Disney / Buena Vista | 2009 | 88 mins. | Rated PG
Back in the 1980’s and early 1990’s when the production team of Bruckheimer/Simpson were flying high with testosterone filled box office hits like Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun, a kid friendly movie involving animals didn’t seem like it would have a place on their dancecard. Time change though; Don Simpson died in 1996, and since then Jerry has really branched out, creating a number of police dramas including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and CSI: Miami. Given that, I guess a kids movie about guinea pigs really isn’t that much of a stretch; Jerry Bruckheimer is clearly a man who wants to capture every demographic.
A combination of live action and CG, G-Force is the story of a group of highly trained rodents who want more than anything to be FBI Special Agents. In order to be taken seriously they attempt to infiltrate a high profile, home electronics developer who seems to have a plot to take over the world. But as a result of one botched mission, they find themselves on the run from the bureau who now want them shut down and exterminated. With the help of some pet store refugees they must fight their way back into action and save the day.
Ben (Zack Galifianakis) an FBI agent has genetically engineered a group of guinea pigs to serve as special agents. Darwin (voiced by Sam Rockwell), Blaster (Tracy Morgan) and Juarez (Penélope Cruz) have been trained in espionage and counter-terrorism, and are assisted by computer expert and star-nosed mole Speckles (Nicholas Cage), six-legged surveillance fly Mooch (Dee Bradley Baker), specialized cockroaches, and advanced universal translators that allow them to communicate with humans. Their first mission involves uncovering an evil plot by electronics billionaire Leonard Saber (Bill Nighy). The FBI has been on his trail for awhile; it seems the evil Saber has secretly installed military microchips into all his appliances, and plans on initiating something he calls “Project Clusterstorm” in two days.
When the team’s efforts to sniff out the plot fail, bureau head Kip Killian (Will Arnett) forces Ben to shut his project down. Soon enough, the G-Force find themselves trapped in a pet store cage with the flatulent guinea pig Hurley (Jon Favreau) and a high strung hamster named Bucky (Steve Buscemi). Now, the fearless team must find a way to escape and save the world, before it’s too late.
Suffice to say, G-Force doesn’t offer anything the average adult hasn’t seen countless times before. However, if you’re looking for something to entertain young children over the holiday season the high-flying action provided by these rodents will likely do the trick.
G-Force comes to Blu-ray via a solid AVC/MPEG-4 transfer. You’ll notice that there are a lot of scenes where cameras focus on the guinea pigs, creating soft-focus backgrounds, and those tend to pick up a little grain. But that’s by design, and no flaw of the transfer, which shows no artifacts or residue. Colors are bright and bold, skin-tones (when we see humans) are natural looking, and black levels are strong. Nothing is lost in darkness or shadow, and the level of detail is consistently strong throughout the film.
The featured Blu-ray audio is an English DTS-HD MA 5.1, and it does an excellent job, especially during the action scenes. It’s a dynamic soundtrack that is nicely prioritized. The rear speakers get a nice workout, too, with very natural sound. Additional Blu-ray audio options are French or Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English, Spanish, and French.
G-Force offers several hours of special features, all of which are presented in high definition. Bonus DVD and digital copies of the film round out the 3-disc set.
• Cine-Explore Mode: Director Hoyt Yateman helms an extensive Picture-in-Picture experience loaded with pre-effects video footage, behind-the-scenes featurettes, scene breakdowns, early animatics, and various CG dissections.
• Inside the Animation Lab (HD, 8 minutes): Yateman and Bruckheimer discuss the film’s special effects, give a tour of Imageworks’ animation department, and chat about the work that went into developing and rendering the film’s animals and more elaborate machines.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 6 minutes): Six rather useless deleted/alternate/extended scenes that, despite being presented in high definition, are hindered by poor video quality.
• Blaster’s Boot Camp (HD, 5 minutes): Blaster discusses the attributes one needs to possess to become a member of G-Force, and provides an overview of the gadgets cleared agents have access to for various missions.
• G-Force Mastermind (HD, 4 minutes): Meet Hoyt Yateman IV, son of director Hoyt Yateman and the original creator of the film’s concept and characters. The kid is five!
• Bruckheimer Animated (HD, 3 minutes): An EPK of sorts hosted by the Elder Yateman that briefly examines Bruckheimer’s use of CG over the years.
• G-Farce (HD, 2 minutes): A decent collection of outtakes made all the more amusing by the fact that the animals are nowhere to be found, meaning the actors crack up in the face of empty space and performing with each other in the recording booth.
• Music Videos (HD, 8 minutes): Music videos include Flo Rida’s “Jump,” Steve Rushton’s “Ready to Rock,” and the guinea pigs’ “Go G-Force” song.
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