Tall tales fall falt

Bedtime Stories (G) 3½ stars National release

Bedtime Stories (G) 3½ stars National release

THE Walt Disney production Bedtime Stories clearly wants to be the first instalment of a franchise. Adam Sandler plays Skeeter, a handyman in a massive hotel built on the site where his impractical father (Jonathan Pryce) once operated a modest motel and where Skeeter and his sister enjoyed a happy childhood. The hotel is now the property of Barry Nottingham (Richard Griffiths) and managed by the odious Kendall (Guy Pearce), who is involved with Nottingham’s daughter Violet (Teresa Palmer).

While Skeeter frets about his lowly lifestyle, his estranged sister Wendy (Courteney Cox) asks him to look after his nephew and niece while she seeks a new job elsewhere; he will have the help of her friend Jill (Keri Russell). Wendy has reared the children on health food and without television, and naturally we’re supposed to think it’s funny that Skeeter soon has them eating hamburgers and watching TV junk.

More important, he starts telling them bedtime stories about knights of old, cowboys and Star Wars -like space adventurers. Soon these stories start reflecting real life, with characters from the stories looking just like Skeeter’s friends and enemies. Furthermore, when the children contribute to the stories with ideas for the characters, these alterations are reflected in real life the following day.

Director Adam Shankman, who proved with Hairspray that he was capable of succeeding with a slick, old-fashioned entertainment, seems constrained here by the need to combine a Sandler vehicle and an elaborate Christmas entertainment. There are moments when the film has the potential to be really charming (like Disney’s recent Enchanted ) but, in the end, it all falls rather flat.

Of the cast, it’s left to Pearce to ham it up as the horrid Kendall, something he does with relish.