Disney's trips into live-action comedy always have a consistent tone: bright, bubbly, bumbling, and inoffensive, with just the slightest hint of edge. Alexander
is no different. If only its humor would land...and when it did, it wasn't beat to death. Instead of spending any amount of time on a coherent story or a real purpose, it sways towards cheap, dumb humor. Alexander is the kind of nonsensical slapstick "family" comedy that kids will inevitably enjoy and forget, while parents will be forced to endure and forget. Alexander is a preteen that has a bad but NORMAL day (popularity, girls, small chemistry fire); that same day, his family is celebrating some truly great developments (new job, best-selling book, first prom). Alex decides, out of spite or loneliness or something, that his misery deserves company, so he wishes for them to have a horrible day. And they do. And by the end of the movie, they are
a better family?! What's the lesson in that?! If things aren't going your way, then hope the people you love have it even worse? The premise could've been solid: really push the over-the-top notion of this down-on-his-luck kid struggling to survive juxtaposed against a perfect and aloof family. They even hired some great performers that could've really gotten some genuine laughs. Unfortunately, most of these actors are completely wasted, and in the end, Alexander tries to have its cake and eat it too, half its toe in fantasy and the other half in sloppy reality. Maybe I'm asking too much from a kid's film, but Alexander is a pointless and mostly laughless outing.