First - what this movie is NOT - it is not "deep", "meaningful" or "moving".
What this movie was to us is great physical comedy, with a great balance between "realistic" characters (as realistic as two-dimensional comic characters ever are), outstanding animal training, good voicing (no, its not Shrek, but it all moves together smoothly and Bill Murray is "spot on"), and best of all, a great series of pratfalls, chases, falls, and scenes that kept my 11 year old son jumping and laughing for the whole 80 minutes.
Its also very nicely balanced from a parent's perspective. I found nothing "embarrassing to watch", "hard to explain" or "out of age group." The bad guys are not "scary-bad", but funny bad. "High Risk" situations won't scare a young child, but carry the plot forward, and gave me plenty to chuckle (and sometimes laugh out loud) about.
The baking Lasagna scene is wonderful for anyone who cooks with their children.
In short, this was a great family movie that we all enjoyed.
