MOVIE TITLE: Unaccompanied Minors

GENRE: Comedy

RATING: ★★★¹/²

RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes (this can be found on the DVD'S cover).

BONUS FEATURES: Additional scenes, commentaries by director Paul Feig and writers Jacob Meszaros and Mya Stark, as well as other features.

WHO'S IN IT: Dyllan Christopher (Armageddon, Sea Biscuit), Tyler James Williams (Everybody Hates Chris), Brett Kelly (Bad Santa), Lewis Black (Man of the Year).

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Spencer (Christopher) and, his younger sister, Katherine (Dominique Saldana) are stranded at a midwestern airport while enroute to their father, because of a snow blizzard, which has grounded all flights. They, like Grace (Gina Mantegna), Donna (Quinn Shephard), Charlie (Williams) and Timothy Wellington also called 'Beef' (Kelly) are unaccompanied minors at the airport on Christmas Eve. The group, along with a host of other children, in placed in a room which has no windows. Spencer and his new-found friends all share a common interest, which is to break out. They succeed initially and create mayhem around the airport. Their actions force passenger relations manager Oliver Porter (Black), who is forced to postpone a trip to Hawaii because of the blizzard, to put them back in the room all by themselves with his assistant, Zach Van Bourke (Wilmer Valderrama), standing guard. To make matters worse for the UM (Unaccompanied Minors) Posse (as they call themselves), the rest of children, including Katherine, have been taken to a nearby hotel to wait out the storm. The posse again breaks out, especially because Spencer wants to fulfil Katherine's vision of Santa Claus arriving at 4:00 a.m. Also, Spencer and Katherine's father has decided to make his way to rescue the children in a car using biodiesel fuel and soon ends up in his own adventures. Meanwhile, the posse's quest to leave the airport for the hotel is filled with a host of childish adventures and they eventually get to give Katherine her wish. However, their triumph is short-lived and it will take another breakout to ensure Christmas is a happy one for those stranded at the airport.

LONG STORY SHORT: For the average adult movie buff Unaccompanied Minors would be a 90-minute flick filled with predictability. But in the eyes of a child it would be one of the coolest movies ever. It is apparent the writers penned this script exclusively for children, as there is no attempt to develop a complex plot. Neither have they spent a lot of time on character development.

For one, the average adult watching it with a child would be thinking want to see Beef's character developing more. They would also want to know how he came by the Christmas tree and why was he not involved in the adventures with the others, as opposed to running off into the cold by himself. Nevertheless, children will find it exciting because of the various pranks and mishaps that Porter and his idiotic security guards find themselves victim to. In the end, Unaccompanied Minors should appeal to the kids and kids at heart because of its plot.

THE REEL LOWDOWN: If you liked Bad Santa and the Home Alone series, you will like this one.

Comedy

PLEASE SEE MINORS, C11