The Pacifier

The Pacifier is a 2005 American family action comedy film directed by Adam Shankman, written by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant and stars Vin Diesel. The film was released in March 2005 by Walt Disney Pictures and grossed $198 million worldwide.

For The Simpsons short, see The Pacifier (The Simpsons short). For other uses, see Pacifier (disambiguation).
The Pacifier
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAdam Shankman
Produced by
Written by
Starring
Music byJohn Debney
CinematographyPeter James
Edited byChristopher Greenbury
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures[1]
Release date
  • March 4, 2005 (2005-03-04)
Running time
95 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$56 million[2]
Box office$198.6 million[2]

Plot

U.S. Navy SEAL lieutenant Shane Wolfe is assigned to rescue Howard Plummer, a man working on a top-secret government project, from a group of Serbian rebels. Shane and his team successfully get Plummer off an enemy boat. However, while boarding the helicopter to escape, the team is attacked by the enemy. Plummer is killed, and Shane is wounded, spending two months in the hospital as a result.

At the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Shane's commanding officer, Captain Bill Fawcett, explains that he has been assigned to escort Plummer's widow, Julie, to Zürich, where Plummer's safety deposit box has been discovered to retrieve the contents. Meanwhile, Shane has been assigned to stay at the Plummer residence in Bethesda, to search for Plummer's secret project called GHOST and look after the family's five children: Zoe, Seth, Lulu, Peter, and baby Tyler. The kids prove to be difficult to handle, even with the help of nanny Helga, who quits when one of Zoe and Seth's pranks intended for Shane goes wrong. Meanwhile, in Zurich, Julie and Fawcett receive word of Howard's deposit box. However, she must provide a password to access it, which she does not know and she and Fawcett end up staying longer than expected. Shane eventually begins to discover the children's problems and resolve them, gaining their trust after saving them when their house was attacked by ninjas.

Later, the school's vice principal, Duane Murney, informs Shane that Seth has cut and dyed his hair, has a Nazi armband in his locker, and has skipped every wrestling practice for a month. At home, Seth tells Shane that he only joined the wrestling team because of his father. After Seth sneaks out of the house and meets with what appears to be a group of Neo-Nazi youths, Shane follows him to the town theater, where he learns that Seth has secretly joined an amateur production of The Sound of Music (specifically, he has the role of Rolf Gruber, a Nazi), explaining the armband and hairdo. The director quits as he believes the show will be a failure. Shane volunteers to take charge of the show, take care of the house, give Zoe driving lessons in the family minivan and teach Lulu and her fellow Firefly Scouts martial arts to defend themselves against rival boy scouts.

As Seth quits the wrestling team, Shane challenges Murney to a wrestling match in front of the entire school, which he easily wins despite Murney's show of bluster. The Firefly Scouts use the skill Shane taught to beat the rival boy scouts. Zoe and Shane share stories of their fathers, both of whom died in similar circumstances. They are interrupted by a phone call from Julie, who has figured out the password, "My Angel" (which was engraved on her wedding ring), retrieved a two-prong key from the box and is on her way home. The kids immediately plan a "Welcome Home" party.

That evening, Shane discovers a secret vault underneath the garage, which requires exactly the type of key that Julie and Bill retrieved to open. When Bill and Julie arrive home, he and Shane go to the garage, where Shane says he is rethinking his career. The two armed ninjas from before arrive and pull off their masks, revealing themselves as the Chuns - the Plummers' North Korean neighbors. Suddenly, Bill knocks out Shane, revealing himself to be a double agent. Mr. Chun binds, gags, and guards the children while Bill and Mrs. Chun take Julie down to the vault. They open the door, but a dangerous security system prevents them from proceeding.

The children escape and awaken Shane, who tells them to call the police while he goes to the vault to help Julie. Mr. Chun follows them in Bill's car. With Zoe at the wheel, the kids force him to crash. Shane gets past the security system using the dance Howard had used to make Peter go to sleep each night. Julie knocks out Mrs. Chun, and Shane's voice activates the final vault, knocking out Bill with the door. By then, the children have lured a large crowd of police to the house. Mr. Chun arrives and holds all of them at gunpoint. Shane notices the school principal and his love interest Claire Fletcher right behind him, having followed the chase when she saw it pass by the school. Shane distracts Mr. Chun with the help of Mr. Plummer's family pet duck Gary, and Claire knocks him unconscious.

With Bill and the Chuns arrested, Shane and the Plummers say their goodbyes, and Shane and Claire kiss. At Seth's performance, it is revealed that Shane has retired from the Navy and joined the school staff as the new wrestling coach. Murney, dressed as a nun, also performs in the play, singing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" off-key.

Cast

Main cast
  • Vin Diesel as Lieutenant Shane Wolfe, Navy SEAL.
  • Brittany Snow as Zoe Plummer, the eldest of the children; she is a sixteen-year-old high school student at Chesapeake Heights Public School and a typical teenage cheerleader girl.
  • Max Thieriot as Seth Plummer, the second oldest child. He is a fourteen-year-old 8th Grade middle school student at Chesapeake Heights Public School and is a sullen teenage boy.
  • Morgan York as Lulu Plummer, the middle child and is ten years old. She is a fourth grader in elementary school.
  • Kegan and Logan Hoover as Peter Plummer, the second youngest; he is three years old, can only go to sleep when someone sings the "Peter Panda" song, and wears pull-ups.
  • Bo and Luke Vink as Baby Tyler Plummer, the youngest; a seven-month-old infant.
  • Lauren Graham as Claire Fletcher, the principal of the Plummer children’s school, formerly in the Navy.

Supporting cast
  • Faith Ford as Julie Plummer, mother of the children.
  • Chris Potter as Captain Bill Fawcett, Wolfe's corrupt commanding officer, who is later revealed to be a double agent working with the Chuns.
  • Brad Garrett as Vice Principal Dwayne Murney, the school's vice-principal and wrestling coach.
  • Carol Kane as Helga, the children’s Romanian nanny.
  • Tate Donovan as Howard Plummer, a professor who develops "GHOST”, Julie's husband and father of the children.
  • Denis Akiyama and Mung-Ling Tsui as Mr. and Mrs. Chun, the Plummers' next-door neighbors, who are later revealed to be villainous North Korean spies looking for "GHOST".
  • David Lipper as the cute cop
  • Scott Thompson as the director of a local production of The Sound of Music.

Soundtrack
No.TitleWriter(s)Original artist(s)Length
1."Everyday Superhero"Greg Camp, Paul BarrySmash Mouth3:28
2."Saturday Night"Ozomatli, J. Smith-FreemanOzomatli3:59
3."We Will Rock You"Brian MayQueen2:01
4."The Anthem"Benji Madden, Joel Madden, John FeldmanGood Charlotte2:55
5."Skip to My Lou"TraditionalLarry Groce and Disneyland Children's Sing-Along Chorus1:21
6."The Power"Benito Benites, John "Virgo" Garrett III, Toni C.Snap!3:47
7."Sixteen Going on Seventeen" (The Sound of Music)Rodgers and HammersteinDaniel Truhitte, Charmian Carr2:10
8."Climb Ev'ry Mountain" (The Sound of Music)Rodgers and HammersteinShirley Bassey2:16
9."The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (Instrumental theme song of the movie with the same name)Ennio MorriconeBruno Nicolai & Unione Musicisti di Roma2:45
Total length:24:42

Reception

Critical response

As of June 2020, the film holds a 21% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, based on 131 reviews with an average rating of 3.72 out of 10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Vin Diesel parodies his tough guy image for the family audience, but the result is only moderately amusing."[3] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 30 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.[5]

Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four, writing, "This premise is promising, but somehow the movie never really takes off."[6]

Box office

The film opened at #1 in the box office upon its opening weekend with $30.6 million.[7] By the end of its run, it earned $198.6 million worldwide.[2]

Possible sequel

In December 2015, Vin Diesel said that a sequel was in the works.[8]

References
  1. "The Pacifier". American Film Institute. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  2. "The Pacifier (2005)". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  3. "The Pacifier". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  4. "The Pacifier Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  5. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  6. Abrams, Simon (2005-03-03). "The Pacifier Movie Review & Film Summary (2005) | Roger Ebert". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  7. "Weekend Box Office Results for March 4-6, 2005". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  8. Burlingame, Russ. "Vin Diesel Reveals The Pacifier Sequel Is Being Written". Comicbook.com. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
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