Bedtime Stories Review

Bedtimes Stories is a comedy staring Adam Sandler playing the part of a Hotel handyman, Skeeter Bronson, who soon discovers some strange events occurring shortly after he tells his niece and nephew a bedtime story.  This is funny both in content and in the lines Sandler throws at you.  He really knows how to be a kid and that helps because you can’t help but laugh at his antics.  

Story:

Once upon a time Skeeter’s dad, Marty Bronson (Jonathan Pryce) owned the hotel which Skeeter is now the handyman.  Skeeter loves the hotel and helping his dad, his sister on the other hand, doesn’t really take a fancy to her role in the family business. Sadly, Marty is not much of a business man and he has to sell his family-run motel to an opportunist, Barry Nottingham (Richard Griffiths).  Marty is initially reluctant to sell, but agrees when Barry promises to make Skeeter a manager someday, after he grows-up.  Fast forward a number of years - Barry builds a large pricey hotel on the property, and poor grown-up Skeeter now works as a janitor/handyman, and an all-around-servant to Nottingham and the rest of the staff who all feel superior to Skeeter.  Despite his lowly rank, and the feelings of most of his haughty co-workers, he still dreams of becoming manager one day.  He feels his day has finally come when Nottingham announces a brand-new gigantic hotel project.

Unfortunately, luck has yet to shine on Skeeter as Nottingham instead announces that Kendall (Guy Pierce), his future son-in-law will be the new manager.  Poor Skeeter - his dreams are shattered.  Yet another twist of fate arrives for Skeeter – his sister, Wendy (Courtney Cox), informs him that she will be leaving town for a job interview and needs him to take care of her two children, Patrick (Jonathan Morgan Heit) and Bobbi (Laura Ann Kesling), while she is away.  You don’t find out until later why she is looking for a job, but it has ties with some events that later make Skeeter have to prove he was never a part of the plan.  Initially he doesn’t get along with the children or the friend that his sister has taking care of the kids part of the time.  He starts telling stories to the children because he is unsure what else to do and because he remembers how much he enjoyed his father’s story telling.  Eventually, the children grow fond of him, and begin to bring in their ideas about how the stories should go.  That’s when a strange twist occurs.

His life is changed forever when the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to mysteriously come true, or so it would seem.  Once he discovers that the story telling is causing changes in his life, he tries to manipulate the stories to take advantage of the phenomenon.  He tries to incorporate his own desires into one bizarre tale after another, but it's Patrick and Bobbi’s unexpected input that turn Skeeter's life into an amazing real-life adventure.  The more he tries to maneuver the stories into a direction which will make his own dreams come true, the more it seems the children decide to take a different route. The events that occur are strange and often quite funny, though not always so for Skeeter who is usually on the receiving end of the not-so-fortunate proceedings.  The great thing is, the things the children say will occur in the story initially seem strange or bizarre, and unlikely to be realistic, yet when they really happen there is a perfect explanation for them.  Skeeter and the children grow close to each other – something Skeeter didn’t expect.  Skeeter is starting to see some progress in his life, not just with the children, but professionally.  Kendall can’t let this happen, and one sneaky comment here and a little doubt planted there – the next thing you know Skeeter is now the enemy and he must prove otherwise.  Can he do it in time?

Check it out to see what happens – while some seems like it might have a predictable outcome, it comes about in a way that is not so predictable and that makes it fun.  The conclusion was predictable and a little weak in comparison to the rest of the story line, which is why it’s a 4 instead of a 5.  Seriously, there are just some things that would not happen, so why try to make us believe they would, LOL.  Overall great story, well done acting and very funny.

Finally a kids movie where you don't have to cover children's ears every other scene for language, although it is Rated PG for the following:

• Contains mild toilet humor. There are a few scenes that include women in low-cut tops, revealing cleavage. There are also parts where women are shown in their bikinis.
• One man is slapped by a hand that pops out of a gun. Other mild slaps and wrestling is shown.
• Two religious exclamations of "Oh, my God!"
• Some monsters from the stories may be frightening for younger children. For instance, a mermaid has blacked out eyes and a booger monster is particularly vivid.