***** USUAL WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS MAY BE INCLUDED *****
I must admit that I wasn't too keen on seeing this film. I understood that this had nothing to do with the original. This movie would have scored better had the titled been named something else entirely. After all, it is a different movie so why keep the title the same? I find that a bad decision. I believe the overall IMDb user ratings would be higher had the title been something else. As is it, viewers try to compare it to the original and naturally they scratch their heads over it.
However getting past that, I think it was really good. I'd see it again and plan on purchasing the DVD. As a family film I wasn't expecting top notch acting nor superb direction and/or cinematography. It's just a cute and funny film.
It yields many morals. I've seen some user comments here pointing out that some of the film contained adult like humor, but this is part of the moral of the story. This is driven home by the statement of the father of the brood who says that this is a G rated family and that's the end of it.
I found it quite funny. I really enjoyed the parody of many of today's parents who believe in raising only one or two children, with strict diets and all the typical fad parenting beliefs. It's nice to see that the value of not sweating the small stuff is still out there and that family should be number one before you worry about what everyone else thinks.
There are plenty of laughs throughout as well as many touching moments. Forrest Landis, who played little Mark, was just adorable and did an excellent job. He was the scene stealer of the film and it would seem that the majority of the film was centered around him. I found his portion the most touching and even a few tears made their way to the corners of my eyes. Outside of the parents, he was the star.
The simply gorgeous Tom Welling was a (quite happily) distracting element. I felt he was quite believable as the big 'angst-ing' brother and he does look VERY good in that white shirt of his.
Hillary Duff was her usual self in it. I'm not a Duff fan and feel that 97% of her acting borders on the line of whining and the tradition doesn't end here. However, given the fact that her older brother (Welling) is as handsome it would seem appropriate that the next in line child were just as attractive. Duff fills that bill. The one item I found distinctly incorrect is the repeated point of her taking the hand-me-downs from her older sister, Nora who is in her early twenties. Duff is dressed way too trendy to be wearing hand-me-downs. A less 'today's teen' wardrobe would've really been more appropriate for her.
Ashton Kutcher was quite funny as the anti-family boyfriend. Oddly, I knew he looked familiar but didn't recognize that this was Kutcher, probably because I'm no fan of his. I was certainly pleased though with his work here and would have to say that he too was the scene stealer next to Landis. His self loving character was just hysterical. I'm not sure another actor would've been as suitable as him.
Bonnie Hunt was as flawless as she always is. It's quite evident that age is catching up to her but I don't think that as a downfall at all. For this film, it's a plus. To raise twelve children is certainly a strain and while she plays a happy loving character, she looks tired and that is realism at it's finest. Off the set, I love Bonnie for not allowing Hollywood to make her feel that plastic surgery is inevitable for everyone.
Ditto for Steve Martin. I have to say that I didn't find him very believable as a football coach. He's not the coaching type. I blanched when I realized that's where this was going, but without revealing too much of the story, I had to raise my glass with how it was played out. My initial feeling of his being a coach was apparently right on target and is perhaps the reason why he was chosen for this character to begin with. In any case, Steve is just as funny as he nearly always is and I'm so glad he was in it.
The surprise appearance of the much weight reduced Wayne Knight (Seinfeld's Newman) was wonderful. He seems to carry this character of cynicism around with him wherever he goes and it didn't stop here.
Finally, the cute pets. I'm still scratching my head wondering why IMDb still refuses to credit animals. They still get paid and are considered actors. In any case, the dog reminded me of Chance, in Homeward Bound and played a good part as well. Many films have a family pet in the background, but most are ignored for the most part and are in very few scenes. Thankfully he isn't in this one. He's around the majority of the time and even has his own scenes as well.
The same goes for Beans the frog. Beans actually had a very important part and his acting was quite above the average frog standard. ;-)
All in all I took off one star for the title. Again, it should've carried a different one. I took off one and a half stars for leaving the story about Charlie and football unfinished, as well as the story of all the kids and their peer relationships unfinished. There was no tying up the loose ends regarding the changes these kids went through at school, away from home.
This leaves it with a 7.5 out of 10. The rest is just a good movie.
I must admit that I wasn't too keen on seeing this film. I understood that this had nothing to do with the original. This movie would have scored better had the titled been named something else entirely. After all, it is a different movie so why keep the title the same? I find that a bad decision. I believe the overall IMDb user ratings would be higher had the title been something else. As is it, viewers try to compare it to the original and naturally they scratch their heads over it.
However getting past that, I think it was really good. I'd see it again and plan on purchasing the DVD. As a family film I wasn't expecting top notch acting nor superb direction and/or cinematography. It's just a cute and funny film.
It yields many morals. I've seen some user comments here pointing out that some of the film contained adult like humor, but this is part of the moral of the story. This is driven home by the statement of the father of the brood who says that this is a G rated family and that's the end of it.
I found it quite funny. I really enjoyed the parody of many of today's parents who believe in raising only one or two children, with strict diets and all the typical fad parenting beliefs. It's nice to see that the value of not sweating the small stuff is still out there and that family should be number one before you worry about what everyone else thinks.
There are plenty of laughs throughout as well as many touching moments. Forrest Landis, who played little Mark, was just adorable and did an excellent job. He was the scene stealer of the film and it would seem that the majority of the film was centered around him. I found his portion the most touching and even a few tears made their way to the corners of my eyes. Outside of the parents, he was the star.
The simply gorgeous Tom Welling was a (quite happily) distracting element. I felt he was quite believable as the big 'angst-ing' brother and he does look VERY good in that white shirt of his.
Hillary Duff was her usual self in it. I'm not a Duff fan and feel that 97% of her acting borders on the line of whining and the tradition doesn't end here. However, given the fact that her older brother (Welling) is as handsome it would seem appropriate that the next in line child were just as attractive. Duff fills that bill. The one item I found distinctly incorrect is the repeated point of her taking the hand-me-downs from her older sister, Nora who is in her early twenties. Duff is dressed way too trendy to be wearing hand-me-downs. A less 'today's teen' wardrobe would've really been more appropriate for her.
Ashton Kutcher was quite funny as the anti-family boyfriend. Oddly, I knew he looked familiar but didn't recognize that this was Kutcher, probably because I'm no fan of his. I was certainly pleased though with his work here and would have to say that he too was the scene stealer next to Landis. His self loving character was just hysterical. I'm not sure another actor would've been as suitable as him.
Bonnie Hunt was as flawless as she always is. It's quite evident that age is catching up to her but I don't think that as a downfall at all. For this film, it's a plus. To raise twelve children is certainly a strain and while she plays a happy loving character, she looks tired and that is realism at it's finest. Off the set, I love Bonnie for not allowing Hollywood to make her feel that plastic surgery is inevitable for everyone.
Ditto for Steve Martin. I have to say that I didn't find him very believable as a football coach. He's not the coaching type. I blanched when I realized that's where this was going, but without revealing too much of the story, I had to raise my glass with how it was played out. My initial feeling of his being a coach was apparently right on target and is perhaps the reason why he was chosen for this character to begin with. In any case, Steve is just as funny as he nearly always is and I'm so glad he was in it.
The surprise appearance of the much weight reduced Wayne Knight (Seinfeld's Newman) was wonderful. He seems to carry this character of cynicism around with him wherever he goes and it didn't stop here.
Finally, the cute pets. I'm still scratching my head wondering why IMDb still refuses to credit animals. They still get paid and are considered actors. In any case, the dog reminded me of Chance, in Homeward Bound and played a good part as well. Many films have a family pet in the background, but most are ignored for the most part and are in very few scenes. Thankfully he isn't in this one. He's around the majority of the time and even has his own scenes as well.
The same goes for Beans the frog. Beans actually had a very important part and his acting was quite above the average frog standard. ;-)
All in all I took off one star for the title. Again, it should've carried a different one. I took off one and a half stars for leaving the story about Charlie and football unfinished, as well as the story of all the kids and their peer relationships unfinished. There was no tying up the loose ends regarding the changes these kids went through at school, away from home.
This leaves it with a 7.5 out of 10. The rest is just a good movie.