Okay, this isn't a comedy classic. It is, however, an enjoyable film that, surprisingly, trades in sex jokes, gratuitous nudity, and crudity for situational humor and some surprisingly compassionate lessons about serving others and making their lives better. Don't let that scare you off: it isn't the sanctimonious slog it sounds like. Never heard of Mitchel Musso, but he apparently appeared in some Disney kids' series, including HANNAH MONTANA. This movie doesn't fall too far from a modern Disney channel ethos. His Tucker is a likeable schlub who listens to the Moody Blues (!) and dreams of becoming an animator/theme park creator. To finance his way to a California animation school, he takes a job at a local theme park as a costumed mascot. As he learns the ropes of the park's hierarchy and makes friends with the three other mascots (or "characterz"), he falls in love with Samantha, another mascot who also works in a local nursing home. With the help of his friends, he makes a special theme park experience for the residents of the home.
Director/writer Jon Binkowski capably offers up a funny, sometimes outlandish comedy while still giving us realistic characters. It would have been easy to portray Tucker as a lecherous loser, Samantha as a hot-to-trot bimbo, and the other characters as one-dimensional cliches while offering up one toilet joke set up after another, but Binkowski shows us a funny, compassionate young man who goes out of his way to create a great experience for a group of people his girlfriend (and also he) cares for. A modern comedy that offers up a wholesome life lesson--what a concept!
