“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” is a cookie-cutter family comedy with multiple laughs, but zero heart. It’s a shocking fact considering Disney is known for churning out cookie cutter films with big heart. I guess you can’t win them all.
Based off the children’s book of the same name, “Alexander” follows the story of Alexander (Ed Oxenbould) in the midst of the worst day of his young life: he wakes up with gum in his hair, makes a fool of himself-multiple times- in front of his crush, his birthday plans get overshadowed, and he almost burns down the school. What’s a boy to do?
I felt very conflicted as the credits rolled. I loved the all-star cast: Steve Carrell was his normal hilarious self, Jennifer Garner was the perfect loving mom, and Ed Oxenbould played the perfect hero, but in the end, the film felt very bare. The characters are all likeable, but never seem to change as people. The only character that really makes any ‘change’ is Alexander’s older brother when he dumps his shallow girlfriend, but the scene felt extremely forced.
The biggest problem with the film is the fact that the chaos of this one really bad, horrible, no good day takes precedence over everything else. At the beginning of the film, Alex appears to be the epitome of the Murphy’s Law, and that is fitting for the story, but afterwards the story just becomes a And even though the series of events set a precedent for the rest of the film, the shear amount was pretty unrealistic. The film never felt like a cohesive story; only one bad event after another.
“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” isn’t the worse family movie you’ll ever see, but it never plucks the right heart strings. If you’re curious about seeing the film, then I’d say pick it up at your local video store, and be glad you missed it at the theater.
Film: 3 Yaps
Features: 2.5 Yaps