Disney has taken a 40-year-old classic kids’ tale and fashioned it into a modern family movie that, refreshingly, stars good old-fashioned humans instead of phantasmagorical animated creatures.
In Judith Viorst’s book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day,” a boy thinks everyone around him is coasting through life on rays of sunshine while he alone is bogged down with a child’s version of the trials of Job.
The breezy movie version stretches his calamities out during two days, and ramps up the action by tossing in the misadventures of Alexander’s five other family members.
After getting gum in his hair and tripping over an automatic lawn sprinkler in front of his crush, Becky, Alexander (Ed Oxenbould) nearly burns down the science lab and finds out a more popular boy is having a birthday party the following day, the same day as his own party. Unemployed Dad (Steve Carell, the comic glue who keeps things humming) gets called “fommy” (father-mommy) at baby yoga class, and has to tote his toddler along to an interview at a video-gaming company with potential bosses half his age.
Meanwhile, publishing executive Mom (Jennifer Garner) is prepping for the big launch of her company’s new potty-training book (under the withering eye of Megan Mullally).
Older brother, Anthony (Dylan Minnette), is nervous about taking his driver’s ed test so he can squire his petulant girlfriend (Bella Thorne) to the prom. Older sister, Emily (Kerris Dorsey), is popping cold pills like crazy so she can take the stage as Peter Pan that afternoon in the school play.
What else could go wrong?
Plenty, including an out-of-control minivan (featuring the reliably hilarious Jennifer Coolidge in a cameo as a no-nonsense driving instructor), a very unfortunate typo, projectile vomit and a flaming pirate shirt.
At a time when some families face daily issues such as, oh, starvation, homelessness, Ebola and drone strikes, the Coopers’ dilemmas definitely qualify as first-world problems. But they’re humorously relatable, and director Miguel Arteta, previously known for thoughtful/funny little indies aimed at older audiences (“Youth in Revolt,” “The Good Girl”), keeps the dominoes falling at a fidgeter-friendly pace.
By the time the backyard b-day bash rolls around, the tattered crew has had its fill of surprises. Yet, of course, there were a few more, including a group of very fit “Aussie cowboys” who turn out to be strippers (and quickly modify their act upon sizing up their audience).
Arteta can’t resist inserting an all-for-one, one-for-all message at the end, but treads lightly enough that it doesn’t spoil a nice, pleasant, not bad, perfectly fine movie.
