Directed by Shawn Levy

Cheaper By The Dozen is another film that makes you think why did they bother. Why do they feel the desire to remake films? Aren?t there any decent screen-writers around any more? I don?t really know how much money this film took in at the box office in Australia, but I can guarantee that it will be nowhere near some of the more successful family flicks like E.T. The film is basically quite dated and not a realistic image of what family life is like now. The fact that they move into a multi million dollar house on a football coach?s wage just proves my point.

Steve Martin is just wasted in this film and if he continues to choose films like this his acting credibility will walk out the door, along with the unhappy people that actually paid money to watch this shocker at the cinemas. It took me two attempts to sit through this film after the first viewing nearly sent me to sleep. I found myself watching the clock through most of the second viewing as well.

The film revolves around Tom and Kate Baker (Martin and Hunt), their twelve children, and the obligatory family dog, Gunner. The film gets off to a bad start when one of the brood, Mark, (aka Fed-Ex because he doesn?t quite fit in with the family and so must have been delivered by the Fed-Ex Man. Ha Ha Ha!!!) loses his frog, Beans and he creates all chaos at the breakfast table with egg and other food flying everywhere in what would otherwise have been a well organized morning. The scene was slapstick comedy at its absolute worst and was a sign of things to come. The Baker?s lives are turned upside down when Tom accepts a football coaching job in Chicago (at his old College) and the family much to their disgust are forced to leave their country home to live in the city.

Once they arrive in Chicago, Kate is then forced to go to NYC to promote the book she is about to get published and Nora, their oldest daughter (Perabo) and her boyfriend Hank (Kutcher), arrive to help Tom with baby sitting duties but this is short lived. The kids play a trick on Hank and put his underwear in mince meat so he is attacked by the family dog. Hank is your typical himbo, an actor who has just appeared in his first commercial on television.

Tom is then left to his only devices at home looking after eleven children and trying to coach a winning football team. He finds it difficult to find a baby sitter to help him out and the children aren?t having a fun time at school either. The poor dears are being picked on because they have just arrived from the country. Overall, these children would put most people off the idea of parenting. They are obnoxious and basically spoilt little brats. They also ruin their neighbour Dylan?s birthday party when Mark?s present to him, a snake which breaks free and slithers across the lawn. Arrrrrrghhhhh!

The family is falling apart. Charlie, the oldest son (Welling), quits the football team, Nora and Hank break up and poor Mark runs away from home because he doesn?t feel wanted just as Kate returns home from her promotional work. This film is highly predictable and therefore you won?t be at all surprised by the ending. Poor Tom is forced to choose between his family and the work that he loves.

I don?t think I laughed out loud once and just wanted to go to bed. The film ends with the out takes from the film and none of these were funny either. I want to meet somebody that actually gets a kick out of these kind of bloopers. Overall, I would imagine that this film would have a limited target audience. It is a family film and so therefore should be kept well away from those hormonal teenagers. After all there is no nudity, coarse language, drug use or sex scenes. What is there left to amuse them? Younger kids may enjoy the children and their hi-jinx but their mums and dads would probably be bored by the predictably of it all and lack of genuine funny moments. I hope at least that they get a little more laughs than I did.

In summary, unless you want to be disappointed please avoid this film at all costs, it will be much cheaper!! Avoid it twelve times and it will be Cheaper by the Dozen !!

THE EXTRAS

Scene Selection is available as expected (28 scenes to choose from). The other special features include:

1) Audio commentaries ? There is one available from the director Shawn Levy and the other from the ?Baker Kids?. Sub titles are also available for these commentaries too.

2) Orphans ? Deleted and Extended Scenes

Commentary is also available for the eleven scenes here. Most of the scenes are quite short and there is nothing too funny or special here. The longest scene here is the extended scene of Dylan?s Birthday Party. There is a very boring scene with Ashton Kutcher?s character meets one of his fans. These scenes run for about 17 minutes.

3) Storyboard to Screen comparison ? There are two scenes displayed here (Frogs and Eggs & Dylan?s Birthday Party) and we get to see the actual film and how it was originally drawn onto storyboard so you can compare them. This runs for about 4 minutes. A waste of time basically.

4)Featurettes ? There are FOUR featurettes in total. They are:
(a) Frogs and Eggs ? An 8 minute documentary about how this scene was actually shot with commentary from the director, co-screenwriter and the special effects guy. It was not all that interesting or informative.
(b) Dylan?s Birthday Party ? Another waste of time and a further 8 minutes to endure on how this scene was completed.
(c) Director?s viewfinder ? Creating a Fictional Family. Shawn Levy talks about the movie and why he decided to make the film. He then talks about the Baker clan and how they were cast and talks a little about filming the movie and how he dealt with the kids etc etc. A fairly stock standard documentary and not all that exciting. This doco runs for 15 minutrs.
(d) Critters ? a short documentary on how the animals were trained for the film, particularly the family dog, Gunner. We get to hear from the animal trainer. They actually used two different dogs for the movie. It was interesting to actually see how the dogs were trained. They then talk about how the frog was trained for the ?Frogs and Eggs ? scene and the snake that was used in the ?Dylan?s Birthday? scene. This featurette runs for 12 minutes.

I am believer that sometimes ?less is more? and that certainly applies with these extras. There were far too many and most were a waste of time. Why do they feel the desire to bore DVD viewers with dribble when one or two special features would be adequate?

CONCLUSION

Cheaper by the Dozen revolves around Tom and Kate Baker (Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt) and their twelve children and is quite predictable and for a comedy remarkably not at all funny. The family are all living happily together in the country until Tom takes his dream football coaching job in Chicago and the family is uprooted and forced to move with him. The rest of the film revolves around the antics of the children, their bad behaviour basically, and how Tom tries to cope with looking after his kids while trying to coach a successful football. He is flying solo while Kate has gone to NYC to promote a book she has written about the family. In the end, poor Tom is forced to make a tough decision - Will be choose the job he loves or will he put his family first?

The film also stars Piper Perabo, Hilary Duff and Tom Welling as part of the Baker clan and Ashton Kutcher as the boyfriend of the oldest daughter, Nora. Most are fairly minor roles and along with Steve Martin are probably wasted in this film. The film would have a very limited target audience and would be best suited to children up to ten years of age as the lack of sex and drugs would probably put teenagers off the film well and truly. There are quite a few extras to endure after the movie too if you are a glutton for punishment.