Alexander
and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
(2014/Disney Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: B- Film: B-
Disney
and Director Miguel Arteta's take on the live adaptation of Judith
Viorst & Ray Cruz's 1972 children book of Alexander
and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
(2014) is a fun family film and is easy for anyone who has had a bad
day to relate to. The film stars Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Ed
Oxenbould, Kerris Dorsey, Dylan Minnette and Bella Thorne. If you
like family films where you can just kind of shut your brain off and
watch the antics ensue (and solve themselves later) then this is a
good watch.
The
film follows the exploits of 11-year-old Alexander (Ed Oxenbould) as
he experiences the most terrible and horrible day of his young life;
a day that begins with finding gum stuck in his hair, followed by one
calamity after another, but when Alexander tells his upbeat family
about the misadventures of his disastrous day, he elicits little
sympathy and starts to wonder if bad things only happen to him.
After he makes a wish over a birthday cake, Alexander wishes that his
family would share in his woes. Which it not completely unlike Jim
Carrey's film Liar
Liar,
where his son curses him over a birthday wish for a day where he
cannot lie in his lawyer profession.
The
next day, his Mother, Kelly (Jennifer Garner), Father, Ben (Steve
Carell), brother, Anthony (Dylan Minnette) and sister, Emily (Kerris
Dorsey) all find themselves living through their own terrible,
horrible, no good, very bad day. Anyone who says there's no such
thing as a bad day just hasn't had one.
The
acting throughout the film is pretty strong with Carell being a stay
at home fommy (a father/mommy) and Jennifer Garner being a strong
female motherly lead with some charm. The younger supporting cast
prove strong against the seasoned leads including rising star Dylan
Minnette as Alexander's older brother who plays the role with
sincerity and Alexander himself (Ed Oxenbould) who plays his part
with believability.
The
next day, each member of Alexander's family has a different disaster
on their hands shaking their personal and professional lives. As the
film progresses, some antics are more believable than others but
ultimately the film ends up tying up its loose ends with time to
spare - with the last ten minutes or so revolving around a birthday
party where the characters end up mainly dancing and laughing.
Sound
and Picture on the disc is exceptional with a 1080p digital high
definition transfer and a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The
audio is very clean and clear for this kind of comedy with a DTS-HD
Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 track and optional French and Spanish
options in lossy Dolby Digital 5.1.
Extras
include:
Walkabout:
A Video Diary
Bloopers
and Music Video
All
in all, the film is great to watch with your family or alone if
you're looking for something goofy and fun that doesn't require much
brain power.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
