Cast (Voice): Sam Rockwell, Jon Favreau, Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, Tracy Morgan; Director: Hoyt Yeatman; Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer; Screenwriters: Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley; Music: Trevor Rabin; Editor: Mark Goldblatt, Jason Hellman; Genre: Action. Adventure, Family, Fantasy; Cinematography: Bojan Bazelli; Distributor: Walt Disney Studious Motion Pictures; Location: Los Angeles, USA; Running Time: 88 min;Technical Assessment: 3
Moral Assessment: 3
CINEMA Rating: For viewers of all ages
Veterinarians Ben (Zach Galifianakis) and Marcie (Kelli Garner) have in their laboratory a quartet of “genetically engineered” rodents—guinea pigs Darwin (voice of Sam Rockwell), Juarez (Penelope Cruz), and Blaster (Tracy Morgan); and a mole named Speckles (Nicolas Cage). They’re supposed to be an “elite” FBI team, the “G-Force”—and together with a fly with no speaking parts they are expected to bust the machinations of electronic magnate Saber (Bill Nighy). Saber is a power-tripping billionaire who wants to control the world through home appliances that transform into deadly computerized killers that when clumped together can further transmogrify into high-tech giants stomping on everything and everyone in sight. The G-Force team’s assignment is to squash this megalomaniac’s plot by getting into the heart of his computer network that controls the appliances.
The plot looks promising enough: guinea pigs versus coffeemakers, blenders, refrigerators, etc. Picture that: if all the gadgets you can plug into your home’s electrical circuit are programmed to attack you, what are your chances of being saved from doom by guinea pigs? Although they are “genetically engineered” to outsmart computer wizards, don’t we either just welcome rodents as mere caged pets or eradicate them as pests in our homes? For all its CGI sophistication G-Force comes across as a bland dish which needs much more chili and garlic than its spunkiest voice-performers Penelope Cruz and Nicolas Cage can provide. Lovers of furry little things that we are, we sort of expected some real original stuff that would finally win the world’s respect for these humble creatures—after all, rodents make up more than one-third of all living mammal species on earth. We hoped G-Force would make us ooh and aah, like Up, or Wall-E, but instead, we came out of the theatre thinking, “Yeah, they’re cute.” Period. And the human characters (Galifianakis, Gerner, Nighy) served as mere props—they might have appeared more alive had they been animated.
There is one important message that is in danger of being buried under all that madcap action, and that is: the value of believing in yourself. It’s articulated towards the end of the story, as something is revealed to the rodents that threatens to dampen their enthusiasm for their world-saving mission. Notice also that the mice outsmart men here, but not because they’re smarter than humans per se, but because this being a good-vs-evil story, the fight is between those who destroy and those who save others from destruction. Of course, those who save, win. Visually, young children will enjoy G-Force; thinking adults will benefit from it.
