Blu-Ray Review G-Force

Directed by: Hoyt Yeatman Cast: Sam Rockwell, Penelope Cruz, Tracy Morgan, Nicolas Cage, Jon Favreau, Bill Nighy, Zach Galifianakis Running Time: 1 hr 25 mins Rating: PG Due Out: December 15, 2009

PLOT: Four guinea pigs and a mole (collectively known as G-Force) work together to stop a Skynet-like networking orchestrated by a billionaire named Leonard Saber (Bill Nighy).

WHO'S IT FOR?: Easily amused children and their generous parents who can be impressed by computer graphic imagery. Fans of Zach Galifianakis will just be sad.

MOVIE:

The writing is more concerned with concocting dated one-liners than it is in crafting clever action sequences (which yes, is possible even when guinea pigs are the main characters). The moments that might keep viewers interested are the ones that display a severe dedication and scope to a movie about guinea pigs as superspies – because the animation is so damn elaborate, not because the events remind us of what “exciting” means. Most hope for story construction is decimated when sequences also end with quips like “That was off the hoo-zook!”

Even with its CGI and big budget, G-Force shouldn’t take itself as seriously. It becomes an exercise in proud but subsequently naïve moviemaking, where it goes full steam ahead with its concept, taking down many actors and voice talents, not to mention animators, with them. If there were some brain cell in G-Force that remembered this was a spy movie with guinea pigs, it might be easier to welcome. Instead, this is a big dumb movie with little creatures that is proud of its unfunny one-liners, it’s brain-fart action sequences, and the example it creates for what is considered “original” in Hollywood today.

MOVIE SCORE: 4/10

EXTRAS

G-Farce - Bloopers and Flubs - This brief gag extra is mostly Galifianakis, who improvises his way through a few sequences. He makes a few funny jokes, most of them inappropriate for the main feature, but still amusing (a reference to Burning Man is irreverent, therefore refreshing). It’s nice to know he didn’t totally hate his life when making this movie.

Bruckheimer Animated: A Look Back at his CG Work - It’s amusing that clips from The Rock are intercut with those of G-Force. For the interview aspect of this four-minute extra, director Yeatman praises Jerry Bruckheimer, and then J-Bruck praises his own films. Though he’s a producer, this special feature tries to pass it off as if he was the director for many of these epics. But how does one go from Con Air to G-Force anyway?

Blaster's Boot Camp - High-Tech G-Force Training - Blaster explains the gadgets used by the G-Force, whose escapades are shown in clips from the movie. The only new footage is that of the guinea pig himself, as he walks around a backdrop that might as well be someone’s computer desktop. Tracy Morgan offers his voice for this cutesy four minute extra that enlightens us to the bells and whistles in the G-Force’s super technology.

G-Force Mastermind - Inspiration Behind the Movie - Take that, starving artist screenwriters parking cars and waiting tables – Yeatman’s son came up with this concept when he was five years old. So, the director interviews his seed and then Jerry Bruckheimer tries to reason why a five year old’s idea later evolved into a big budget 3-D CGI movie from Disney.

OTHER EXTRAS:

Cine-Explore with Darwin, Blaster & Their Creator Music Videos "Jump" - Flo Rida featuring Nelly Furtado "Ready to Rock" - Steve Rushton "Go G-Force"

EXTRAS SCORE: 5/10

OVERALL

Not including the three music videos, the special features total about twenty-five minutes. From that number, only seven minutes are spent describing the animation process behind the construction of G-Force. The rest of the extras try to answer the possible guilt that the movie may have, with interviews that prop up the film as a type of wholly original, well-rounded movie-going experience. That, or perhaps they are more amused G-Force’s existence than its actual execution.

FINAL SCORE: 5/10