Disney did a great job with this one.

Vin Diesel plays Shane Wolfe, a disgraced Navy SEAL, assigned to protect the five children of a scientist who was murdered while working on government secrets. He quickly learns that taking care of kids is going to be the hardest assignment he's ever taken.

The premise isn't very original but I was still expecting this to be a fun movie. However, The Pacifier is a lazy family film that only the kids will like. The screenwriters could have attempted to expand the audience but they didn't. They pretty much leave everyone over the age of 15 out of the fun. The movie only had one goal and that was to entertain the kids. For the most part, they succeeded even if they used cheap gags and annoying characters to get the job done. Well, I'm not too surprised the script is really weak since it was written by the same people who brought us Taxi. I know the Pacifier is supposed to be a fun, harmless movie but it was quite tortuous at times and I blame it on the lazy screenwriters.

Vin Diesel is an okay actor. I can't see him winning an Oscar anytime soon but he's better than Paul Walker. His performance here wasn't very good though. It was rather dull and it wasn't very funny either. It's not really his fault since he was probably told to play his character seriously so that in awkward situations, he would seem to be funny but it backfired and made the film more unbearable. Morgan York gave the best performance and she has the most memorable lines. Brittany Snow was okay, nothing special. Max Thieriot also gave an okay performance though I really didn't like his character. Faith Ford appears in the movie for about 15 minutes so it would be kind of pointless to see this film because of her. Lauren Graham gave an okay performance, I prefer her on Gilmore Girls though. Brad Garret was terrible since he tried way too hard to be funny and it just failed completely.

Adam Shankman directs and he does a decent job. I wouldn't say he did a good job because the movie is kind of bland and inoffensive. He really put no element of surprise and he shot the film right down the middle. I'm kind of surprised he didn't make the film better since he also directed Bringing Down the House and that film was pretty funny. Since this is strictly a kid's movie, I thought the film was very dull and not very funny. They seemed to try too hard and it didn't work out at all. They were some funny moments but not enough to sustain the running time. In the end, The Pacifier is a harmless film for kids but everyone else should skip it. Rating 4/10

The picture talks about a Navy Seal soldier named Wolf(Vin Diesel) is assigned by his chief(Chris Potter) the mission to protect the Plummer family(Brittany Snow among others) but their father(Tate Donovan :OC) has been murdered.The enemies are thinking that a top secret issues encounter into kids's home.Meanwhile their mother(Faith Ford: Murphy Brown)is out and the undercover agent must to keep the familiar order and care the children and teens ,while at the same time protecting the family from an attackers.Besides a foreigner servant(Carol Kane: When the stranger call )also flees from the house .Meantime he is enamored of the attractive professor of school(Lauren Grahan: Gilmore girls) of the kids.

The picture displays continuous humor,laughters,noisy action and is pretty amusing.It's a blending of action, comedy and familiar film that will like to all family.The hunk Vin Diesel is enjoyable and likable as the soldier controlling the children with military methods.He suffers numerous jokes and misfortunes in charge of the children and confronting problems in his toughest mission.The film belong to the family-movies sub-genre whose maxim representation is ¨Your,mine and our¨ with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball and recently remade with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo, and ¨Cheaper by Dozen¨with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt whose second installment has been directed by Adam Shankman,the same director of this one.Lively and atmospheric musical score by John Debney(Sin city,Zahura,Passion of Christ)and adequate cinematography by Peter James.The motion picture is rightly directed by Shankman.If you like Diesel's agreeable playing ,you'll enjoy this one.

This film was bad. There was nothing of value in this entire film. I have no idea how this film grossed a little over thirty million in its first weekend. There must have been a good trailer before it, or perhaps there was a generation of people that missed the film when it was originally called Kindergarten Cop. Either way, for an hour an a half we were duped into watching nothing more than scene after scene of diaper humor, a comically unbalanced Diesel wading through the supposed funny moments, a duck, scenes where the baby of the family is left unattended, sloppy (and I mean sloppy) editing, and quick resolutions that will leave the avid film watcher confused and disoriented. Coupled with cliché after cliché, Diesel proves that he is better left in the action genre, the leaving the humor to anyone else in the world except for him.

There are several people that I am extremely upset with in the world of film today. Tim Burton is currently at the top of my list, but right below him is Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. I grew up with the humor of these guys by watching the decently funny Reno 911 and the hysterically funny MTV show, The State. When I saw that they had written this film, I was expecting to see a new level of comedy. I was hoping to see a film where the humor was sharp, the dialog was perhaps paradoxical, while laughing at all the ways they could play off the already cliché scenes that have been done in early 80s movies. Alas, this was not the case. They literally sold out. Garant and Lennon created a film that fit well into the structure of Disney by giving us bathroom humor, jagged bonding moments, and that inevitable anticlimactic ending which sums everything up in a nice little bow. Did they need the cash? My guess is "yes". For those that may be fans of Reno 911 or The State, I would not go into this film expecting classic humor, but instead be prepared for unfunny diaper scenes which seem to be the staple of this film.

Since the story was filled with more holes than Swiss cheese, it seemed only right for Diesel to fall into that one of those holes as well. He cannot do comedy. This film, The Pacifier, proves that. There were no scenes in which he was able to generate a laugh by anyone in our house. His comic timing seemed invisible to non-existent, all the while it just seemed as if he kept waiting for the chance to walk around without his shirt and perhaps fight some bad-guys. You could tell that he felt uncomfortable in this film and was not ready to handle the pressures of comedy. Perhaps it was the direction that he was given, but Diesel continually went in and out of character. His main focus was to watch the children, but whenever he had to do something else, he completely forgot about the children and moved on. This is hard to explain, but there were several scenes when Diesel left small children unattended in the house, or in the car, or somewhere off-screen while he went searching for his "actual" mission. I was surprised that Social Services didn't try to boycott this film. Perhaps it was Diesel's way of being funny, but for me it just came off as sloppy. Comedy is hard and Diesel needs more work at it before he headlines another Disney bomb.

Finally, I would like to say that Adam Shankman needs to really work on his direction skills. I know he has done more films than just this, but for some odd reason the editing was horrible in this film. Scenes would occur randomly while conclusions to those scenes would arise sporadically as well. It was chaos. We, as viewers, jumped around so much in this film that you just didn't get a feel of any of the characters. The Disney touch was so apparent that it forced the story to become unstructured and confusing. The wrestling to Nazi scene was especially bad, in fact, the entire Sound of Music moment was painful and disruptive to the entire film. Didn't these children's father just pass away horribly about two weeks ago? Nobody seemed to care and there wasn't one tear shed throughout the entire film. The structure on helping the children while continuously looking for "Ghost" just didn't fit. There needed to be more stories, more moments between the children, more glue instead of chaos holding these scenes together. The random relationship between Diesel and Graham was idiotic, while the entire concept of falling in love with these children in just short of two weeks blew my mind. We were all over the place in this film and it hurt.

Overall, this film was worse than pathetic. All three key elements to this film, the writers, the "major" star, and the director just didn't seem to be on the right page. It was sad to see such great comics like Lennon and Garant churn out duds like this. It was sad to see Hollywood resort to the clichéd 80s concept of bringing an action star into comedy and watch him fail miserably. The story was horrendous and glued together by a two-year old. The comedic moments were non-existent, while Diesel wandered through the entire film, in and out of character, hoping to revive a dying career. Nobody made me laugh. Nobody was funny. Nothing was worth viewing a second time. If you are looking for a decent comedy that fully represents the key elements in this film, I would check out the comedic actor John Candy tackle it in Uncle Buck.

Grade: * out of *****

It was fun to see Vin Diesel in a different movie. I watched it during my school years, so it was bad but very entertaining.

this is a horrible movie, please do not c it, i rate it a 1 horrible just awful i left in the middle of it just plain bad boring, dull, making it made my bum stiff please do not watch it dumbest movie ever. it made me puck. horrible-st ever made movie, it wouldn't even be a nominee for the Oscars 100 years ago, when there was little technology. highly against it. not cute, pointless and dumb. my friends agree. please be warned it is a stupid movie. it makes Dora the explorer exciting. and its fit for a baby to c. it will get them to sleep for you! hahahaha. i make my self laugh. Just take my advice and c another movie, I am wasting lines cause I have to fill 10 of them up for this to work. ! and hey what do you know. I did! bye, and Don't c the movie. thanks and i hope you enjoy my comment

Okay, sometimes I think the critics are all single "non-family" people. I just got back from viewing this movie with 7 adults and 11 children. It was wonderful to watch the kids giggle and hurrah at Vin Diesel, tough guy, nice guy, real softie routine. Whether he was kicking bad guys or changing diapers, he was great. While there were many clichés and material we've all seen in other forms, we sometime forget that this stuff works. My child is 8 and this is fresh to him. I'm so please that we were able to bring 18 people of varying ages who all had a good time. I say forget the negatives and focus on what we sometimes forget, an afternoon or evening with you kids is the best pacifier.

You know, while I was watching this movie, I noticed how disciplined and commanding he is, and it reminded me of my Uncle Carl (on my mother's side). I find that kind of funny, because my uncle is just like that. He isn't a Navy SEAL or anything, but he's all disciplined and stuff like that too. Whenever my brother and cousins and I visit my grandma's farm for a few days, everything is all order there because my uncle stays there. I find it easy to imagine him as a Navy Seal and being able to fight and stuff like that though. Now, before I get completely off topic, I would like to say that this is a good movie, very funny, and a great family flick.

The script makes, through the character Helga, a terrible mistake, and it does it in a vulgar way. It is true that probably 99.99% of the people who saw the movie didn't even realize that.

The script puts a couple of very vulgar Romanian words in the mouth of Helga, the babysitter, but later in the movie it is revealed that the character was a former Miss Czechoslovakia. Romania and Czechoslovakia have absolutely nothing in common, and this is probably the fundamental error in writing those lines. Convinced probably that people from Czechslovakia speak Romanian, the writer must have found someone who knew Romanian or at best thought so, because the two Romanian expressions, besides of being super-vulgar, were used in a wrong manner and incorrect pronunciation.

I have nothing to say about the movie, since I literally shut it off after those lines. Sorry, but Americans still have a long way to find out there are lots of other people in the world but them.

If you liked Kindergarten Cop, there's a good chance you'll like this film. It's in a similar vein, the plot of the hardened male (Vin Deisel) forced to deal with multiple children. But this movie could've been better. I thought a lot of the action scenes seemed forced and a little on the ridiculous side. I love ninjas, but they just weren't well-played. But the side-plots involving the children's school were mostly entertaining, Morgan York (Lulu) stole the show, and Brad Garret (Vice Principal Murney) was hysterical. Scott Thompson (the Director) was also quite funny, but I would've liked to see more of him. So though I found the action portions disappointing, your kids would probably like the movie and you won't be too tortured.

Poor film sorry Vin, i know its for kids but still its way off in timing and good jokes, it feels like its only running at 50% of what these actors can do. Big fan of Vin, i think he can act, he looks great on screen holding it well, he has a mean deep voice that makes you takes notice, he looks great kicking ass.........but he has no comic talent. Been built the way he is people will always want him to be Riddick or someone like him, i know as an actor been typecast as this will be a bad head for him as he will want to do other types of characters and branch out but the thing is his kick ass style is what draws people to see him, comic films have been tried by other big build guys Sly and Arnie, sly had no joy and Arnie was very lucky, he had 2 films which were made well but he had help on screen, pint size Danny in Twins kept the film moving and the tiny kids doing bad and silly things in KG Cop helped but only just mind, the time of "oh look its that big hard man doing something silly"has gone, i know this film is doing well and is a hit for Vin but i hope its his last try at comedy or if he tries again to do it with someone as a sidekick to help him such as Tom Arnold as i think he is a great comic sidekick and would not steal the screen from Vin, as for me i hope we get one more RIDDICK film as they are so made for Vin. Pacifier 3 out of 10 sorry Vin

This is a movie from my childhood. Watching it now again brings back good memories. The movie is pretty funny with VIn Diesel playing his clumsy role in the best way possible, the kids are acting pretty well, altho the ending along some other scenes throughout the movie are typical american cringe movie sequences. All in all, this is a typical lazy Sunday night movie for you and your family, nothing gore, sexual or offensive in any means.

Forget Navy Seal, this story is really about a disgraced action hero, Vin Diesel. His new assignment: Protect the five kids from enemies of their recently deceased father -- a government scientist whose top-secret experiment remains in the kids' house. I began to envy the deceased father as I watched this stupidity. Why was there absolutely no emotion or depth here at all? The concept is a good one but this movie flops right from the start. Vin Diesel is just horribly miscast and out of place. Unfortunately, this movie may make money because the grab at dumb kids and their parent's wallets is all that Disney is about these days. Congratulations Disnay, I thought your new low was Around The World in 80 days or The Alamo but this might out stink them all.

I rented this movie because my fiancé wanted to see it and she was having a really bad day. (I also cooked dinner that night, walked the dog, even cleaned up a little bit...Am I a great guy or what?:)). It was with a severe sense of dread that I started watching it, and the first 15 minutes did nothing to alleviate the fear. After that though, I found myself chuckling along and finally laughing out loud. The Pacifier was pretty good, complete with action sequences, satisfying paybacks, and some minor twists. Even the love interest wasn't overdone. Vin Diesel seemed to have a great time poking fun at himself. While not the best movie on the planet, if you think the idea of Vin Diesel really hamming it up sounds even remotely funny, you will be happily surprised. If you're stuck in a situation like I was, groan and moan as much as you like, secretly knowing that you'll at least have a decent time watching The Pacifier.

Enjoy!

2 July 2005. In a softer side he-man movie with Vin Diesel playing a special ops having to baby-sit children while the mother goes abroad to seek to open a safe-deposit box supposedly containing a military secret. Like Man of the House (2005) with Tommy Lee Jones that came out earlier, these two movies attempt to show the feminine side of macho men. Vin Diesel's screen play is somewhat more complex with more attention to individual story lines and has a somewhat more elaborate and consistent plot, particularly with some of the scenes connecting to later scenes in the movie in a nice way. Both movies have their moments of humor as well as dramatic, emotional touches and flourishes. Entertaining, fluffy stuff with a good dose of intelligent messages embedded. Seven out of Ten Stars.

Wow.. I can't believe I just watched that movie. That had to be the WORST movie I have ever seen. 100% cheesy, horrible acting, you can guess whats going to happen next in the classic Disney movie plot. Horrible horrible horrible movie. To think somebody is probably proud of making that movie. That was ridiculous. Vin diesel should feel ashamed for having been in that movie. Its so cheesy its funny thats how bad it was. Half the people I watched the movie with left before it ended cause it was so horrible. I would not recommend this movie to anyone unless your trying to find the most horrible movie ever made. Kids might like it but thats about it.

Probably one of my most enjoyable movie experiences ever. My (22-year-old) daughter and her friend are Vin Diesel fans, and I like stupid movies, so we went off to see this with no particular expectations. It was delightful! The acting was good, the writing was just off-kilter enough to surprise, and the plot, while predictable, was only predictable a few seconds in advance (which is about how long it took for Vin Diesel's character to process a thought). Our little group of cynics was charmed and quoting lines from the movie all the way home afterwards. We agreed that it was indeed a Disney movie, but it didn't have the cheesy hollowness and wannabe withitness that has hampered those productions since Hayley Mills was my age. Bits of it were unexpectedly moving. Vin Diesel's little side romance was also charming, with a breath of gentle kinkiness ("On land, you're the superior officer," he says to his honey, and she smirks.) Basically it was funny, stupid, and sweet without being annoying, and Vin Diesel was excellent in it. I'll buy it when it comes out in video, or my daughter will--she works in a trendy video store, so that she liked the movie is saying a lot.

I happened on this movie purely by chance, and actually got in on the middle of it. Up to this point I had stayed away from watching this movie figuring it would be terrible. I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was. I liked the movie. I want to see it again, but from the beginning. I believe it is more a family film, and kids would love it. No bad language, and some funny moments. It is a about a navy seal who is a babysitter/nanny who takes care of 4 kids while their Mother is away. There is espionage, and plenty of action as the babysitter takes care of a family of teen to baby age kids. I loved the scenes where he was able to protect the kids from ninja's that appeared from no where to steal some file the father had hidden. There was plenty of fun and games, and even some romance. I liked the film and Vin Diesel was great as the babysitter. I liked the action scenes where basically Vin Deisel cleaned the bad guys clocks!! I laughed and enjoyed the movie. So I recommend this film to people who like a good movie. And to families who like to be entertained and the whole family can have fun watching.