G-Force, Nicolas Cage as a guinea pig

Guinea pigs as secret agents story better for kids than adults, gadgets are fun  *** 3 stars

By Gabrielle Pantera

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 12/21/2009 – “One of my favorite actors is Mel Blanc,” says G-Force star Nicolas Cage, who’s the voice of the guinea pig Speckles. Blanc was the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam. “He was a marvelous character actor. We knew him only from his voices. It was important to me to create a new voice that was unrecognizable from my own vocal patterns. It was also important to me to go into an area that had kind of a zany intensity.”

In addition to Nicolas Cage, the other guinea pigs of the G-Force team are voiced by Sam Rockwell, Tracy Morgan, and Penélope Cruz. Will Arnett is Special Agent Kip Killian who wants to shut down the project.

G-Force is the story of a covert government program that has highly trained guinea pigs in the latest high-tech spy equipment. “The amazing thing is that the fantasy element of G-Force is based on certain realities,” says G-Force producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “For years, the government has engaged in top secret programs in which they train animals to help defend the nation, from dolphins detecting mines to cockroaches carrying recording devices. So we kicked it to the next level. What if a scientist figured out a way to not only train such animals, but to actually communicate with them?”

“It’s fun to take films based on familiar, even classic themes, give them a twist and see what evolves,” says G-Force producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “The idea was utterly off-the-wall, which was just fine with us, because it was also completely original. G-Force is Bruckheimer’s first 3D film. It combines live action, animation and Digital 3D.”

“I’d wanted to develop a project that broke new ground visually,” says G-Force director Hoyt H. Yeatman Jr. “It was actually my five-year-old son who came up with the spark of the idea. He brought home the class guinea pig from preschool and started talking about guinea pigs as soldiers, wearing uniforms and little army helmets. So I said, ‘Well, why not have a band of these guys who are secret agents?’ We all laughed, but then I got on the Internet and found some really interesting and bizarre stories about animals being trained by the American government for covert activities, including cats, dolphins, sharks and insects.”

“In the world of G-Force, the guinea pigs have lots of really cool gizmos,” says Yeatman.

“They have a base-jumping low-altitude parasail. When they need to jump to the top of the roofs they have a rocket assist.” Other gadgets include motorized exercise balls, night vision to tiny militarized PDAs, and headsets so they can communicate with humans.

G-Force is great for kids age 7 and up. It’ll keep them amused and they’ll enjoy the antics and watching the members of the G-Force in action. The story may become tedious for adults, and the gadgets will provoke gadget envy.

Deluxe DVD and Blu-ray Hi-Def Bonus Features include Audio Commentary with director Hoyt H. Yeatman, Jr. In Blasters Boot Camp, Tracy Morgan gives a high-energy, high-tech orientation into the elite world of the G-Force. In G-Force Mastermind, Jerry Bruckheimer and CG effects whiz Hoyt H. Yeatman, Jr. discuss the inspiration for this adventure. G-Farce includes Bloopers and Flubs, a collection of light-hearted flubs from the set that prove to err is not only human.

There are Deleted Scenes and Three Music Videos: “Jump” by Flo Rida featuring Nelly Furtado, “Ready To Rock” by Steve Rushton, and “Go G-Force”.

Exclusive Blu-ray Hi-Def Bonus Features include Cine-Explore with Darwin, Blaster and their Creator. Darwin, Blaster and director Hoyt H. Yeatman reveal the secrets behind G-Force covert operations and the groundbreaking computer graphics work that brought this elite team of Guinea pigs to life.

Bruckheimer Animated shows a retrospective of computer graphic effects in the work of Jerry Bruckheimer, plus an inside peek into the top-secret creation of G-Force’s state-of-the-art visual magic. In Access Granted: Inside the Animation Lab, director and computer graphic master Yeatman Jr. give a tour of the high-security facility and shows how the G-Force was animated from initial sketches to completed performances.

BLU-RAY HI-DEF

• Release date: December 15, 2009
• Pricing: Blu-ray™ + DVD Combo Pack: $44.99 (US); $51.99(Canada)
• Feature run time: 88 minutes
• Rated: ‘PG’ (US); ‘PG’ (Canada)
• Bonus Materials Not Rated
• Technical specifications may only apply to feature.
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Sound: English 5.1 DTS-HD 48 KHz/24-bit; French and Spanish
• 5.1 Dolby Digital
• Languages: English, Spanish, French

DVD

• Release date: December 15, 209
• Pricing: 2-Disc DVD: $39.99 (US); $44.99 (Canada)
• 1-Disc DVD: $29.99 (US); $35.99 (Canada)
• Feature run time: 88 minutes
• Rated: ‘PG’ (US); ‘PG’ (Canada)
• Bonus Materials Not Rated
• Technical specifications may only apply to feature.
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound
• Languages: English, Spanish, French