Steve Pulaski Unaccompanied Minors blows such a grand opportunity for a kids film, so much so that sticking around to the end is a chore because you see so many ways the film could've subverted its dead end cliché material and watching it stay gridlocked to cheap, disposable schlock of the least common denominator is painful to say the least. With the wealth of talent and directorial experience on recognizably professional TV shows, I would've expected director Paul Feig to give this film proper guidance into sustainable entertainment and not that of a facile nature.The film stars a wealth of talented youngsters that you hunger to see in better material. They are all "unaccompanied minors," planing to fly alone to travel to one place or another for Christmas, when all the flights at the airport are unexpectedly grounded because of an enormous blizzard that has consumed the entire town. We first meet Spencer and Katherine Davenport (Dyllan Christopher and Dominique Saldaña), who are scheduled to fly to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with their father, but are instead, transferred to the ominous U.M. room when their flight is cancelled.And what a room this "U.M. room" is. It's the most archaic sight in a kids' movie since watching Eddie Murphy, Jeff Garlin, and Steve Zahn get man-handled by a bunch of rugrats in Daddy Day Care. The room is crawling with about fifty or sixty ankle-biters, running lawlessly throughout the large, mundane room. The dopey but somewhat likable Zach Van Bourke (Wilmer Valderrama) is conned into watching the kids, but after he is tackled, several kids manage to escape and run wild in the airport. They are prettygirl Grace (Gina Mantegna), smart but overly-goofy Charlie (Tyler James Williams), sensitive Donna (Quinn Shephard), and the quiet Beef (Brett Kelly). They are captured by the head of passenger relations Oliver Porter (Lewis Black), and sent back to the ominous room, where the activity has died down since the remaining unaccompanied minors were taken to a quiet lodge for the night, but the six kids manage to sneak out once more, with Spencer desperately trying to get a doll delivered to his sister, who is now at the lodge.All the kids here are great and can be very effective in better material. We already know the capabilities of Brett Kelly, who was perfectly cast in Bad Santa, but here, he is made into the bumbling, mysterious fat kid, who we know even less about at the end of the film than at the beginning. Tyler James Williams of Everybody Hates Chris fame works well in his little role, but after a while, his character, much like he would in real life, becomes a pain to deal with. An nerdy, confused, quirky little albatross.We could think of these five kids as misfits and the airport as their island. This already poses an interesting setup. But, unfortunately, writers Jacob Meszaros and Mya Stark make the film nothing more than a collection of slapstick gags, and only incorporating the ideas of divorce, loneliness, and being an outcast as little minor character backstories the film chooses to do noting with. I believe that many, many kids would be more interested in watching kids go through and handle the same problems they possibly are going through rather than lumber around setups concocted from a fourth graders daydream.Starring: Dyllan Christopher, Dominique Saldaña, Tyler James Williams, Brett Kelly, Gina Mantegna, Quinn Shephard, Lewis Black, Wilmer Valderrama. Directed by: Paul Feig.

expe67 i just saw this movie.and as Christmas is one week ahead ,this movie made me glad and had all the good feelings together with clever stylish adventure and kids being intelligent.made me want to be in their group.no one is really bad in this movie,it did not have any "bad" characters or scenes unlike some other family movies.it was a very warm and entertaining movie.the acting was pretty good.the rhythm was proper ,not very fast ,but neither boring,keeping you happy and curious.it makes you see an airport through a child's eyes.i did not see much difference between this movie and the mega-classic home alone,except the star quality of macaulay culkin.but guess what.these kids are very likable without really trying to be,which is a great approach.all together i recommend this movie especially during the Christmas period for everyone young or old who can still feel like a little kid trying to have fun.

tedg Few things are more deterministic than kiddie genres, and therefore few things less interesting. One of the things I notice in these, going back before John Hughes, is how the world of kids is divided up. Here there are 5 or six types, depending on how you count. Its extremely important that you recognize these are the right types in order for all else to work. What's new — or seems new — are two character types. One is the black kid, who other than a jive number, plays a type that is more deeply human than racial. Its a notable evolution.The other is that the "rich girl" is not only sympathetic without changing, but she's lovely. To play what I think are supposed to be 12 year olds, they chose a darling 16 year old. She looks a lot like Anna Popplewell, that 20 year old playing a 14 year old in Narnia 2. Its the same general type as Scarlett Johansonn: full lips and full cheeks. Also Ann Hathaway.I do not think this is a trivial evolution. It seems that we are well into an era where women's and girls' screen faces are meant to communicate with lips only rather than full faces, or eyes as it once was. Renee Zellweger and Julia Roberts are probably the first big names who practice this style of acting exclusively. I'm not sure what it means. And I'm not sure what it means to merge this ideal with the supposedly spoiled rich girl. But it seems significant, a significant reshuffling of archetypes.It accompanies a more obvious shift. These are all kids from some sort of dysfunctional family. The usual style would be to have parents. If you were missing one, it was because they died. Then the parents could be virtually absent by simply being too dumb to matter. Its more theatrical to show absence by having partial absence. So this all seems significant, even though the movie, well its a waste.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

barrys82 It was a decent movie nothing excellent but viewable. The story is based on real childhood experiences from writer Susan Burton, but it makes me very difficult to believe that a bunch of pre-teens do that kind of things. The plot was kinda weak and undeveloped. the cast has decent acting, all performances were good but the best one in my opinion comes from Tyler James Williams. Wilmer Valderrama's performance was so unconvincing and disappointing, its like watching him in his role of Fez but working in an airport and Lewis Black as the movie villain was good. In conclusion, this movie is dull but enjoyable to watch it on a boring weekend.