Not Exactly Hope and Crosby...
Kiddie Road Movie Is Tolerable, Barely

The art of the road trip is a special thing. It takes endurance, patience, and cooperation. Even under the best conditions, it can cause stress. There needs to be synergy between the driver and passengers or the entire trip can become a disaster. In the family comedy Are We There Yet? the trip begins as a disaster and gets worse from there.

Directed by Brian Levant, Are We There Yet? looks at an aging "player" who finds himself falling for a single mom. Nick (Ice Cube) is none to fond of the kids who dare to enter his store, so it makes him think twice when he realizes the lovely woman (Nia Long) that he sees is a mother of two. When he sees her car broke down on the side of the road in the rain, he can't help but be nice and give her a ride home. Over time, a friendship begins.

The kids, of course, are a big obstacle. In the opening of the film, the audience sees the true nature of the kids as Lindsey (Aleisha Allen) and Kevin (Philip Bolden) sabotage their mother's date with a series of gimmicks that seem plucked from the Home Alone films. Needless to say, the kids aren't keen on their mom finding a new romance. The reason, as becomes apparent, is that they hope their mom and dad can patch things up and reunite the family. Like The Parent Trap in reverse, Lindsey and Kevin are determined to keep love away.

Eventually, Nick finds himself unable to make the jump to a serious relationship. When Suzanne's job requires her to be in Vancouver over the holiday, she is torn between her career and her need to care for the kids (whose father has called and cancelled at the last minute). Once again, Nick rides to the rescue and offers to fly up with the kids. Naturally, things go wrong at the airport, then at the train station, finally forcing the brave hero to pile the rugrats into his sporty SUV and hit the road.

Directed by Brian Levant (The Flintstones and Jingle All the Way), this film is a rehash of so many movies it is fairly predictable. The storyline is a little too simplified and unrealistic at times. Nevertheless, it is fairly entertaining. As an adult, most of the comedy is either lowbrow or horribly silly, but kids seem to find it funny. When the film tries to tug at the ol' heartstrings, however, it is painfully obvious and manipulative. Instead of being genuinely touching, the film seems to have been churned through the "happily ever after" mill.

It's odd to see Ice Cube in a family film, especially as a father figure. As someone who still thinks of him as a rapper, he seems out of place playing a wannabe dad. But maybe that's a comment on men my age, putting aside one type of dream for another. Regardless, Ice Cube is a decent actor and deserves some recognition for trying to play it straight. In a film this bad, it would be easy to go over the top. To his credit, he stays in character and acts like he cares.

MY RATING: 4 out of 10.

RATED: PG
RUN TIME: 91 min.