Enjoyable & fun but not Academy Award winning material. Good for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Rating: 5/10 (13 February 2007)

To twist the immortal words of Marlon Brando, "This coulda been a contenda..."
I enjoyed this film a lot for what it was. It's fun & works, mostly because of the chemistry between Sandler & Barrymore. It's too bad Sandler's propensity for juvenile potty humor kept it from being an Oscar-winning classic.
Wonderful things about this movie? 1. The music totally, totally rocks. I sooo need this soundtrack. 2. The Hawaiian scenery & marine wildlife are gorgeous. 3. The vast majority of the principal actors are spot on with their performances, helping draw the audience into the story & setting. Drew Barrymore  amazing, wonderful, heartwarming performance. Sean Astin  hilarious. Rob Schneider  surprisingly believable. 4. The storyline/movie premise gets an A++. Not only was it original, but it dealt with Traumatic Brain Injury in a respectful way without magic Hollywood fixes.
Things that will keep me from buying this movie? 1. Vomiting animals as humor 2. Unnecessary crude language/humor 3. Rob Schneider's channeling of Cheech & Chong. The part could have been so much more had he not turned it into a stereotype. 5. The fact that Adam Sandler  while believable as an intelligent man who really cared for Drew's character  was completely unbelievable as a veterinarian. I mean, c'mon...Sandler going through medical school??? There's just no way on God's green earth that would happen & he would retain the juvenile sense of humor he exhibits throughout the film. Not to say that Sandler's interpretation of the role isn't amusing/heartwarming, etc. but I'm sorry, I just don't buy him as a vet. Part of the zoo cleaning crew? Now that, I would have bought.
All in all I'd say that this was sort of like watching a bunch of friends who enjoyed one another do their own silly spin-off of a movie they liked. I can only hope that a less adolescent re-make is made someday because, in the right hands, this script could be a masterpiece.