Children of divorce are resourceful types, we learn in "Unaccompanied Minors," a gently toned but ultimately trifling caper set in the fictional Hoover International Airport in Chicago, where six preteens -- all with varying degrees of dissatisfaction at home -- find themselves stranded, snowbound and parentless over Christmas Eve.

What are they resourceful about? Escaping the clutches of mean airport director Oliver (Lewis Black), who's bound and determined to keep the Hoover Six under lock and key in a holding room as punishment for their mischievous pranks.

But "Unaccompanied Minors," a sort of junior league version of "The Breakfast Club," never achieves the universal appeal of John Hughes's 1985 film about youth and authority. Sure, audiences for PG-rated movies aren't looking for big-picture profundity, but the movie mistakes creative innocuousness for family-friendliness.

The kids -- including a nerd (Tyler James Williams), a bratty rich girl (Gina Mantegna), a shy guy (Dyllan Christopher) forced to take care of his younger sister (Dominique Saldana) and a redheaded tubby kid (Brett Kelly) still stuck playing with action figures -- seem selected for their archetypal rather than individual qualities. And as authority figures, Oliver is just a one-dimensional grump (mad because snow has nullified his Christmas plans), and his hapless security guards (headed by Wilmer Valderrama from "That '70s Show") are just trying to do their jobs, after all. (See In Focus on Page 27.) This movie is hardly about sticking it to the Man.

As for "Unaccompanied's" deeper idea -- the part about being a divorced kid -- it's only marginally explored. Aside from some passing flashbacks about what life is like at home for some of these kids, we never really get a feel for what makes such children different, special or unusual. For the most part, that conceit is left to circle the airport.

-- Desson Thomson (Dec. 8, 2006)

Contains mildly rude behavior and language.