The Pacifier

For The Simpsons short, see The Pacifier (The Simpsons short). For other uses, see Pacifier (disambiguation).
The Pacifier

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Adam Shankman
Produced by
Written by
Starring
Music by John Debney
Cinematography Peter James
Edited by Christopher Greenbury
Production
company
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures[1]
Release dates
  • March 4, 2005 (2005-03-04)
Running time
 95 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $56 million[2]
Box office $198.6 million[2]

The Pacifier is a 2005 action comedy film directed by Adam Shankman and written by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant. It stars Vin Diesel. The film was released in March 2005 by Walt Disney Pictures and earned US$17 million in its first weekend.

Plot

U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Shane Wolfe is assigned to rescue Howard Plummer, a man working on a top-secret government project, from a group of Serbian rebels. Wolfe and his team get Plummer off an enemy boat but are shot while boarding the escape helicopter. Plummer is killed in the attack, and Wolfe spends two months in the hospital. Wolfe's commanding officer, Captain Bill Fawcett, is assigned to escort Plummer's widow, Julie, to Zürich, where Plummer's safety deposit box has been discovered. Wolfe is assigned to stay at the Plummer residence, in Bethesda, Maryland, to search for the secret project called GHOST and look after the family's five children: Zoe, Seth, Lulu, Peter, and Baby Tyler. The kids prove to be difficult to handle, even with the help of nanny Helga, who quits when one of Zoe and Seth's pranks intended for Wolfe goes wrong.

The school's vice principal, Duane Murney, informs Wolfe that Seth has cut and bleached his hair, has a Nazi armband in his locker, and has skipped every wrestling practice for a month. At home, Seth tells Wolfe he only joined the wrestling team because of his father. After Seth sneaks out of the house, Wolfe leaves Zoe in charge and follows him to the town theater, where he learns that Seth has secretly joined an amateur production of The Sound of Music. The director quits when he believes the show will be a failure. Wolfe volunteers to take his place, and juggles this task with taking care of the house, giving Zoe driving lessons, and teaching Lulu and the Firefly Scouts martial arts to defend themselves against the rival boy scout troop.

Seth quits the wrestling team, and Wolfe challenges Murney to a wrestling match in front of the entire school and easily wins despite Murney's show of bluster. The training Wolfe gives the Firefly Scouts becomes useful when they once again have a conflict with the thuggish scouts. Zoe and Wolfe share stories of their fathers, both of whom died in similar circumstances. They are interrupted by a phone call from Julie, who has figured out the password, retrieved a key from a box, and is on her way home. The kids immediately plan a "Welcome Home" party. That evening, Wolfe discovers a secret vault underneath the garage, which requires a key to open. When Fawcett and Julie arrive home, Fawcett and Wolfe go to the garage, where Wolfe says he is rethinking his career. Two ninjas arrive armed and pull off their masks, revealing themselves as the Plummers' North Korean neighbors, the Chuns. Fawcett suddenly knocks out Wolfe, revealing himself to be a double agent. Mr. Chun restrains and guards the children while Fawcett and Mrs. Chun take Julie down to the vault. They open the door, but a dangerous security system prevents them from going further.

The children escape and awaken Wolfe, who sends the kids to get the police while he goes to the vault to help Julie. Mr. Chun follows them in his car; with Zoe at the wheel, the kids force him to crash. Wolfe gets past the security system using a dance Howard had used to make Peter go to sleep each night. Julie knocks out Mrs. Chun, and Wolfe's voice activates the final vault, knocking out Fawcett with the door. By then, the children have lured a large crowd of police to the house. Mr. Chun arrives and holds all of them at gunpoint. Wolfe notices school principal and love interest Claire Fletcher right behind him, having followed the chase when she saw it pass by the school. Wolfe distracts Mr. Chun with the aide of Gary the duck, and Claire knocks him unconscious.

With the mission accomplished and Fawcett and the Chuns arrested, Wolfe and the Plummers say their goodbyes, and Wolfe and Claire kiss. At Seth's performance, it is revealed that Wolfe has retired from the Navy and joined the school staff as the new wrestling coach. Murney also performs in the play, singing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" off-key while dressed in a nun's habit.

Cast

Soundtrack

No. TitleWriter(s)Original artist(s) Length
1. "Everyday Superhero"  Greg Camp, Jeff BarrySmash Mouth 3:28
2. "Saturday Night"  Ozomatli, J. Smith-FreemanOzomatli 3:59
3. "We Will Rock You"  Brian MayQueen 2:01
4. "The Anthem"  Benji Madden, Joel Madden, John FeldmanGood Charlotte 2:55
5. "Skip to My Lou"  TraditionalLarry Groce and Disneyland Children's Sing-Along Chorus  
6. "The Power"  Benito Benites, John "Virgo" Garrett III, Toni C.Snap! 3:47
7. "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" (The Sound of Music)Rodgers and HammersteinDaniel Truhitte, Charmian Carr  
8. "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" (The Sound of Music)Rodgers and HammersteinShirley Bassey  
9. "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (Instrumental theme song of the movie with the same name)Ennio MorriconeBruno Nicolai & Unione Musicisti di Roma 2:45

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 20% of 129 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 3.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Vin Diesel parodies his tough guy image for the family audience, but the result is only moderately amusing."[3] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 30 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.[5]

Roger Ebert gives the film two stars out of four.[6]

Box office

The film opened at #1 in the box office upon its opening weekend with $30,552,694.[7] It would finish to earn 198,636,868 worldwide, making an adequate box office success.[2]

Sequel

In December 2015, Vin Diesel said that a sequel was in the works.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Pacifier". American Film Institute. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Pacifier (2005)". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  3. ↑ "The Pacifier". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  4. ↑ "The Pacifier Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  5. ↑ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  6. ↑ Abrams, Simon (2005-03-03). "The Pacifier Movie Review & Film Summary (2005) | Roger Ebert". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  7. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for March 4-6, 2005". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  8. ↑ Burlingame, Russ. "Vin Diesel Reveals The Pacifier Sequel Is Being Written". Comicbook.com. Retrieved 17 December 2015.

External links

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