Directed by Steve Carr
I was a little reluctant to watch another Eddie Murphy movie as his past efforts havent really been anything to write home about with perhaps the exception of Dr. Doolittle. In fact since Beverley Hills Cop there have been more flops than successes in my humble opinion. They always look funny in the trailers but fail to deliver the goods.
Daddy Day Care revolves around Charlie Hinton (Eddie Murphy) who works for an advertising company and is trying to market Veggie Os as part of the Health Food Division he works for. Unfortunately, the product flops and the entire division is fired. Money is fast running out for Charlie and his friend and ex co-worker Phil (Jeff Garlin).
Charlies wife Kim (Regina King) has just started back at work as a lawyer and their son Ben has just started day care at the very exclusive and highly disciplined Chapman Academy run by Mrs. Harridan (Anjelica Huston). They try to find a cheaper alternative for Ben but the choices are very limited so Charlie and Phil decide to open Daddy Day Care in Charlies house to look after the children themselves.
The number of children enrolled increases and this means hiring another employee so Marvin (Steve Zahn) joins the crew. When the numbers rise again they need to move out of Charlies house and into a bigger space. A fun raising event is organized which is sabotaged by Mrs. Harridan because their numbers are decreasing. However, soon after this event Charlie decides to ditch the whole day care scene and return to the advertising agency forcing the children back to Chapman Academy. Dont fret though because Charlie soon sees the light for a successful return to his newly found passion of looking after children. Along the way he even develops a stronger bond between himself and his son Ben who is just adorable.
There arent too many surprises in this movie. There is a happy ending and of course justice is done for Mrs. Harridan as well. The main characters grow as well. They start off feeding the children lollies and cakes for lunch and singing to them to keep them quiet and end up caring about the welfare of the children in their care. How would have thought ?
There are cute bloopers at the end of the film when the credits are rolling and a great soundtrack with many toe tapping numbers. Overall, this is another no brainer film, there are scattered funny moments but these are mainly due to the children. The plot is simple and the acting isnt particularly brilliant.
Kids will probably get a kick out of Daddy Day Care because it is a cute story but teenagers will probably be bored silly. There is no foul language, no sex and no drugs so there is nothing to amuse their minds. I spent a lot of my time watching the clock waiting for it to end myself. My opinion of Eddie Murphy films still remains in tact. All the funny bits for this film were in the previews. Please no Daddy Day Care 2 !!!1

THE EXTRAS

There are quite a few special features here. They are:
? Scene Selection  as always.
? Early Bloomer - A cartoon about tadpoles. One of them grows legs before the others and feels left out. Very short and cute. Just music, theres no talking.
? Four featurettes
1) Good Morning Eddie Murphy  the kids in the film and the director talk about Eddie Murphy.
2) Meet the kids of Daddy Day Care  the kids interview each other and we find out a little bit about each of them. Every body wants to know their favourite cartoons, food and sports dont they !! They are cute but incredibly obnoxious.
3) Quiet on the set  the kids talk about the director this time. These four year olds have a lot to say. However, the adult actors talk about life on the set for most of this featurette.
4) What did that kid say ?  the kids interview each other yet again and talk about being actors. Make them go away!!!
? Games  Three games here, they are Name the noise maker, Kid card match up and Odd one out and all relate to the movie. All these games required kids to be able to use the DVD remote to move through the choices to play.
? Bloopers reel  This is just the credits rolling again with the bloopers in it.
? Trailers of Daddy Day Care, Annie, Oliver and Stuart Little 2.
The extras run for well over half an hour in total.

CONCLUSION

Daddy Day Care will probably appeal to the younger child, teenagers will probably be bored. It revolves around Charlie Hinton (Eddie Murphy) who loses his job as an advertising executive and starts up a day care center Daddy Day Care in his house with another co worker Phil (Jeff Garlin) because he can no longer afford to keep his son Ben at Chapman Academy. It is a very expensive and structured establishment run by Mrs. Harridan (Angelica Huston). She resents the new competition and tries to sabotage the business whenever possible. This is another good vs evil tale where good will win at the end of the day. This is Hollywood after all. There are plenty of extras for the kids to enjoy as well including a short cartoon and three different games.