Cheaper by the Dozen 2

With the first film being a hit you can imagine that 20th Century Fox couldn't move fast enough to make a sequel before all the kids grew up.

Perhaps not as good as the first, but certainly still a lot of fun, with the Steve Martin vs Eugene Levy element working well.

It's a little bit thin in places, and you can tell that Hillary Duff and Tom Welling weren't around as much as it appears, but on the whole this is a typically decent sequel.

Obviously time ran out and they couldn't make a third, perhaps it's best.

I never saw Cheaper by the Dozen (the 2003 surprise hit), and I don't think you have to see it so get all you can out of the sequel. That is to say, there is little to get out of it, so don't waste your time "preparing" for it. Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is a formulaic family comedy where Steve Martin becomes a father possessed with a drive to outdo another father, only to be reminded that his family will still love him no matter if they win the big movie-contrived competition or not. Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and his wife, Kate (Bonnie Hunt) begin the movie by attending their daughter's graduation ceremony with his 11 other kids. Lorraine's graduation (Hilary Duff, no singing this time) motivates Tom to start thinking about how the family is moving apart from the customary tight-knit group he remembers, so he wants to take the family on one last vacation. So they load up the cars and vans and head out to some lake somewhere in the Midwest (or Canada, depending on the film's budget), a lake that has seen the evil Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy) buy up all of the land and build super lake homes on the shore. Jimmy and Tom have a history, one that is sort of dumb and is one of those back stories that can only be written for a story like this one. I really like Eugene Levy as a comedic actor, but I don't think he was right for this role. Levy excels in understated humor, where his character has no idea he's being funny. The role of Jimmy is over-the-top and cliché and I didn't think he fit the role well at all. Carmen Electra plays Jimmy's wife, and she's actually very good at playing the bimbo wife when given the chance, and the kid actors are generally good as well. The story is predictable and only mildly entertaining, but I guess families will enjoy the night out and there is a certain sweet charm to the final scenes of the film.

Steve Martin's entertaining vehicle with young people and agreeable actors . The film deals about a happy family , the father (Steve Martin) is a notorious coach and the mother (Bonnie Hunt) is a writer and with twelve sons (Tom Welling, Piper Perabo, Hilary Duff..) . In the first part dealt with Tom who received a new offer as a trainer of a famous football team and she obtained her dream for the publishing the book titled : ¨Cheaper by the dozen¨. With the new job , they had to change from a small city to the big town . This second installment is set two years after the events in the previous film concerns The Bakers, this time the Baker family begins to undergo many changes, starting with Lorraine (Hilary Duff) and her desire to study in New York. Their oldest daughter Nora (Piper Perabo) is now married to Bud McNulty (Jonathan Bennett) and heavily pregnant. They intend to move to Houston because of Bud's new job promotion . While on vacation, find themselves competing with a rival family of eight children whose stiff father is Jimmy (Eugene Levy) , an old contender to Tom . Steve Martin ought to keep the familiar order involving in his own home while at the same time training the team to win the rival family . And along the way , the protagonist suffer numerous jokes and misfortunes in charge of the brothers . This Christmas The More... The Scarier! Growing pains? They've got twelve of them!This Christmas, you better watch out! This Christmas You Better Watch Out! Same Big Family... Even Bigger Adventure.

The picture is pretty entertaining and amusing , the film contains bemusing scenes and continuous laughters and various chuckles with lots of fun . It's a new version of the classic film with similar title featured by Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy . Although this movie is loosely based on a book by that title "Cheaper By The Dozen" about a real-life family, the book was written by one of the sons, Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., along with his sister, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. Although this film is based on that same book that inspired the 1950 film , the only element it retains from the original is the idea of there being 12 children in one family. Even the names of the characters are changed. The picture belongs to numerous family sub-genre whose maxim representation is ¨Yours , mine and ours¨ with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball and recently remade with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo . As trivia , to add the following one : when the "Cheaper by the Dozen" movies were made, neither Steve Martin nor Bonnie Hunt, who played the parents of 12 children, had ever had a child in real life . Based on the real life Gilbreth family, in fact the name Gilbreth appears sometimes throughout the film . As Gilbreth family on whom the film was based had 6 boys and 6 girls ; also, they did not have any twins . All the children were single births and the father regretted this because he felt multiple births to be more efficient . Steve Martin , as always , plays as excessive manner , making an authentic recital , if you like Martin's crazy interpretation , you'll enjoy this one . However , Tim Allen, Kurt Russell, Mel Gibson and Tom Hanks were considered for the role of Tom Baker. Besides , there appears as sons , known and young actors as Tom Welling (Smallville) , Hilary Duff (LizzyMcGuire) , Piper Perabo (Bar Coyote) and other kiddies as Taylor Lautner , Alyson Stoner , Jonathan Bennett, Jacob Smith , Liliana Mumy ,Morgan York , among others . The yarn was well realized , though without originality , and and with the same equipment was shot the first part . The motion picture was professionally directed by Adam Shankman : Hocus Pocus 2 , The pacifier, Rock of ages , Bedtime Stories , Wedding plans , Hairspray , A Walk to Remember. The flick will appeal to family films enthusiasts and Steve Martin fans.

My Take: Trite, predictable family diversion.

After having dismissing it as a simple-minded family picture for many times, I gave CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, a very loose adaptation of a novel by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, a try and it turned out to be a surprise delight. It wasn't perfect, maybe not even formula, but I was delighted by it. It was a lot of fun and it never seemed to run our of energy, especially for the always funny Steve Martin. Martin is back in this sequel, and so is much of the same cast, Bonnie Hunt in particular. Joining the original cast is a new set of players including American PIE regular Eugene Levy, parody-movie regular Carmen Electra and another batch of kids and teens. This is CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2, and if I was wrong about the first film, I was more wrong to think this one will be better.

In this sequel, the family that couldn't get along leaves all their indifference behind a long time ago. Now their one big, happy family. While going on a camping vacation (as usual, they have to live inside a rotten, old cabin), they get into some competition with dad Tom Baker's (Martin) old rival Jimmy Murtaugh (Levy) and his family, composed of sexy wife Sarina (Electra) and eight children. See Murtaugh is athletic and daring while Tom only wishes that his kids (jealous as always) would have a better vacation. So on goes a series of challenges and competitions they go through, fighting for who gets the better summer this year.

Unfortunately, it might have not been the audience. Having missed it on the big screen, I caught CHEAPER 2 on TV and, since I wasn't really anticipating anything (a sequel to CHEAPER is nothing big to get excited about). That probably helps to be able to enjoy a movie like this. But while lowering your expectations might help at being kind to your response to it, that doesn't necessarily mean liking it. Martin and Levy (funny men, by the way) are at their best efforts, as Hunt playing responsible mother Kate, but they can't shine in a script than limits what they can do. Kids, as usual, will drag you to the video store to rent or buy it, and maybe you should. But don't be surprised if you won't like it. It really isn't made for you.

Rating: ** out of 5.

'Cheaper by the Dozen 2' is pretty much the typical family comedy that has nothing new to offer. That does not mean that the film is absent of entertainment. It pretty much follows the usual formula with the regular ingredients. The slapstick and jokes are expected but still amusing. There are some funny adult jokes too. The film has heart and that's what works for it. Shankman and his cast and crew must have had a great time (as was also apparent on the DVD extras). Steve Martin and Eugene Levy are good. Martin has played the comedic family dad perhaps more than a dozen times and he has become quite skilled at it. The extremely talented Bonnie Hunt is criminally underused but she has an effective presence, nonetheless. Carmen Electra is a surprise. She plays a hot mom but not the clichéd one, rather one that is compassionate, gentle and caring. Electra does a good job and proves that she can do more than being just an airhead or a seductress. Piper Perabo is also underused. Jaime King is very pretty. Hilary Duff plays sort of a spoilt brat (which is a change from her sweet pretty girl image) but her acting is quite bad and she needs to eat. The child actors were all fun to watch. Overall, it's all goofy family fun and quite enjoyable when watching with the family.