Extraordinary Measures

This touching movie is based on the lives of John & Aileen Crowley, played by Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell. They have three children, and two of them have a rare genetic and fatal disorder called Pompe Disease. Children with the disease are generally expected to live no more than 9 years, and the Crowley's daughter has just turned 8.

Enter Dr. Robert Stonehill, played by Harrison Ford. He does research at a Nebraska University, with much of his research pertaining to a treatment for Pompe Disease. John hunts the good doctor down and together they embark on a a journey to try to get funded by a major drug company for their research. Together - the cranky, anti-establishment scientist, and the business man, who is also a desperate father, fight against the politics of drug companies and the bottom line of "making a profit".

The movie is rated PG, and I did take my 9 year old son to see it. While it was a bit long for him, he did follow the story and it was pretty clean, with the exception of a few words.

Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford are outstanding actors and, as expected, did a great job in these roles. Since we are dealing with a story about terminally ill children, there were a few gut wrenching moments. But mostly, it was a triumphant story, filled with hope and the love that drives a mother and father to do anything they can for their children.

BEDTIME STORIES, PG

BEDTIME STORIES stars Adam Sandler - but don't let that stop you from going to see it, Parents! It is actually quite a delightful story - funny, clever and entertaining!

Sandler plays "Skeeter", a hotel handyman. His father used to own the hotel, but before his death, sold it to "Mr. Nottingham". Skeeter has waited patiently to one day manage the hotel, but it doesn't look like his dream will come true anytime soon. Mr. Nottingham has promised the job to Kendall, a snotty guy who just happens to be dating Mr. Nottingham's daughter, Violet. (Violet's character closely resembles a certain hotel heiress that we see in the tabloids frequently!).

Courteney Cox plays Skeeter's sister, Wendy, who calls on her brother to babysit the children while she goes to an out-of-town job interview, since she has just lost her job as a school principal. (The school she works at is closing).Wendy's friend, Jill, played by Keri Russell helps Skeeter take care of the two kids (she takes the days, he takes the nights). Their relationship has a rough start.

At bedtime, Skeeter makes up a bedtime story for the two kids, and they join in the fun, making up things like "and then it rained gumballs". Once Skeeter finds himself standing in the middle of a street while gumballs fall from the sky, he figures out that these stories are actually coming true! He tries to manipulate the stories, only to discover that the only parts that come true are the parts that the kids are coming up with.

With some prompting from the kids storytelling, Mr. Nottingham decides to give Skeeter a chance at becoming hotel manager. The boss tells Kendall and Skeeter to come up with a theme for his new hotel. Whoever's theme he decides to go with, will also manage the hotel.

What I loved about the story was that the kids came up with some hair-brained story plots, and and when the stories materialized in Skeeter's life, it wasn't anything "magical". The things that happened had logical explanations even though it was their story taking place. (yeah, even the gumball rain!) My favorite part was when they told a story of Skeeter being a space alien speaking an unknown language with a side-kick interpreting for him. What happened in Skeeter's life to parallel that was very clever! Loved it!

The movie was rated PG, and for the most part very clean. You've got a few things that some might object to - for example, in one of their stories, they made up a character for Kendall, and named him "Sir Butt-Kiss". Also, in one of the story sequences, there is a "booger monster". Most of these instances are simple childish humor.

Sandler says, "I do have kids now. I always wanted to do a family movie. I always loved every Sunday night we’d watch the Disney movie. A lot of times kids see my movies anyway, but their moms yell at me. I wanted to make sure I do one movie in my career that moms hug me for. This might be it." It might not be Winnie the Pooh, but BEDTIME STORIES is good clean-ish fun!