In theory, those who write about film are supposed to enter a movie without any pre-conceived notions or bias and proceed to give it a fair shake. However, it becomes exceedingly difficult for one not to eye with suspicion the looming threat of a Raja Gosnell-helmed talking animal bonanza and consequently find their sense of reason rendered stone-cold ...

... which is why it pleases me to report that we as a society have staved off the likes of Beverly Hills Chihuahua for a whole week, as the Disney flick has officially been bumped back from September 26th to October 3rd. Just in case you good readers find this all a mite irrational, might I direct you toward Weinberg's deservedly righteous rant whilst I again praise the heavens for allowing us poor souls an additional seven days with which to gird our loins against the potential awfulness of this film.

In related news, the Richard Gere/Diane Lane romance Nights in Rodanthe has followed an inverse path, moving itself up from October 3rd to September 26th. If October informally qualifies as the month for horror, then thank goodness my Halloween is getting off to just as frightening a start as the prospect of sitting through a Nicholas Sparks adaptation.

[Mercy in the grand scheme of things courtesy of Box Office Mojo.]

I love talking animals as much as the next guy, but does Steve Buscemi always have to play some kind of toothy rodent? Actually, it's possible he only did that once, for Charlotte's Web (I'm not sure what kind of animal he is in Home on the Range). But wasn't that enough? Sure, he kinda looks rodent-like, but I'm sure he has the range when we're not looking at his mug. Anyway, according to The Hollywood Reporter, this time around it's a hamster named Bucky, who Buscemi will provide his voice for in the Disney movie G-Force. As we told you a few months back, G-Force is a Jerry Bruckheimer production that mixes live-action and computer animation and is about a group of genetically enhanced commando guinea pigs who have to stop an evil billionaire with world-domination dreams. Other voices will be provided by Nicolas Cage, as a mole named Speckles, and Tracy Morgan, as a guinea pig named Blaster.

As for the live-action roles, new to the cast are Bill Nighy, as an industrialist, and Will Arnett, as an FBI agent. And thank goodness for them, because the actors previously brought on to appear in the movie were too obscure for me to handle. They included Gabriel Casseus (Black Hawk Down) , Zach Galifianakis (Into the Wild), Kelli Garner (The Aviator) and Jack Conley (Fun With Dick and Jane). I know in a movie like this it's all about the talking animals, but with Nighy we've got ourselves a real movie. And with Arnett we have a funnier movie. Bruckheimer told THR that this will be another movie to be enjoyed by everyone "from the smallest kid to the oldest grandparent." He also pointed out that the movie's director, Oscar-winning visual effects master Hoyt Yeatman, came up with the idea with his son. From there it was apparently passed on to National Treasure screenwriters Cormac and Marianne Wibberley (aka The Wibberleys). G-Force is currently in production and expects a May 2009 release (Just a hint to Bruckheimer: it might make sense to add an extra dimension to this movie, since I think everything else animated coming out that month is going to be in 3D).