The innocent little family films from Hollywood come multiple times each month. Some are pleasantly surprising and some are just as stale as your three years old loaf of bread. Are we there yet follows the latter and is as simple and unamusing as they come. It follows a bland story that never gets accelerated, but instead its pummeled down like hammer hitting a nail.
Are we there yet is directed by Brian Levant who is also responsible for Problem Child 2, Beethoven, The Flintstones and Jingle All The Way. If there is something that is obvious then that would be that this man has a thing for comedies. All these films are similar to one another as they are meant to be presented as just a dumb slapstick comedy fest. With Are we there yet, you can definitely notice the lame dialogue that will get no positive responses.
A lot of the dialogue that is uttered for laughs fails ultimately. Truly, one of the major problems is the kids that were chosen for this project. Aleisha Allen who plays Lindsey Kingston and Philip Bolden who plays Kevin Kingston have no acting abilities whatsoever. Sure, these are only children, but as I see it, in order for a film like this to work, it must be believable.
As soon as the infamous trip to Vancouver begins with Ice Cube and the children, it is visible that this film was heading downward and taking a hard fall. These children are incredibly lame actors and even if you don't want to laugh at them instead of with them, you will end up doing that. Where are solid and talented young actors like Dakota Fanning at? She must be a rare breed.
Playing itself much like a sweet touchy comedy is laughable upon itself. Here we have a man who dislikes children to the extreme and just because he is attracted to a woman he goes out of his way to be more than just friends with her. He can of course leave his job, and have his day completely open to make sure this womans kids get to the New Years Eve party in Vancouver.
To follow that, Ice Cube in this film seems to have enough money to supply everyone in the audience their money back. Its very head scratching to see where he turns out to be such a rich man with an average job at a card store. Maybe he is a thief on the side, but that's part of the story we will never see. Either way, Ice Cube has plenty of damage to repair the mess that is caused in this movie.
This film is as predictable as they come from whats coming ahead to the ending that has been seen plenty times before. Hollywood enjoys the way a stupid script can make dollars without even being able to hold a persons interest for a mere fifteen minutes. A film like Are we there yet was never meant to hit the big screen, perhaps Saturday Night Live would have enjoyed a skit like this.
Are we there yet should be avoided and I can't seem to picture anyone coming out with a smile. The intentions are good and it wants to be a comedy, but it accomplishes nothing and doesn't prove much to make the trip worthwhile. Ice Cube is not to be blamed here, but it is entirely on the material that is presented. On paper I'm sure the film looked like it will sell, but the turnout is one of the more worse films you'll see this year.
