movie review: are we there yet?

My wife had a "girl's night out" last night to travel to a book-signing to see the illustrious food TV critic Anthony Bourdain. They ended up being gone for seven hours, all the while leaving me playing the role of babysitter for our kids and her friend's, and I was a bit ticked off. When I agreed to watch the kids for a book signing, I had no idea that it would be an all night event. On top of that insult to my generosity, she had presented me with a newer movie that she had rented from the library titled "Are We There Yet?" for me to watch with the kids. Gee, thanks.

The movie starred Ice Cube, a man not too well know for his role in kid flicks, but he managed to pull off the big-hearted ex-ghetto (not-so) wanna-be rap star persona quite well. I always have a hard time discerning Ice T from Ice Cube, as they are both rappers that have gained a strong foothold on the movie industry, and both of their names are rooted in the food industry. Obviously, the two are very different looking and their music is quite different. But it has still been difficult for me over the years. (I've had no such problem recognizing Vanilla Ice though. Go figure.) My best way to try and remember which is which is to remember who had a cameo on the old 1984 breakdancing movie Breakin' - which of course was the studded old school deejay Ice T.

Anyways, the movie is chock full of cliche gags and skits that only a kid could still find funny. Most of them revolve around the destruction of Nick (that's Ice Cube) and his new SUV, a pimped out Lincoln Navigator with the standard rap star attire - spinner wheels, loud bassy stereo and custom billet grille. By the end of the movie, his car has been destroyed and he has managed to ruin his chances of scoring with the woman he has decided to throw away his "playa" lifestyle for - a cellphone doting divorcee with two obnoxious children hellbent on getting their parents back together and running any other suitor out of town. I believe that the little girl is the same one from Disney's Haunted Mansion. The little boy looks suspiciously like Ice Cube. Maybe he took a cue from Will Smith and his Pursuit of Happyness. Maybe not...they seem to have the same eyebrows, though.

For a kids movie, it was entertaining, albeit somewhat nauseating. Most of the gags have been done a million times before by folks like National Lampoon, but like everything else coming out of Hollywood these days, if it is new to the kids, it is new enough. The same goes for the music industry. Would I recommend seeing it? Perhaps if you have kids and have grown tired of animated Pixar knockoffs. Try and find it at the library - that way you're not losing any cash on it.