Bedtime Stories

Theatrical Release Date: 2008 12 25 (USA)

UPC: 786936787214

Studio: Walt Disney Video

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Scatological Humor, Mild Language]

Summary: The Pacifier director Adam Shankman helms this children's fantasy concerning a hotel handyman who gradually begins to realize that the imaginative bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew are somehow beginning to manifest themselves in the real world. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Fantasy

Features: Hilarious bloopers and deleted scenes
Get to Bugsy the big-eyed guinea pig
A behind-the-scenes look at the special effects
Dylan and Cole Sprouse (Disney channel's "Suite Life") present the benefits of Blu-Ray

Bedtime Stories

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 04/03/2009

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 99 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Bedtime Stories
1. Opening Church
2. The Sunny Vista Mega Nottingham
3. Bobbi's Birthday Party
4. Uncle Skeeter Babysits
5. Sir Fixalot
6. Skeeter Gets a Shot
7. Raining Gumballs
8. Wild West Adventure
9. Paparazzi Princess In Distress
10. Rooftop Campout
11. Legend of Skeetacus
12. Day at the Beach
13. Space Odyssey
14. Fire Prevention
15. Skeeter Hotel Theme
16. "The Sad Part"
17. Demolition!
18. Happy Ending
19. Marty's Motel
20. Closing Credits

Perry Seibert

Adam Sandler became a comic star by mining arrested development for laughs. He found variations to his attack: there is the infantile Sandler of Billy Madison, and the sweet, innocent Sandler of The Wedding Singer. However, Bedtime Stories marks the first time he's tried to make a child-friendly movie. The tale begins with Skeeter Bronson, a young boy, helping his father (Jonathan Pryce) run a modest L.A. motel, until the father sells the failing enterprise to British businessman Barry Nottingham (Richard Griffiths), with the understanding that Skeeter will be allowed to run the business when he becomes an adult. Thirty years later, the motel has turned into a luxury hotel, and a grown-up Skeeter (Sandler) works there as a handyman because Mr. Nottingham failed to keep the promise made to Skeeter's dad. One day, after Skeeter misses out on another promotion, his sister (Courteney Cox) asks him to watch her son and daughter for a week while she goes on a trip. During the first night the three of them are together, he tells the kids a bedtime story about a peasant boy trying to impress his king -- a story that allows Skeeter to fantasize about winning his dream job. Unexpectedly, some parts of the story come true the next day -- namely, his boss changes his mind, offering Skeeter the chance to earn that promotion after all. Oh, and it rains gumballs. Flush with his first taste of success, Skeeter believes his stories are coming true, and thus he spins a different yarn every night, making sure to include moments where the hero gets a new car or wins the affections of a beautiful lady. However, his plans go comically awry until he figures out that the kids have more to do with his good fortune than he first realized. Bedtime Stories is an odd cross-breed of toned-down Sandler schtick and standard Disney wish-fulfillment fantasy. Sandler is a savvy performer, and he shades his comedic persona to grab the younger demographic he's shooting for -- there are no temper tantrums or violent outbursts, and he does have the scruffy charm of a favorite uncle. Sadly, the filmmaking isn't as thought-out as the lead performance. Director Adam Shankman never makes the fantasy sequences -- full of chivalrous knights, honorable cowboys, and slimy space monsters -- feel magical. These scenes do a fine job of keeping the movie visually fresh -- there's always something new to look at -- but they aren't as memorable as the scenes set in everyday life. If the filmmakers injected the fantastical parts of the story with some genuine childlike whimsy, they'd have cooked up a funky, warm-hearted kids movie. But instead, they make the moments of childlike creativity adhere slavishly to the strictures of the Disney formula, and that takes away any element of surprise, let alone wonder. And, seeing as a sense of wonder is crucial to any good bedtime story, the movie never becomes special. It's not that Bedtime Stories is bad, it's just entirely and thoroughly adequate. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Adam Shankman  Actor 
Adam Sandler  Producer 
Adam Shankman  Director 
Adam Shankman  Executive Producer 
Andrew Gunn  Producer 
Jack Giarraputo  Producer 
Tim Herlihy  Screenwriter 
Garrett Grant  Executive Producer 
Jennifer Gibgot  Executive Producer 
Rupert Gregson-Williams  Composer (Music Score) 
Ann Marie Sanderlin  Executive Producer 
Matt Lopez  Screenwriter 
Adam Sandler  Actor 
Keri Russell  Actor 
Guy Pearce  Actor 
Russell Brand  Actor 
Richard Griffiths  Actor 
Teresa Palmer  Actor 
Lucy Lawless  Actor 
Courteney Cox  Actor 
Jonathan Morgan Heit  Actor 
Laura Ann Kesling  Actor 
Jonathan Pryce  Actor 
Nick Swardson  Actor 
Kathryn Joosten  Actor 
Allen Covert  Actor 
Carmen Electra  Actor 
Tim Herlihy  Actor 
Thomas Hoffman  Actor 
Abigail Leone Droeger  Actor 
Melany Mitchell  Actor 
Andrew Collins  Actor 
Aisha Tyler  Actor 
Blake Clark  Actor 
Bill Romanowski  Actor 
Paul Dooley  Actor 
Mikey Post  Actor 

Country: USA