Jon Heder

Young Pinocchio runs away from home to see the world and becomes the main attraction of a travelling circus. He falls for the ringmaster's daughter and longs to become human.

A stylistically daring CGI feature, ``Surf`s Up`` is based on the groundbreaking revelation that surfing was actually invented by penguins. In the film, a documentary crew will take audiences behind the scenes and onto the waves during the most competitive, heartbreaking and dangerous display of surfing known to man, the Penguin World Surfing Championship.

Two rival Olympic ice skaters, who have been permanently banned from the men's singles competition due to a feud, exploit a loophole that will allow them to qualify as a pairs team. When rivalry between the world's best men's figure skaters - sex addicted, improvisational Chazz Michael Michaels and germophobic, precise Jimmy MacElroy - breaks into a fight on the awards platform, they're banned from the event for life. Three years later, desire for a gold medal and a careful reading of the rules lead them to compete as skating's first male-male pair. Can they overcome mutual dislike, limited time to prepare, their coach's secret past, and the dirty tricks of their main opponents, the Van Waldenberg siblings? The key to victory or defeat may lie in the attraction of the virginal Jimmy toward Katie, the Van Waldenbergs' little sister. —<jhailey@hotmail.com> Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy are two professional ice skaters, who after getting into a fight, are both banned from mens figures skating. Fortunately, it is soon discovered by an obsessed fan that they are banned from mens singles competition and not doubles competition. Now Chazz and Jimmy must team up as the first double mens team and take on the team of Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg, who are eager to do anything to get the victory. —Film_Fan Americans Jimmy MacElroy and Chazz Michael Michaels are not only the two most decorated male singles figure skaters, but rivals who hate each other. Jimmy is arguably the most successful of billionaire Darren MacElroy's children, Darren having created a high performance athletic family by adopting orphans who showed talent a decade ago to become today's athletic superstars. Jimmy has had every opportunity to hone his natural athletic, artistic and creative skating skills, his father who accepts nothing but his children being the best. Conversely, Chazz is from the streets of Detroit, self taught and uses his animal magnetism and overt sexuality (he also being a part-time porn star being a sex addict) to wow the crowds. As such, Jimmy has won the hearts of the public, while Chazz has won the groins of the public. An incident at the World Wintersport Games, the most prestigious event held every four years, of unbecoming conduct leads to both Jimmy and Chazz being stripped of their joint gold medals and being banned from competitive skating for life. Three and a half years later, both Jimmy and Chazz's lives are in the gutter, Darren who immediately disowned Jimmy after the ban. However, Jimmy's most rabid fan and longtime stalker named Hector discovers a loophole one month before the nationals: that Jimmy is still eligible to compete in the pairs division. Jimmy's ex-coach comes up with the further legal idea that Jimmy and Chazz should team up together, which they do in their stronger want for the Worldsport Games gold medal than their mutual hatred for each other. Beyond needing to getting over their mutual hatred and meshing their two vastly different styles, they have to overcome the actual competition, most specifically US darlings, the brother and sister team of Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg. What the public is unaware of is that the Van Waldenberg's routinely win by cheating, including they having guilted their innocent younger sister Katie Van Waldenberg into secretly filming their competitors' rehearsals. Further complications ensue when Jimmy and Katie start to fall for each other. Over and above these issues, the Coach believes that Jimmy and Chazz need a signature move to win, something special that only two men can do together. However, what he has developed as that move is also so dangerous to be potentially deadly. —Huggo Banned for life from men's solo competitions after a shameful fight at the World Figure Skating Championship, the polar opposites--the rink's bad boy, Chazz Michael Michaels, and the graceful former child prodigy, Jimmy MacElroy--come up with a clever idea. Now, as figure skating's only male pair, Chazz and Jimmy must bury the hatchet to achieve perfection, even though the undisputed king and queen of the ice--the scheming brother-sister duo of Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg--will stop at nothing to ensure a second victory in a row. Will the embittered partners become the next ice-skating sensation? —Nick Riganas

A young guy short on luck enrolls in a class to build confidence to help win over the girl of his dreams, which becomes complicated when it turns out his teacher has the same agenda. An unlucky meter reader enrolls in a confidence-building class so he can win the love of the girl of his dreams. The class turns out to be something quite different when it becomes clear to the young man that his professor has his sights set on the same girl. —Jeremy Caesar Roger, a beleaguered New York City meter maid, is plagued by anxiety and low self-esteem. In order to overcome his feelings of inadequacy, Roger enrolls in a top-secret confidence-building class taught by the suavely underhanded Dr. P. Aided by his assistant, Lesher, Dr. P uses unorthodox, often dangerous methods, but he guarantees results: Employ his techniques and you will unleash your inner lion. Surrounded by a band of misfit classmates - Walsh, who's dying to move out of mother's basement; Diego, a punching bag for his hen-pecker of a wife; and Eli, a shy guy just looking for female companionship - Roger's confidence grows and he makes his way to the head of the class, even finding the courage to ask out his longtime crush, Amanda. But Roger quickly discovers that star students have a way of catapulting Dr. P's competitive side into high gear. Soon enough, the teacher sets out to infiltrate and destroy Roger's personal and professional life. Nothing is off limits for Dr. P, not even the object of Roger's affection. In order to show Amanda Dr. P's true colors, Roger must rally his new friends and find a way to beat the master at his own game. —The Weinstein Company

A trio of guys try and make up for missed opportunities in childhood by forming a three-player baseball team to compete against standard children's Little League squads. Three guys, all their lives, have been living in the shadow of bullies and are determined not to take it anymore. Now they must train with the help of Mel to take on the most offensive and meanest youth baseball teams. —Kaputnik Satelitle <RavenWerkheiserHexorcist> When the owner of a minor landscaping service company, Gus, sees Nelson being abused by a group of baseball players, he defends the boy. The paperboy, Clark, tells them that his friend Richie and he have never played baseball so Gus invites them to play in the late afternoon. However, they are challenged by the bullies and they defeat the guys. The millionaire father of Nelson, Mel, invites Gus, Clark and Richie to form a team called The Benchwarmers and they become the sensation of the league, with a legion of outcast cheering for the team. However, when Gus' behavior during his childhood is discovered, the team and fans are affected. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon), an emergency room physician in San Francisco whose work is everything. Elizabeth loves gardens and that is her designated "Happy Place", where she goes mentally for rest and relaxation. She has been on her shift for 23 hours straight. Despite everything, Elizabeth always has a smile on her face and is friendly with patients. She has no life outside of her work and sometimes she feels lonely because of that. Dr Walsh (Ron Canada) confirms Elizabeth's position at the hospital as an attending physician, which is why she was working so hard. She gets in a car crash while on her way to a blind date at her sister's. Three months later, landscape architect David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo), needing a fresh start after his wife's death, takes a sublet on Elizabeth's apartment. David has looked for many apartments but was not able to find something that he liked. Either they were too modern, too Victorian, and so on. The flier for Elizabeth's apartment flew off a notice board and fell on top of David. The apartment was only available for a month, but David likes it as the apartment comes with a roof, a couch and sky windows. David spends his time watching old videos and drinking beer on the couch. Elizabeth begins to appear in the apartment, and both are confused. She thinks he is a squatter, and he thinks she broke in. David tells his therapist friend Jack that he is hallucinating a person. They soon realize she moves through walls and objects. Elizabeth does not know who she is, and insists she is not dead. David unsuccessfully tries to have her spirit exorcised using priests, oriental remedies and even Ghostbusters. As only David can see and hear her, others think he is hallucinating and talking to himself. Elizabeth asks him to help her discover who she really is. David talks to her neighbors but they did not know her. David enlists the help of a psychic bookstore clerk, Darryl (Jon Heder), who says Elizabeth is not really dead. He also tells David he has clearly got a blocked heart and needs to let go of the woman who was previously in his life. Darryl says that David has dark aura around him, and it is killing him. When Elizabeth says he should get over being dumped, he storms out, and Darryl tells Elizabeth to not disrespect the dead. She finds David and he explains about the death of his wife Laura. Elizabeth won't allow David to have a drink and possesses his body to make him throw his drink and walk out of the car in front of Jack. David agrees to help Elizabeth to find out who she is and checks with all her neighbors. But they have no recollection of Elizabeth, as she was never home. Elizabeth tells David where she keeps the spare key to her apartment (underneath the fire extinguisher in the apartment lobby). They visit the dry-cleaners as well but get no clues. They walk around the neighborhood to see if Elizabeth can recognize a place that she used to visit frequently. Checking a restaurant she recognizes, a man has a medical emergency, so Elizabeth helps David save his life. Suddenly, she remembers being a doctor, and they go to the nearest hospital, where it all comes flooding back. Dr. Fran Lo (Rosalind Chao), her mentor, takes him to Elizabeth, who is in a coma. When David touches her hand, Elizabeth feels it, meaning she is still connected to her body. Elizabeth's sister Abby (Dina Waters) arrives, and Dr. Brett Rushton (Ben Shenkman) - Elizabeth's rival - notifies her that Elizabeth signed a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order. He asks her to sign off on disconnecting life support, and she says she will consider it. David and Elizabeth bond. When he takes her to a beautiful, landscaped garden he designed, she tells him she senses she has been there before. In fact, she was dreaming of the garden (in the opening scenes of the film), while catnapping during a long shift. When David is told he has been offered a long-term lease, he realizes Elizabeth will be taken off life support. He tries to prevent it by going to Abby's to tell her that she is communicating with him. While there, Elizabeth discovers that her niece Lily can see her. David begs Abby to keep her alive, but she has already signed the papers, with life support ending the next day. As a last-ditch effort, David blurts out Abby's secret from her wedding day, freaking her out so she drives him out of her house. Elizabeth opts to spend her last night with David in the apartment. The next morning, he is determined to prevent her death by stealing her body from the hospital. He enlists his friend and therapist Jack (Donal Logue) to help. It turns out Jack is Abby's former college boyfriend, and the two had set up David and Elizabeth for the blind date on the night of the crash; David can see her because they were meant to meet. He admits to Jack and Elizabeth that he loves her. Security guards catch them trying to steal Elizabeth's body. As they pull Jack away from her, her breathing tube comes off. Elizabeth is now dying, and David frantically kisses her body, while her spirit fades away. Her heartbeat returns and she awakens from the coma. She recognizes Abby, but not David, and he sadly leaves. Sometime later, Elizabeth moves back into her apartment. Drawn to the roof, she finds David, who has transformed it into a landscaped garden. He reveals he had gotten in using the spare key her spirit had shown him. When Elizabeth asks for her key back, their hands touch, her memory of the events during her coma are restored, and they kiss happily. The final scene fades away from the rooftop to show Darryl staring into a snow globe, happy with "seeing" how things have turned out.

Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder) is a socially awkward high school student from Preston, Idaho who lives with his older brother Kipland Ronald "Kip" Dynamite (Aaron Ruell), their grandmother Carlinda Dynamite (Sandy Martin), and their pet llama, Tina. Napoleon's school days are spent doodling mythical creatures, dealing with bullies and playing tether-ball by himself. Napoleon is beaten up by bullies at school very often and he calls home for Kip or his grandmother to come and get him, but Kip refuses. Kip, 32, is unemployed and boasts of spending hours in Internet chat rooms with "babes" and training to be a cage fighter. Their grandmother leads a secret life involving mysterious boyfriends and quad-biking in the desert. Napoleon daydreams his way through school, doodling Ligers and fantasy creatures, and reluctantly deals with the various bullies who torment him. Napoleon frequently makes up fantastic stories about himself and assumes a sullen and aloof attitude. Napoleon and Kip attend a martial arts class taught by Rex. Rex has an 8-week course in which he teaches the basics of self-defense. But the program costs $300 each and Napoleon and Kip do not have that kind of money. Napoleon's grandmother breaks her coccyx in a quad-bike accident and asks their Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) to look after the boys while she recovers. Flirtatious, middle-aged Rico arrives in the camper van he lives in. Rico, a former athlete who lives in a 1975 Dodge Tradesman camper-van, uses the opportunity to team up with Kip in a get-rich-quick scheme to sell numerous items door-to-door. Kip wants money to visit his Internet girlfriend LaFawnduh (Shondrella Avery) in Detroit or for her to come visit him. Former high-school athlete Rico dwells on his past and dreams of going back in time. He believes wealth will help him get over his breakup with his girlfriend and failed dreams of NFL stardom. Napoleon becomes friends with two students at his school Deborah "Deb" Bradshaw (Tina Majorino), a shy girl who sells head-shots of famous celebrities and Knick-Knacks to raise money for college and Pedro (Efren Ramirez), a transfer student from Ciudad Juárez. Deb had come to Napoleon's home to sell stuff, and when he makes fun of her, she leaves her materials with Napoleon and runs away. Napoleon approaches Deb at lunch and offers to return her sales kit to her, which he had brought with him to school and kept in his locker. Nepoleon buys a key-chain from Deb. A friendship soon develops between the three outcasts. Deb takes interest in Napoleon's drawings. Pedro has a cool bike called the Sledgehammer and Napoleon uses that to perform aerial stunts, most of which go wrong, and Napoleon ends up hurting himself. The guys know that the school dance is coming up and Pedro plans to ask the school's popular girl Summer. Napoleon tries to explain to Pedro that she is out of their league, but Pedro is unfamiliar with the concept as he is from Mexico. Pedro knows that his chances are low, and he decides to bake a cake for Summer as tip the odds in his favor. Pedro puts the cake outside Summer's home with a note and runs away. Summer approaches Pedro at school but cannot find him and gives a note to Napoleon instead. Pedro is rebuffed when he asks the popular and snobby Summer Wheatly to accompany him to the high school dance. Deb gladly accepts. Napoleon is afraid to get a date for himself as he believes that girls like boys with skills like Nun-chucks or computer hacking and he doesn't have any skills. Pedro tells Napoleon that he makes cool drawings and asks him to build on that. Pedro encourages Napoleon to find a date and he picks popular classmate Trisha (Emily Kennard). As a gift, he draws an (unintentionally bad) picture of her and delivers it to Trisha's mother, one of Rico's customers. Rico tells Trisha's mother embarrassing stories about Napoleon to evoke sympathy. She buys his wares and forces Trisha to accept Napoleon's invitation. Trisha goes to the dance with Napoleon but abandons him to hang out with Summer. Pedro allows Napoleon to dance with Deb. Inspired by a poster at the school dance, Pedro decides to run for class president, pitting him against Summer Wheatley (Haylie Duff), a popular yet snobby girl at the school. The two factions put up fliers and hand out trinkets to attract voters. To demonstrate their "skills" and increase their respect around the school, Napoleon and Pedro enter a Future Farmers of America competition, grading milk and cow udders. They win medals, but it does little for their popularity. Rico and Kip's scheme causes friction with Napoleon when Rico begins spreading embarrassing rumors about Napoleon, to evoke sympathy from his prospective customers. Tensions finally come to a head after Rico tries to sell Deb a breast-enhancement product, claiming it was Napoleon's suggestion, which causes her to break off their friendship. Rico's sales scheme ends when martial arts instructor Rex (Diedrich Bader) walks in on Rico demonstrating the breast-enhancement product on his wife, and assaults him. Kip, meanwhile, is head-over-heels in love, because LaFawnduh came to visit him from Detroit. She gives Kip an urban makeover, outfitting him in hip hop regalia, and they leave together on a bus for Michigan. On the day of the class president elections, Pedro gives an unimpressive speech before the student body. After the principal unexpectedly informed them that Pedro needed to have a skit to accompany his speech, Napoleon gives the sound engineer a music tape he received from LaFawnduh, and performs an elaborate dance routine to "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai. The routine receives a standing ovation from everyone except for Summer and her boyfriend. The film concludes with Pedro becoming the class president, Rico reuniting with his estranged girlfriend, Grandma returning from the hospital, and Napoleon and Deb making up and playing tether-ball. Kip and LaFawnduh are married in an outdoor ceremony in Preston. Napoleon, absent for the vows, arrives riding a horse, claiming that it is a "wild honeymoon stallion" that he has tamed himself. After Deb photographs Napoleon on the horse, Kip and LaFawnduh ride into the sunset.