Starring Lewis Black, Wilmer Valderrama, Tyler James Williams, Dyllan Christopher, Brett Kelly, Gina Mantegna, Quinn Shephard, Paget Brewster, Rob Corddry
Written By: Jacob Meszaros, Mya Stark
Directed By: Paul Feig
Studio: Warner Bros.
Buy on Amazon.com link

It’s interesting that a Christmas movie, even one that tanked at the box office, would be released on DVD in August (yes, this review is late). Wouldn’t it make more sense to wait about two more months and get it in there as an early holiday release? Even a whole new marketing campaign could save it.

But poor planning aside, Unaccompanied Minors is not nearly as bad as you might think. Yes, it is lame as hell and geared primarily to the under-12 set, but the film does something that I haven’t seen nearly enough of these days, and that is being a kids movie that actually centres around kids. When I was at about the age at which most of the target audience of this film is now, there were tons of options, from the Mighty Ducks trilogy, the seven million Karate Kid films, the Sandlot, or even my personal favourite Camp Nowhere. But these days, unless a film is specifically geared towards doll-buying (read: little girl) audiences, there are no real kid-centric films.

Unaccompanied Minors is cheesy, poorly paced at times, and is a bit long despite being under 90 minutes, but there is enough to enjoy here that I find it a shame that it did so poorly in theatres. It centres around a handful of kids that get stuck in an airport over Christmas, have some fun, run amok, and find out the true meaning of the holidays. In many ways, it’s the exact same plot as every other holiday movie, and far less painful. In fact, there really isn’t much unpleasantness – the actors and actresses are quite good, well cast in a very Breakfast Club dichotomy, and Lewis Black works quite well as a bad guy – he pretty much just yells like he always does, but this time it’s at kids.

These days too many young children are getting sucked in to horrid, super-saccharine propaganda like High School Musical, when there’s really no reason that they should believe the world is so happy and fancy-free (my new favourite word). Unaccompanied Minors is still very appropriate while still being just a tad darker than those aliens at High School Musical High School.

On a side note, the film was directed by Paul Feig, whose work in creating Freaks and Geeks, as well as directing some of television’s finest shows is celebrated by countless cameos, including Steve Bannos and Dave Gruber Allen of Freaks and Geeks, BJ Novak, Mindy Kaling, and David Koechner from the Office, and Jessica Walter and Tony Hale from Arrested Development. Plus, three members of the Kids in the Hall troupe are featured as Guards….in the hall.

Features:
Commentary by Paul Feig, Lewis Black, Jacob Meszaros, and Mya Stark
Charlie’s Dance Reel
Additional scenes
Guards in the Hall – a Hilarious Look at the Security Guards Out of Control

Audio:
English, French, Spanish 5.1 Surround

Video:
1.85:1 Widescreen
Full Screen

Subtitles:
English
French
Spanish

Favorite Scenes:
Rating: PG
Running Time: 90 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: