RBR: Grown Ups 2

I am developing quite the cognitive dissonance when it comes to Adam Sandler's films these days. As I watch more films and learn more about what it takes to make a great film, I increasingly notice the flaws that are found in his movies. And yet one fact remains (mostly) true whenever I watch him on screen - he finds a way to make me laugh. Given the sophomoric nature of the humor, I don't always take pride in the fact that I laugh, but what can I say? In this follow up to the successful film from 2010, we find Sandler and all of his buddies (Kevin James, Chris Rock, and David Spade) and their families all living the sweet life in suburbia. If you are looking for a plot here, do not bother. While story has never been a strength in the Sandler library, this one is particularly startling in how flimsy of a premise there is to string along these scenes. This is moreso a collection of scenes with Sandler riffing with his friends, as well as more tertiary friends (Tim Meadows, Colin Quinn, Nick Swardson, etc.). The sad thing is that among this collection of scenes you see some morsels of goodness that make you believe a better film could have been delivered by this cast if anyone was interested in putting in some effort. Both the adults and the kids (all of whom are back from the first film) have some nice moments. Ultimately, this is the perfect type of movie to watch on cable. You can turn it on in the middle, leave at various parts and come back again and watch some more later and never really miss a beat. During the times you watch, you're likely to find at least a few jokes you'll like but you also won't feel like you're missing out if you do not see every frame. For all of their weaknesses, this is a group of guys that I enjoy watching and hanging out with. This one won't be winning any awards (save for a few Razzies perhaps), but I'm ok with that. A steady diet of this would be too much, but there's nothing wrong with an occasional low-brow indulgence. Rating: ** 1/2

RBR: Hotel Transylvania

One good scary-themed kids movie deserves another I suppose. This one centers around a Dracula who is overprotective of his daughter trying to shield her from human beings by keeping her in a hotel he built as a getaway for monsters. The dracula is voiced by Adam Sandler and his usual gang of cronies make up the majority of the voice cast. Guys like Kevin James, David Spade, Jon Lovitz, and Steve Buscemi are all here as monsters. Things run afoul when a gawky human teen, voiced by Andy Samberg, stumbles into the hotel unknowingly. In a lot of ways, this movie plays exactly the opposite of Paranorman. This is fast, loud, and in your face constantly with noise and action, never relenting for a minute of its hour and half run time. A little of that goes a long way, and yet buried amongst it all is a handful of decent jokes and sight gags that admittedly made me chuckle. It also has the father/daughter storyline that, while played too many times before, is tried and true in its effectiveness. This is far from a perfect film and certainly not the best animated film even this year, but it certainly has much more mainstream appeal and will likely offer something to everyone whether you're a kid or just a fan of Sandler's comedy. It manages to scare up just enough laughs to make it worthwhile as a rental. Rating: *** 3/4

RBR: Zookeeper

I was really on the fence about whether or not I should bother with this one. On one hand I enjoy Kevin James' work and I typically enjoy Happy Madison pictures, but on the other hand this looked terrible. I should have used my better judgment because this turned out to be as dreadful as the previews indicated. Kevin James stars as the genial zookeeper who is unlucky in love. That is until he realizes that the animals in his zoo can talk and they offer him advice about how to win over the lady in his life. It basically combines Dr. Dolittle and Paul Blart: Mall Cop, yet fails to have any of the charm or comedy, little as there was, from those films. To make matters worse, this suffers from the same obnoxious problem that James' buddy Adam Sandler's last film, Just Go With It when it comes to the romantic storyline - the male protagonist is bending over backwards trying to win over beatiful, yet vapid woman, when there's an equally beautiful woman who's nicer standing by their side waiting for them to realize that they have feelings for them. It's just plain insulting to the audience and it's getting overused way too much in Hollywood these. One of the other odd things about the film is how poor it looks. There are a lot of seems that are dimly lit that give the film a darker feel than what its going for. Finally, while the animals are voiced by an impressive list of stars that includes Sylvester Stallone, Nick Nolte and Adam Sandler, none of them give a notable performance that would make you clamor to see more from them in any sort of sequel. This film is just lazy and then made poorly on top of it. Even within the limited genre of talking animal films, there are actually several films that are better than this awful dreck. Rating: **