Similar to most shopping malls across the country, New Jersey’s West Orange Pavilion Mall is complete with screaming children, defiant adolescents, reckless motorized cart-driving elders and addicted shoppers. But when armed robbers take hostages and plan to steal codes from credit card machines on Black Friday, a donut-eating, mustache-sporting, segway-cruising mall security guard named Paul Blart (Kevin James) stumbles and flops to the rescue in Steve Carr’s slapstick comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

Due to a sensitive low blood sugar condition called hypoglycemia, which forces the pot-bellied mall cop to depend on sugar sticks and candy to function on a daily basis, Blart passes out just steps before completing the New Jersey State Police training test to become a state trooper. To financially support his grade-school-aged daughter Maya (Raini Rodriguez) and his mother (Shirley Knight), Blart continues to work as a 10-year veteran mall cop and takes his duties as an “officer” extremely serious—even creating his very own homemade oath of conduct plaque.

While Blart’s loyalty to “detect, deter, observe and report” is commendable, his lack of confidence and social awkwardness around his mall colleagues is uncomfortable to watch and difficult to digest. It’s only when Maya and his crush Amy (Jayma Mays), the new hair-extension kiosk girl, are taken hostage by criminal mastermind Veck Sims (Keir O’Donnell) and his gun-carrying, skateboarding mob that Blart is ready and willing to bust out his Hello Kitty bandages and save the day.

Unlike Doug Heffernan, the witty blue-collared delivery service driver James’ played in the hit CBS sitcom “The King of Queens,” James’ clumsy antics during Blart’s cat-and-mouse chase is the only funny part of Paul Blart: Mall Cop. And while watching the chubby-cheeked hero fight off the gun-carrying crooks with stuffed animals, hockey sticks and even his oh-so-powerful voice does provide some entertainment, it’s a chuckle here and there at best. However, Blart’s unique methods to capture the robbers without using actual weapons are refreshingly kid-friendly and reminiscent of Kevin McCallister’s (Macaulay Culkin) creativity in the Home Alone classics.

Since Blart carefully hides behind display items and wedges himself into cramped air vents in his quest to outwit the villains, it is the intricate cinematography by Russ T. Alsobrook that keeps the eyes of the viewers on the heated pursuit. Moreover, the camera shots artistically capture the fast-paced chase between a scooter-driving protagonist and skateboarding antagonists.

Much like the entire movie itself, every character in Paul Blart: Mall Cop is stereotypical and exaggerated, starting with Blart, who is overly passionate about his disrespected position as a mall employee. His clichéd mall friends and foes include Leon (Jamal Mixon) as the overweight nacho-eating contest competitor, Vijay (Erick Avari) as the Indian cell-phone kiosk salesman and Stuart (Stephen Rannazzisi) the pompous pen-selling jerk.

Although the family-friendly good guy versus bad guy adventure is mediocre in its comedic content, it is Blart’s unwavering determination and courage that is the real crowd pleaser. And because the heavy mall cop has endured constant ridicule and devastating rejection since his immigrant wife ditched him after the government granted her a green card, it is only human to cheer for the underdog. Even though Blart’s social life clearly needs a lot of work and his studded-leather-jacket style is in serious need of a makeover, the viewer really does want him to kick some bad-guy butt and walk away with the girl of his dreams. However, since audiences are genuinely rooting for Blart to shed his frumpiness and flex his newfound charm, it is disappointing that his jokes are nothing but empty calories.

Luckily, the bonus features on the single-disc DVD (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, MSRP: $28.96) and Blu-ray release (MSRP: $39.95) provide a platter of informational and comedic goodies, including three deleted scenes, stunt footage, commentary with Kevin James and producer Todd Garner and multiple featurettes, such as “Mall Cop Response,” “Fun on Set,” “Kevin James: Not Your Average Mall Cop,” “The Mall,” “Thoughts with Kevin James,” “On Set with Mike 'Rooftop' Escamilla” (the professional BMX biker) and more.

The most amusing special feature, “Sugar,” which is shot and directed by Escamilla, follows James’ personal assistant (Victor Lopez) as he runs, jumps and backflips over mall patrons and actors just to deliver a pack of sugar to the demanding star of the film for his cup of coffee. Other bonus features, like “Action Sports Junkies” and “Free Running vs. Parkour,” are truly mesmerizing to watch, as they show extreme sports experts incorporating the use of street tricks in the film. Watching these featurettes will remind viewers of the hit MTV stunt-show “Jackass.” Another bonus feature that’s a must-see is “Mike V. vs. Mall Cop,” which shows a real-life chase between a mall security guard and a professional skateboarder. Special features exclusive to the Blu-ray release include cinechat, which allows viewers to send onscreen messages to their friends while watching the movie together, and a digital copy of the film for the PC, PSP, Mac or iPod.

While Paul Blart: Mall Cop may not be as funny as viewers would expect, there is one thing it certainly does have: heart. Purchasing the comedy solely for its slapstick antics might leave adult viewers dissatisfied, but its loyalty-conquers-all theme is a positive message parents would appreciate for their children to observe and utilize.

“Safety never takes a holiday,” Blart boasts. And neither does “Officer” Paul Blart.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.