The Pacifier DVD Review (Vin Diesel) Empire Movies

THE PACIFIER DVD REVIEW

The Pacifier
(Buena Vista Home Entertainment)

The Movie

The Extras

Reviewed by

6.5/10

4/10

Liam

Despite a lot of negative criticism, you can't really fault Vin Diesel for dipping his toes in the kiddie-comedy genre. I think it's something every action hero-type actor must do. Remember Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop? ("Boys have penises, girls have vaginas." - That's comic gold!!) The thing is, you don't want to overdo it. (ie. Eddie Murphy in every movie he's for the last several years.) So, back to the point. Vin Diesel in The Pacifier. It's not all bad.

In The Pacifier, Diesel plays a Navy SEAL who must rescue a professor who holds the secret to some military computer program. When the rescue attempt fails, Diesel is sent back into the field - this time to recover the program and to protect the professor's family - namely his five bratty children. Comic hijinx follow.

So, you've got your requisite poop jokes, action scenes, some family values and it all wraps up happily ever after. (Oh yeah - and there's a duck named Gary.) And while I guessed who the villian was within the first 5 minutes of the movie, I didn't really mind. Why? Because I didn't really expect a lot from this movie, which is a good thing. It's a kid's movie for crying out loud! Really, what more is there to expect?

For bonus features, first we get five deleted scenes. These scenes are provided without commentary, which is probably a good thing since none of them really made any difference to the movie. Next, there's a 2 1/2 minute blooper reel, which is okay if blooper reels are your thing. From there, we get a "Brad Garrett Unpacified" featurette where Garrett is interviewed about his wrestling scene for the movie along with some funny behind-the-scenes shots. The featurette "On the Set with Mr. Diesel: Action Hero/Nice Guy" is pretty much just that - a big excuse to hear everybody talk about what a sweetheart Vin Diesel is. It's pretty shameless. Next, there are a few "Special Ops TV Commercials" for the film. The extras are rounded out by an audio commentary by director Adam Shankman and writers Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant. Here's my question - do the writers get upset that on the DVD cover it only says "Audio Commentary with the Director"? Why don't the writers get their props on the DVD cover? Anyways, the commentary participants try to be funny and witty, and instead, it gets very tired very soon.

If anything, though, it's the special features that bring this DVD down. I don't really know what I expected, but what I got really left a sour taste in my mouth. That aside, if you can get past the fact that this is action superstar Vin Diesel a movie for kids, you just might enjoy it. Just don't execpt more.

Features
Bloopers, Deleted Scenes, On the Set with Vin Diesel, On the Set with Brad Garrett, Audio Commentary, Special Ops TV Commercials

Video
Widescreen (2.35:1)

Audio
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, French Language Track

Subtitles
French, Closed-Captioned

Release Date
June 28, 2005

Rating
PG

Length
96 mins.

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