Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (21 December 2005)
directed by Adam Shankman
starring Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Alyson Stoner, Forrest Landis, Morgan York, Liliana Mumy, Jacob Smith, Tom Welling, Brent Kinsman, Shane Kinsman, Hillary Duff, Blake Woodruff, Kevin Schmidt, Piper Perabo, Jonathan Bennett, Eugene Levy, Carmen Electra, Jaime King, Alexander Conti, Taylor Lautner, Melanie Tonello, Robbie Amell, Courtney Fitzpatrick, Madison Fitzpatrick, Shawn Roberts
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MPAA rating: Studio: 20th Century Fox, 21 Laps Entertainment Script: Sam Harper Based on the book by: Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., Ernestine Gilbreth Carey Music: John Debney Running time: 94 minutes Tags: boating; Comedy; Drama; family drama; fireworks; lakes; pregnancy; skateboards; summer vacation Tactical strength: [5/10]
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for some crude humor and mild language
Since Cheaper by the Dozen grossed over $100 million in 2003, can anyone express surprise at the release of Cheaper by the Dozen 2 in 2005? The entire Baker family cast from the first movie returns for this smorgasbord of comedy movie clichés. Let's just list a few: family vacation, old high school rivalry, nervous dad about daughter's first date, nervous teenage girl about her first date, overbearing parents learn to back off, physical contests to resolve conflicts, and children from rival families in love.
In addition to the original cast, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 adds another large family with eight more kids cast as the Murtaugh family, the summer vacation rivals of the Baker family. Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy) heads the Murtaugh family with an iron fist and tries to convince Tom Baker (Steven Marting) that Tom's parenting style has produced misfit children that will never succeed. The plot plays out like a summer camp movie, but with two families rather than two rival camps. We get lots of the expected Steve Martin physical humor: falling from a tire swing, crashing through the rotten wood of a boat dock, several scenes of arm flailing, attempting to wake board and drug by the power boat, dangling from a balcony while held by the ankles, and of course a testical crunch.
All of the twenty child actors seem to have good acting abilities, but with so many children in the cast the kids get about as much screen time as a cameo role in this movie dominated by Martin and Levy. Even Bonnie Hunt gets limited screen time. To me what makes these movies fun is the kids and their antics, so when the story line belabors the conflict between the Martin and Levy characters, I just groan. Usually you expect the major changes or character growth to come from the main characters -- in this case the Baker family -- but in this case, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 really tells the story of how Jimmy Murtaugh learns to become a better parent. His kids hate his overbearing parenting, and Jimmy learns that Tom Baker's approach to parenting leads to happier children. The only real changes in the Baker family come from Sarah (Alyson Stoner), who has a crush on one of the Murtaugh boys, and Charlie (Tom Welling), who decides to quit his job in the city and start an auto shop in the country. So in summation, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 provides a few good laughs, but left a lot to be desired for such a collection of talented veteran and young actors.
The DVD extra features don't really add much value to the disc either. The disc does provide both the full screen and widescreen versions and includes making-of videos with interviews with the cast, but the interviews don't provide much depth beyond the affinity between the characters and the chaos of dealing with such a huge cast. All the cast members seemed to have fun making the film, and that aspect does come out in the final product.
