{"id":21410,"date":"2020-10-08T14:31:03","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T21:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=21410"},"modified":"2020-10-08T14:31:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T21:31:03","slug":"the-war-with-grandpa-isnt-victorious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=21410","title":{"rendered":"THE WAR WITH GRANDPA Isn\u2019t Victorious"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This movie will be released in theaters October 9th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1970s and 1980s, author Robert Kimmel Smith wrote popular children\u2019s books like Chocolate Fever<\/em> and The Squeaky Wheel<\/em> that helped entertain a generation. The War with Grandpa<\/em> is an adaptation of Smith\u2019s popular, award-winning 1984 novel about a very unusual conflict that arises between two members of the same family. While one can certainly understand the attraction to the well-regarded source material, this feature proves that sometimes a story works far better on the printed page than it does onscreen.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peter (Oakes Fegley) is a suburban kid nervous about\nstarting the 6th<\/sup> grade. However, the boy\u2019s concerns about middle\nschool take a back seat after his mother (Uma Thurman) and father (Rob Riggle)\nannounce that widowed grandfather Ed (Robert De Niro) will be moving in with\nthe family. To make room for the new arrival, Peter is ordered out of his bedroom\nand is forced to take up residence in the attic. This news doesn\u2019t sit well\nwith the protagonist, who sends a declaration of war to his gramps. Friends of the\nboy as well as Ed\u2019s pals (played by Christopher Walken, Cheech Marin and Jane\nSeymour) encourage the pair to take measures and fight for their territory. The\nactions of the two stubborn parties lead to an escalating series of pranks that\ncause property destruction and collateral damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film\u2019s central theme is a good one. The idea that there\nare no winners in battle, even if you are victorious, is admirable. And for a\nkid\u2019s movie, it boasts an incredible cast. As a result of the onscreen talent,\nthe actors do manage to sell the odd moment here and there. There is one\ncreative prank involving Peter replacing Ed\u2019s shaving cream with an alternate\nsubstance, resulting in an uncomfortable shave. De Niro offers a grouchy commentor\ntwo that earn a chuckle and Walken ekes out some laughs with his entertaining\nposturing and advice about dealing with bratty kids. At one point he even notes\nto Ed, \u201cDon\u2019t let them see your fear\u2026 they feed on that!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In fact, the performers are far too good for the material,\nespecially when the attempts at humor are delivered so bluntly. Many of the\njokes revolve around causing physical harm to Ed, whether he\u2019s slipping on\nmarbles and landing with a thud, or plunging from a ladder while climbing to\nthe roof. Peter even sets off his grandad\u2019s medic alert, unnecessarily sending\nemergency crews to the house. Other weird gags include Ed\u2019s pants continually\nfalling off in front of his son-in-law. Grandpa\u2019s friends are also forced to\ntake part in the physical punishment, getting involved in a competitive\ndodgeball game with Peter and his pals. For the most part, these fine actors\nare left with little to do but bug their eyes out and take a pratfall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Naturally, none of what is occurring makes any logical sense.\nDespite their agreement of no collateral damage, most of the pranks have the\nreverse effect (especially for the mother, who in any other universe would not\nonly be furious, but would be arrested by police). Peter and his family also live\nin a very impressive home, making the boy\u2019s plight tougher to relate to. In\norder to make his situation seem difficult, the attic has a leaky roof and a\nrat wandering about. But nothing is made of the potential infestation. Like all\nthe other hardships faced in this movie, they are only used for the sake of an over-the-top\njoke before being quickly forgotten. Admittedly, it is harsh to critique the\nlogic in a kid\u2019s film, but when so many elements stand out as incongruent, it\nmeans the film hasn\u2019t managed to successfully suspend disbelief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The excellent cast members do their best, but the story here\nhas been adapted in a harebrained manner. In fact, it seems ill-advised to try\nand deliver laughs using a series of slapstick physical gags reminiscent of a Looney\nTunes<\/em> cartoon while attempting to deliver a message about war only causing\nsuffering and heartache for all involved. This may have worked as a novel, but The\nWar with Grandpa<\/em> is a campaign with no winners.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This movie will be released in theaters October 9th. In the 1970s and 1980s, author Robert Kimmel Smith wrote popular children\u2019s books like Chocolate Fever and The Squeaky Wheel that helped entertain a generation. The War with Grandpa is an adaptation of Smith\u2019s popular, award-winning 1984 novel about a very unusual conflict that arises between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,3295,4173,4392,4660,7283,10310,15176,17126,17149,17169,22571,22572,22573,22574,23483],"class_list":["post-21410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-book-adaptation","tag-cheech-marin","tag-christopher-walken","tag-comedy","tag-family","tag-jane-seymour","tag-oakes-fegley","tag-rob-riggle","tag-robert-de-niro","tag-robert-kimmel-smith","tag-the-war-with-grandpa","tag-the-war-with-grandpa-film-review","tag-the-war-with-grandpa-movie-review","tag-the-war-with-grandpa-review","tag-uma-thurman"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}