"Bedtime Stories" (PG) (out of four)

Adam Sandler as handyman and would-be hotelier Skeeter Bronson makes one thing clear throughout "Bedtime Stories" -- there are no happy endings. Yet, of course, this being a Disney movie, of course there are happy endings and a "once upon a time" story to follow down its path to get to that happy ending.

The trouble with "Bedtime Stories" is it could have been so much more. The movie takes on the age-old Disney adage of "when you wish upon a star" and turns it into something that should be able to carry a movie for 90 minutes. The problem is, it barely produces 30 minutes of entertainment.

The main story concerns a hotel handyman whose life is changed forever when the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to mysteriously come true. It all starts one day when he notices that the sky is raining gumballs, and that various situations in make believe he's composed with his niece and nephew somehow start coming true.

The bedtime stories that come to life aren't bad and serve as a showcase for Sandler to flex his adventure comedy muscles. With stories that put Bronson in the middle of some outrageous scenarios ¯ settings ranging from the Old West and "Star Wars," to Medieval Times and ancient Greece -- the movie is able to ride the wave of its premise. But it's the filler parts of the plot that have to be baked into the movie recipe for the bedtime stories situations to work, and that's where the movie falls flat.

Courtney Cox plays Mom to two precocious children, but she's also a school principal who is forced to look for another job after the announcement of her school's closing. (Don't think for a minute that there isn't a place for a Save Our Schools protest. Of course, there is).

That's when Uncle Skeeter is forced to look after his young niece Bobbi (Laura Ann Kesling) and nephew Patrick (Jonathan Morgan Heit). Their vegan pushing mother also doesn't allow the children to watch television, so they have to resort to books. (Of course they do.) Skeeter finds the only way to connect with the kids is by telling them bedtime stories.

The kids get involved extremely fast interjecting their own plot lines which run the gamut from ankle-kicking midgets to giant monsters made of boogers. With no explanation as to why, small details of the tales start appearing in Skeeter's daily life.

Of course, the plot thickens even deeper when Skeeter is looking to get a promotion at the hotel even though his attempts are thwarted by, you guessed it, a dastardly bad guy (Guy Pearce) who wants the position. Lame scenarios of evildoing to undermine Skeeter are painfully contrived. Of course, since we're dealing with a hotel family here, how about poking fun at Paris Hilton by introducing a send up of the socialite in the form of a rich hotelier's daughter? Original? Not by a long shot.

A guinea pig with wild eyes as large as Oreo cookies is good for a few silly laughs, but never really moves the story in any direction. Is Bugsy the reason why all these odd things are happening? Nope. He really has no purpose at all except to sit on Sandler's head.

Russell Brand, who Sandler personally selected as his sidekick after coming across the British comedian in London, makes the most of his role as Skeeter's buddy and hotel waiter, yet Keri Russell seems seriously out of place as the baby sitter who ends up realizing that Skeeter isn't such a bad guy after all. Lucy Lawless is stuck playing a front desk villainous without much to do. Will Xena appear in one of the "Bedtime Stories"? No, that would be too clever.

"Bedtime Stories" has its moments of sheer yawns more suited for the Disney Channel than the big screen, but some redeeming bits of funniness entertain. Despite proving Skeeter wrong about happy endings -- those it does deliver -- "Bedtime Stories" is a sleeper, not a keeper.