Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005) Reviews

• A hilarious movie

  little_miss_dolphin82006-01-17

  As a teenage girl, and a fan of the first movie, I found the sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen to be above my expectations. Usually, movie sequels are a disappointment, I have found, as was with Shrek 2, for example, but I found that Cheaper by the Dozen 2 was hilarious and a really good movie outlining the importance of family and family values. Yes, it was slightly predictable, as these movies often are, but I found that was strongly over-ridden by the comedy and 'slap-stick' that happened throughout the film to make it so entertaining. All the family had matured since that first film and it was interesting to see what the children had grown up to be like, and how much they had changed since the first film. I recommend this movie to fans of the first film, or anyone who just wants to see a light-hearted, 'feel-good' and all-over great movie.

• A family comedy series that really stands out

  Okonh0wp2005-12-24

  Cheaper by the Dozen II, like most sequels, wasn't as good as its predecessor but was a safe movie bet, allowing you to fall back into a familiarity of the first and have some more fun with it. It picks up a couple years after the first installment with changes abound as the oldest daughter is now married and pregnant and with everyone growing up, the Bakers plan to vacation one last time at their old summer nesting grounds before sending off newly graduated Lurraine (Hillary Duff) to New York. Ashton Kutcher's out of the picture, while Eugene Levy enters the scene as Steve Martin's rival, providing some decent comic relief. Knowing full-well, they can't focus on all twelve kids, Tom Welling's newfound romance and rebelliousness are underdeveloped, while the unfortunate mistake is made of shifting the focus to Hillary Duff's character. Duff basically plays a caricature of herself (or at least her public image) as a teenage diva, who only worked in the first movie because she was distilled in small doses. There's also a side story with one of the younger siblings having her first crush. Like the first film, this installment relies on Martin's physical comedy for laughs with some very relatable moments along the way and in the end, the family wins out over all other forces.

• "Honey you actually bought that shirt?"

  ryan_kuhn2006-01-02

  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.

• Alyson Stoner sold this movie for me!

  Ddey652006-03-12

  As further proof that I see movies for unorthodox reasons, I didn't see this movie for Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Hilary Duff, or the presumed warmth of family values. It was that irrepressible little dancing machine, Alyson Stoner that sold this movie for me, and I didn't even know her name until I saw a poster for the 2003 remake. I was hoping that she wasn't going to be the only reason to see the movie, though, and I think I might have just lucked out on that agenda. Tom & Kate Baker(Steve Martin & Bonnie Hunt) want one last chance to be the big family that they are, before they all go onto their own lives, so they invite everyone to an old cabin on a lake. Charlie(Tom Welling) now works in a garage, hoping to open one of his own, and despite his lack of interest in being part of the Baker Dozen, he jumps at the chance to go to the lake. Hilary Duff has lost a considerable amount of weight. Still, she resumes her role as family fashion-plate Lorraine Baker, who has just graduated from high school, and is on her way to New York for a job as an assistant for a fashion magazine. Having dumped her boyfriend from the first movie, Nora(Piper Pearbo) is married to Bud McNulty(MEAN GIRLS' Jonathan Bennett), and is very pregnant. Despite this, she still wants this last trip to the lake. Most of the other kids seem to serve as little more than human wallpaper, although FedEx(Forrest Landis)inadvertently causes a ruckus with some fireworks. Along the way, they meet Jimmy Murtaugh(Eugene Levy) an old fair-weather friend of Tom's who has his own big family has bought most of the lake-front, has a bigger house, better toys, and is turning it into a huge upscale resort similar to The Poconos. He also prides himself on being a strict disciplinarian, and having been married to at least three other women before his current wife(Carmen Electra), and frequently rubs his lifestyle and wealth in Tom's face. Now the family fun is over, and both are determined to defeat each other's families in a lakefront competition. Both Charlie(Welling) and Sarah(Stoner) fall in love with members of the opposite sex from the Murtaugh family, specifically Anne(Jamie King) and Elliot (Taylor Lautner). This only complicates the rivalry even further, although the movie saves itself by not trying to imitate "Romeo and Juliet." Stoner didn't disappoint me too much in this case, as she tries to hide her burgeoning girlish nature from those who know her as the havoc-wreaking tomboy she is. A lot has been made of this subplot as well as the scene where Sarah is caught trying to steal make-up and later agrees to let Lorraine perform a makeover on her for her first date. "Does it have to be pink," she asks. Well if it's a darker color, it wouldn't make you attractive to the boy, but perhaps that's just me. In any case, she doesn't really look that much different afterwards, and although both fathers screw up their date, like I suggested it's not a big tragedy. For a sequel, it's fine. Not perfect, but fine. People who complain about sequel-mania in modern movies often forget that the original had a sequel too... a somewhat forgotten movie called "Belles On Their Toes(1952)." Having said that, I hope this second movie is the last. Interestingly enough, I also saw the remake of "Yours Mine and Ours" on the same day, but you can probably figure that out by my review of that movie as well.

• Steve Martin, you can do better than this

  yaalaast2006-02-02

  I guess it's been a long time since Steve played the banjo on the Muppet Show. I have really enjoyed some of Steve's movies..."Roxanne", "Being There", etc. but he seems to have lost his touch in this one. This movie is still very watchable mind you, but the "former" Steve is missing. It seems there were too many gags (ie; dog & crotch, dangling from balcony) and not enough real comedy like we're used to from Steve (such as the nose jokes in Roxanne). Also this movie has nothing to do with the 1950 "Cheaper by the Dozen" (or it's original sequel "Belles on Their Toes")...other than 12 kids of course. It seemed more akin to "The Great Outdoors" or "Meatballs". There were some cute scenes however: The two kids crush & the dads both spying on them in the theatre, and nearly giving birth in a canoe I found amusing. It would have been a lot more amusing had she actually given birth in the canoe though. Oddly my favourite actress in this was the little girl (can't remember her name right now) who had the crush on the little boy. She was really cute and engaging. I hope she appears in more movies. Thankfully, I did not pay money to see this (thanks to the wonders of bittorrent) But I will definitely be buying the DVD. It is a good family movie, just not up to my expectations for Steve Martin. Possibly I should not endorse downloading, but movie-going is difficult where I live as it entails a long, costly ferry trip. Otherwise I probably would have seen this in a theatre.