Buckle up for thrilling edge-of-your-seat action and laugh-out-loud fun in Disney’s family comedy adventure G-Force. Just as the G-Force — an elite team of highly trained guinea pigs — is about to save the world, the F.B.I. shuts the secret unit down. But these next-generation action heroes — Darwin, loyal team leader; Blaster, weapons expert with attitude to spare; Juarez, drop-dead gorgeous martial arts diva; and tag-along Hurley — won’t be stopped. Armed with the latest in high-tech spy equipment, and with the F.B.I. on their tails, the fur flies as they race against the clock to save the world. From the producer of the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy and National Treasure, and filled with high-octane action, daredevil stunts, cutting-edge special effects and outrageous comedy, G-Force is fantastic fun for the whole family.
Description of G-Force (Three-Disc DVD/Blu-ray Combo +Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]: G-Force just might be the best Jerry Bruckheimer action film in many a moon. The film is exuberant, and its premise--don't think big for an animated caper film, think small--brilliantly upends the more-bigger-faster trope of American action films… with cute, little, furry guinea pigs.
Bruckheimer, the action genius behind the likes of the Pirates of the Caribbean, Con Air, The Rock, Armageddon, and many more, here teams with visual effects maestro Hoyt Yeatman, who writes and directs. The combo is potent, and the fact that they streamed their blow-'em-up vision through a film about tiny rodents saving the world makes the whole confection a hilarious family-friendly experience as well as a satisfying action adventure. The premise isn't earth-shattering: oddball, unexpected heroes are called on to save the day (Men in Black, Underdog, etc.). But the lowly guinea pig has been long overdue to get its moment in the spotlight. And now the free world knows whom it can really trust. The film mixes the animated heroes with real-life actors, including the sardonic British character actor Bill Nighy, who plays an evil mogul out to take over and/or destroy the world. The U.S. government, it turns out, has been nurturing a special squad for occasions just such as this. It's just that it's been nurturing them in small pens with wood shavings on the floor and running wheels for exercise. Will Arnett, deadpan and spot-on, plays the human agent who has the unenviable task of wrangling the guinea pig G-Force, and is a deft foil for the bad guys as well as for the mini-heroes.
But the true powerhouse acting belongs to those giving voices to the guinea pig agents, including Sam Rockwell, Penélope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, and, as the voice of a domesticated layabout, Jon Favreau. The film's standout, though, is Tracy Morgan, whose Agent Blaster is bellicose, fearless, and as full of malapropisms as Morgan's character on 30 Rock. (In fact, the viewer keeps half-expecting Blaster to turn to Cruz's female agent, Juarez, and yell "Liz Lemon!") G-Force is full of belly laughs for kids, as well as their action-film-fan parents. --A.T. Hurley
Stills from G-Force (Click for larger image)
G-Force (Three-Disc DVD/Blu-ray Combo +Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] Reviews: Tremendous fun! 2009-12-21 - My wife and settled down to watch this expecting just a cute film. Well - it is cute, but it is also a great adventure.
We were stunned at the quiality of the effects and the belivablity of all the CG animals. When it finshed we both keept saying: Wow! That was really great! Just WOW!
The special features explain how the directos son, at age 5 - told his dad a story about his pet guinea pig in the roll of a super spy. That little tale became the genisis of this film.
Blu-ray: "G-Force" is a fun, crazy and action-packed family film that the children will enjoy! 2009-12-17 - What happens when you take a secret government program of trained animals and combine them with the latest in high-tech spy equipment? The result is G-FORCE.
The film became the first 3D film on the big screen by producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("National Treasure" films, "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, "The Rock, "Con Air" and "Top Gun") who teams up once again with Academy Award-winning visual effects master Hoyt H. Yeatman ("The Abyss", "Mighty Joe Young", "The Rock" and "Con Air") who directs the film.
The film about animals saving the world didn't go to well with the critics but at the box office, "G-Force" was quite successful as the film which was budgeted at $82.5 million made over $281 million worldwide.
Featuring an all-star cast, "G-FORCE" revolves around a secret US Government program using guinea pigs Darwin (voice by Sam Rockwell) as the squad leader, Blaster (voice of Tracy Morgan) as the outrageous weapons expert with attitude and Juarez (voice of Penélope Cruz) as the sexy martial arts pro and taking part in top secret espionage missions.
Joining the guinea pigs is star-nosed mole, Speckles (voice of Nicolas Cage), the computer and information specialist, the computer and information specialist and Mooch, the reconnaissance expert. Also, featuring pet shop layabout Hurley (voice by Jon Favreau) and territorial hamster Bucky (voice of Steve Buscemi).
The film also stars Bill Nighy as the sinister industrialist Leonard Saber, Will Arnett as Special Agent Kip Killian who is bent on shutting down G-FORCE, Zach Galifianakis as the creator and father figure of G-FORCE, Kelli Garner as the team's veterinarian and many more.
The "G-Force" Blu-ray release comes with the Blu-ray, a DVD and a digital copy.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
"G-Force" is featured in 1080p High Definition (2:40:1). The actual merging of CG animation and real characters actually works extremely well for this film. Sony Pictures ImageWorks did a wonderful job on the CG and special effects. A lot of good ideas were implemented in the film in terms of the animation of the G-Force team. Especially hair effects as you can see the detail of the animals when they are wet or dry. As usual with Disney releases on Blu-ray, picture quality is fantastic. Along with the details of the G-Force team, their surroundings are detailed and when outdoors, the colors are vibrant. Blacks are nice and deep and I spotted no problems with artifacting, banding at all.
Audio is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD (48 kHz/24-bit) and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. Lossless audio is actually pretty well done. Good utilization of the rear channels for the action scenes, as explosions and glass shattering comes out quite clear from the surround channels. "G-Force" tends to use quite a bit of music from the Black Eyed Peas, Lady GaGa and Flo Rida, so the music is quite clear and contains quite a bit of bass. Subwoofer tends to utilize the bass of the music quite a bit. But overall, a solid lossless audio track.
As for the voice acting, I felt the talent did a good job. Nicolas Cage really surprised me with his squeaky, nerdy voice for tech master Speckles. Penelope Cruz as the voice of female guinea pig Juarez worked quite well. Although, Tracy Morgan sounds like Tracy Morgan but overall, the voice talent did a good job.
Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"G-Force" contains several special features in 1080p or 1080i, English 5.1 or 2.0 Dolby Digital and with English SDH, French or Spanish subtitles:
* Cine-Explore with Darwin, Blaster and their Creator - While watching the film, you can watch along with Darwin, Blaster and Directory Hoyt Yeatman. As you watch, the movie will pause when a video comes up, showing behind-the-scenes of the film. Unlike previous Blu-ray releases where the picture is picture-in-picture, Cine-Explore features the film in a stylized window while other G-Force related footage or facts are being shown on screen. Very cool feature!
* Blaster's Boot Camp - (4:41) A featurette with Blaster (voiced by Tracy Morgan) explaining the training that one must do in order to become part of G-Force.
* G-Force Mastermind- (4:13) Director Hoyt H. Yeatman talking about how the concept came from his five-year-old son. Young Hoyt talks about how the idea came about and his experience of working on the film.
* Bruckheimer Animated -(3:12) A featurette about Jerry Bruckheimer's involvement in CG work for past films. Featuring Jerrry Bruckheimer and Hoyt Yeatman and how the two worked together in "Armageddon", "Con Air", etc. and past films that Bruckheimer utilized animation and technology.
* Access Granted: Inside the Animation Lab - (7:51) Utilizing Sony Pictures ImageWorks to do the animation and special effects for the film. A tour is given by Hoyt Yeatman of the headquarters and showing how various parts of animation were created (lighting, hair, etc.).
* G-Farce Bloopers - (1:49) Bloopers from "G-Force".
* Deleted Scenes -(6:18) A total of six deleted scenes: March of the Cockroach, Mooch's Donut Regiment, B-B-Bunies, Undercover Pets, Hurley Under Attack, World Domination.
* Music Videos - Featuring three music videos: "Jump" by Flo Rida feat. Nelly Furtado, "Ready to Rock" by Steve Rushton and "Go Go-Force".
* Learn How to Take Your Favorite Movies on the Go - (1:04) A promo trailer for DisneyFile Digital Copy.
JUDGMENT CALL:
"G-Force" may not have been a popular film among the critics but for a family film, "G-Force" was actually fun. The idea of "G-Force" came from Hoyt H. Yeatman's five year old son at the time about wanting to use his animals to take on bad guys. And it's an idea that visual master Yeatman toiled around his head and six years later, became a feature film.
Special effects were done quite well and there are many big budget films where CG animation and real-life filmmaking just doesn't work but for "G-Force", it worked quite well (especially if it costs over $80 million to make, it better work well).
Parents may wonder why the film has a PG rating and there is mild action with the team trying to take on Saber's "weapons" but in terms of the rude humor, there is a lot of farting (courtesy of the gassy guinea pig Hurley) and scenes where the rodents are stuck in a sphere and you hear jokes such as "get your butt out of my face. No, you get your face out of my butt" type of jokes but that is the worst it gets. Now of course, there are scenes where a child puts one of the G-Force team members in a remote control car and crashes it into G.I. Joe action figures or tries to jump a ramp with it inside the car. And another scene where a girl plays dress up with the guinea pig and puts nail polish and lipstick on the animal. Of course, parents who have children with hamsters or guinea pigs will best explain to them not to do that at home despite seeing it onscreen.
As far as the Blu-ray release is concerned, you get a solid 3-disc release (Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy) and plenty of special features to keep the children busy during this holiday season. The "Cine-Explore" feature was especially well-utilized on this Blu-ray release.
In the end, this film is a enjoyable, action-packed family film targeted for the children. I've read many reviews by critics who just have a disdain of rodents saving the world via technology and look at it as a stupid concept. Granted, for some of those reviewers, I'm sure when they were children, the concept of Lassie, Flipper and Benji were probably regarded by critics of their time as a bit over-the-top as well. Granted, those animals were not hooked up to high tech devices and were used to save the world but granted, this is not the film to exactly take seriously. The same happened with the release of "Stuart Little" back in 1999 and critics had a hard time moving past the talking rodent but sure enough, that film inspired sequels and direct-to-DVD movies and was quite successful.
Overall, I felt it "G-Force" was a fun concept. Where "Stuart Little" was more of a happy film about family, "G-Force" was about camaraderie and trying to save the world. Sure, the concept is farfetched but if you're taking this film that seriously, you're not going to enjoy this film at all. I watched it along with my six-year-old and we both enjoyed it. And as a parent, I felt it was a fun film with action, hijinks and a lot of music from The Black Eyed Peas.
Definitely a family film and a Blu-ray release worth checking out!
PRICE??? 2009-12-09 - OK movie but why is this listing at $27.99. Did I miss something? Not the best disney movie this year but costs twice as much as their best movies this year? Amazon, please tell me this will be slashed in half.
Review, cute movie, more for the younger set. Not a deep meaningful movie, but 10 and under will think it cute.
As for price not being valid to a review, it is valid. There are some movies I'd buy no matter what the price based on quality. The classics are high up there. Would I compare this movie to UP? Certainly not. Would I pay $27.99 for UP on blu ray, most definitely. That says a lot about the movie to me, what I'm willing to pay for it. I purchased Snow White on Amazon, digital, dvd and blu ray copy for $19.99, minus $10 for a holiday sale. Well worth it because it appeals to young and old and is a classic lovely movie.
G Force, highly entertaining to a child who enjoys silly humor and gimmicks and some potty humor. Enjoyed watching it with my child for her delight, but does it remain in my head to ponder like UP, nope. I like to read reviews that give me an idea of what something is worth price wise. THAT to ME makes a review invaluable. Should I pay $200 for a bread machine when there is a $50 on? WHat makes one worth it over the other? Thus I review based on price also because there are many who appreciate that. If you don't, go ahead and go to the review that appeals to you, dont discourage others from reviewing as such.
great movie 2009-11-26 - great movie, but very disappointed that the movie isn't being released on Blue ray as a 3D movie. If the theaters are going to release a 3D version then, the DVD should offer a 3D version.
My kinda guinea pigs 2009-11-20 - I went and saw G-force by myself when it was in theaters because I love almost all Disney movies and also because this movie looked really adorable. I went to a showing that cost me $4 admission but the movie was great so it would have been worth the cost of regular admission. It had a twist of sorts that I didn't expect and is a great movie for all ages. I am definitely planning on buying the Blu-ray edition of the movie so that I can watch it on DVD until I buy a Blu-ray player. I recommend this movie to anyone with kids or anyone who gew up on Disney movies and loved them like I did/do.
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