When I first heard about Bedtime Stories, it sounded like a disaster. You take Adam Sandler, the bane of parents everywhere for delivering inappropriate and idiotic humor to their children, and put him in a PG-rated Disney flick, thus circumcising away what makes him so popular among his fan base: I smell mega-flop. But with a Christmas-time release date and some imagination, Bedtime Stories turned into a surprise hit, and deservedly so.

Adam Shankman has a knack for taking adult-oriented actors and making successful children’s comedies out of them. While I’m not a fan of Bringing Down the House, The Pacifier or Cheaper by the Dozen 2, the director has a talent for turning the likes of Steve Martin and Vin Diesel into children’s actors. Still, it was hard to imagine that Sandler’s fan base would accept him in a kid’s flick, or that parents would want to take their children to something featuring him. Nevertheless, Shankman has made the impossible possible; Bedtime Stories is funny, entertaining and utterly harmless, exactly what a Disney comedy should be.

Read the rest of the Bedtime Stories movie review.

Two big films open this weekend, both looking at diametrically different audiences. In one corner, we have You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, the Adam Sandler comedy almost guaranteed to capture a good chunk of the lucrative teenage fan base, and in the other, Kung Fu Panda, the first major animated film of the year. It’s Sandler versus Jack Black, gross-out vs. PG, old versus new.

Neither film looks particularly good. Kung Fu Panda seems like a lot of special effects without much substance, as the previews fail to suggest that there’s much of a story or comedy to be found. Seriously, the previews aren’t funny at all, and if I want to watch Kung Fu, I’ll watch Bruce Lee. As for Zohan, I always hold out hope that Adam Sandler can deliver something entertaining – and there are some funny moments in the previews – but after I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry turned out to be pretty terrible, I am hesitant.

Needless to say, neither film inspires much love from me, and unless I want to see Sex and the City this weekend, this may be a good couple of days to relax and enjoy the warm weather. Unfortunately, I live in Seattle, where it’s in the 50’s and raining.

On to the weekend box office predictions for the movie. I’m no box office expert, so I’ll leave the analysis to all the so-called box office experts floating around on the Internet. May was a tough month for box office analysts, though you can hardly blame them. Who would have thought Iron Man would open to $100 million? That Prince Caspian would so under-deliver? That Sex and the City would dominate so mightily? That The Strangers would actually do well? Anyway, here are the weekend box office predictions for the June 6 – 8 weekend:

• Blog Critics Magazine estimates $48 million for Panda and $34 million for Zohan.
• Digressions with Mark the Movie Guy estimates $55 million for Panda and $30-32 million for Zohan
• Box Office Prophets estimates $57 million for Panda and $30 million for Zohan
• Box Office Report shows $52 million for Panda and $38 million for Zohan
• Box Office Psychics has Panda at $45 million and Zohan at $37 million
• Rotten Tomatoes says Panda will earn $52 million versus Zohan’s $35 million
• EW.com has Panda making a whopping $60 million against Zohan’s $32 million
• Box Office Guru puts Panda at $52 million and Zohan at $35 million

So, it looks like Adam Sandler really doesn’t stand a chance, which is not really too surprising. Kung Fu Panda appeals to the masses; You Don’t Mess with the Zohan will appeal to Sandler fans. It’ll be interesting to see how Panda actually does, though, as there are bound to be some more box office disappointments over the course of the summer.

View more new releases this weekend…

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is now out on DVD, and I’ve been gifted with a free copy. Since I thought the movie was one of Adam Sandler’s worst comedies ever, it’s not a very good gift, but a gift nonetheless.

You can read the full Chuck and Larry movie review here, but continue on to see whether the DVD is any good. The DVD features several features, all of which are quite good considering the type of movie we’re talking about. Of course, these behind-the-scenes looks aren’t as elaborate as the ones you’d find on the DVD for Pirates of the Caribbean, but they’re still pretty informative, and, at the very least, honest. One of my biggest pet peeves are featurettes that are purely promotion (”You’re going to see things in this movie you’ve never seen before”), and luckily the Chuck and Larry DVD stay away from that kind of thing. Thankfully, both Sandler and James are present in all of the featurettes as we get to see them both off camera and discussing the movie.

The stunts featurette is actually quite fun, and a nice reminder that even for a rather simple comedy such as this you can still require stunt men. Of course, none of the stunts are particularly mind blowing, but, then again, I wouldn’t willingly choose to roll down a flight of stairs with a fat guy on top of me. Another one looks at the various cameos in the movie, though it unfortunately isn’t that funny.

The real highlight of the DVD are the deleted scenes and outtakes. Considering that the movie was pretty crappy, the deleted scenes aren’t much to scream about, but there are a few funny moments scattered throughout. The outtakes, however, are quite good, and it’s always fun to watch people like Sandler messing up (or farting).

Guys, just to note: Jessica Biel is noticeably absent from the DVD.

Overall, the Chuck and Larry DVD has some entertaining features. I managed to get through all of the bonus features in half an hour, however, and I question whether there’s anything here really worth purchasing. Of course, I’d question if you were even considering buying this movie in the first place…