Bedtime Stories

Pitch: A fix-it guy at a posh hotel discovers his niece and nephew's bedtime stories come true – including the parts they make up.

The Highs: Adam Sandler as Skeeter is kinda sweet – not as charming as he was in The Wedding Singer, but way more so than we've seen him in a while. Russell Brand is absurd, funny and wonderfully out of place in a family movie. And hello: crazy pop-eyed animated guinea pig alert!

The Lows: The plot is somewhat convoluted – Skeeter's gunning for the position of hotel GM against Guy Pearce's smarmy Kendall, and he tries to manipulate the bedtime stories so he'll win out. Keri Russell and Courtney Cox are bland. Occasionally, Adam Sandler veers into his smart-ass schtick, weird voice included.

Kid Tested: The kids at the movie were laughing, but not all that much. The adults with a more puerile sense of humor (ahem) were as well.

The Lesser of Two Evils?: If you have to take the kids to a movie theater during the holiday, you could do a lot worse than Bedtime Stories.