Jerry Bruckheimer's First 3D Film. G is for Grand!
This family adventure by producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean), isn't at all a bad movie by any stretch of the means and somehow works as a fun kids film. However, an old and formulaic plot means the movie is no masterpiece to be watched more than once. Catering to the children seems to be the idea here, but the more the adults take there children to these types of films, the more the children get spoiled and bored for something much more meaningful.
The story-line follows a specially trained team of secret agent guinea pigs, along with a super smart mole (voiced by Nicholas Cage), that work for the US government. Their mission is to stop an evil billionaire (Bill Nighy), who manufactures home appliances, from taking over the world through a microchip he is planting within them.
Much attention has been paid to making this a top-notch production which Jerry Bruckheimer has always seemed to do. The CGI animation is top-notch. The animals look very realistic and, after a few minutes, you forget they're not real. There is an inherent cuteness factor in them, and just like last year's Alvin and the Chipmunks, Bruckheimer knows that this will be the biggest draw for kids and their parents. There are plenty of jokes to keep a smile on your face, although the fart jokes are being used a bit too much these days and really show poor taste in the light of Walt Disney Studios.
But that brings me to the story. How many times have you heard this? "Evil genius wants to take over the world and only the unlikeliest of heroes can save us. Probably too many to count, I can imagine! G-Force fits right into this category. The plot is exhausting and doesn't attempt to bring anything new to the table. There are subplots strangely similar to last year's Bolt, and the finale has an uncanny resemblance to Transformers. Aside from being predictable from the very start, the biggest problem here comes out in the final reels – the villain's motivations are laughably ridiculous. As if it wasn't hard enough to stomach the improbability in an evil billionaire's plan to take over the world by installing timed microchips in every home appliance he manufactures, the final act tries to implement a twist so ridiculous and far-fetched that one wonders what was going on in their minds when coming up with it. Sure, kids will chew it up, but adults are sure to gasp at the screen at the stupidity of it all. Still, lessons are learned and there's a bit of emotional quotient towards the end that partially saves the day.
Another problem are the action scenes. There are too many of them, and most of them are uninspiring. The movie opens with a 10 minute long covert operation that gets tiring a quarter of the way through. Every other ten minutes or so comes another chase or mission that only serves as eye-candy and gets monotonous and unfocused, especially in the finale. The special effects are great, but what's the need for exploding cars and buildings in a kid's movie?
The voice acting is impressive. Sam Rockwell, Penelope Cruz, and Nicolas Cage is Speckles, the mole. They all do a great job helping bring their characters to life. Bill Nighy plays a stock villain with no character development or motivation, and it comes across slightly badly. Zach Galifianakis impresses as the leader of the team, but Will Arnett is wasted in a small and too serious of a role for a comedian of his caliber.
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