Bedtime Stories

Director Adam Shankman follows up the global smash Hairspray with this colourful family feature, proving that sometimes dreams do come true.

Penned by Matt Lopez, Bedtime Stories daydreams the possible consequences of a tale, conjured in the imagination, magically manifesting itself in the real world.

All your heart's desires could be realised by concentrating on them in the mind's eye.

Concoct a stirring yarn of daring to become a chivalrous, everyday hero; rescue a damsel in distress from rogues and vagabonds to woo the real life woman of your dreams.

Nothing is impossible, if you wish for it hard enough.

Having established his fantastical narrative gimmick, Lopez fails to mine the underlying, rich vein of comedy, relying heavily on Adam Sandler's childlike charm to spark the picture to life.

It's simply too much to ask, especially with the leading man playing second fiddle to special effect-laden dream sequences including an Evil Knievel-style chariot jump.

'It's a bedtime story, anything can happen,' chirrups one of the film's rosy-cheeked, young protagonists.

Anything except make us belly laugh.

Hotel handyman Skeeter Bronson (Sandler) may not be the huge success he always hoped, tending to malfunctioning appliances in a grand hotel run by germ-phobic Barry Nottingham (Richard Griffiths).

However, he is a loving friend to one and all, including his divorced sister Wendy (Courtney Cox), who needs to leave town for a few days and asks Skeeter to help look after her kids, Patrick (Jonathan Morgan Heit) and Bobbi (Laura Ann Kessling).

During the day, schoolteacher friend Jill (Keri Russell) cares for the little tykes and in the evening, Skeeter takes charge.

The imaginative uncle helps the youngsters drift off to sleep by telling them bedtime stories full of illusion, and mystery.

When elements from these stories unexpectedly impact on real life, Skeeter wonders whether he might be able to usurp snivelling Kendall (Guy Pearce) as the heir to Barry's hotel empire and steal pretty girlfriend, Violet (Teresa Palmer).

A little Adam Sandler goes a long way but the funnyman fails to make much impact on this deranged tale of triumph against the odds.

For a large part of the film, Skeeter loses our sympathy by trying to exploit the magic of storytelling for his own gain, like imagining himself being given a Ferrari sportscar.

Only towards the end does he realise the error of his ways, and also realise that Russell's warm, sparky caregiver is the love interest he should have been pursuing all along.

Pearce looks ill at ease playing the slapstick villain and we share his discomfort, covering our eyes when his weasely hotel general manager breaks into an impromptu song and dance number.

Russell Brand is good fun as a slacker waiter but is essentially playing a PG-friendly version of himself, complete with rambling thoughts of the day, one of which should be to choose his scripts more wisely.

• Release Date: Friday 26 December 2008

• Certificate: PG

• Runtime: 99mins

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