The Pacifier

In The Pacifier, Vin Diesel portrays Navy SEAL Shane Wolfe who is being punished for failing to protect a scientist from the hands of his terrorist captors. The movie takes the route of the fish-out-of-the-water formula. Wolfe gets assigned to protect the children of the slain scientist while the mom is trying to unlock the password to the Swiss bank deposit box that may hold the secret government program the slain scientist was working on. The movie focuses on the domestic education of Wolfe and the boot camp training of the children - three rowdy older kids, one can't-sleep-till-you-dance-the-peter-panda-dance tyke and a baby who vomits on cue! The movie is designed to expand the reach of Diesel by following the route taken by Arnold Szchwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop. But, sadly, the movie fails to elicit a bit of excitement. Even if the plot goes to Home Alone and Spy Kids territory, it just can't manage to entertain. Sure, it does provide some good laughs (scenes with the nanny Helga are such a delight!), the story itself just can't break out of its tired formula. Even the actors who portray the children are not that adorable, sigh. Save for Faith Ford's brief but refreshing appearance in the movie's beginning and end, The Pacifier needed more than the unnatural comic antics of its lead, Diesel, who seems to be portraying himself - an action star doing a comedy, and it simply distracts the viewer.