Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)

Simply Perfect

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The clan is slowly scattering. Lorraine (Hilary Duff) has graduated and moving to NYC to intern. Nora (Piper Perabo) is pregnant, married to Bud McNulty (Jonathan Bennett), and moving away to Houston. Tom (Steve Martin) and Kate Baker (Bonnie Hunt) decides to regroup the clan to go on vacation back to Lake Winnetka. The Lake has become more upscale with their old rival the Murtaugh clan headed by successful Jimmy (Eugene Levy) who purchased most of the property. He has a new trophy wife Sarina (Carmen Electra) and 'only' 8 kids.It's surprising to say but this one misses Ashton Kutcher as the butt of the jokes. It's very nice that all the Baker kids return for the sequel. It's usually very annoying to have new kids act like there's no change. There are some noticeable young actors as the Murtaugh kids like Taylor Lautner and Jaime King. The franchise was silly to start with, but this is even stupider. The constant competition adds a nasty tone rather than a funny one to the movie. Eugene Levy is playing too hard at being annoying. Although Alyson Stoner is given a little more room to have some fun. It has some slightly funny moments but the movie has lost some of the charm.

'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.

CBTD2 was worth watching.I have seen this film maybe over 10 times and it is a lot better than the first.Some performances aren't that good but some are the highlight of the film...Steve Martin.He was the star like he always it,Bonnie gets a few laughs,Piper is quite annoying with his husband and Tom is useless in his storyline.There was no point when they were doing that with Taylor and Alyson,which was more well...it was better.Those scenes really showed Teenage behaviour so that was good.Apart from Eugene,Taylor,Carmen,Alyson,Steve,Bonnie and maybe Tom,everyone was useless.The story was good but most of the characters were not needed.Some didn't get enough lines.Some got too much.Overall CBTD2 was a good film and better than number 1.I do not think i have done a review for 1 but i will soon i hope.

2003's Cheaper by the Dozen caught me by surprise when it turned out to be one of year's box office hits and yet the studio at 20th Century Fox came up with the idea of a sequel being needed to give character.Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt reprise their roles as Tom and Kate Baker, two of the loveliest parents you'll ever seen on screen, where things are changing around for the family. Their third child Lorraine (Hilary Duff) is graduating from high school and with summer on the way, all the children have plans of their own and not be with their parents. All of the kids return with Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly) playing Nora, the first born who's having a baby and married to a guy that resembles Ashton Kutcher from the first movie; Tom Welling's Charlie doesn't have that many scenes while Hilary Duff as Lorraine probably shocked everybody with her thin body shape. However the breakout star is Alyson Stoner in the role of Sarah where during the film she manages to pull a few tricks up her sleeve just like the first movie.Back to the plot. Now with the twelve kids wanting to go their separate ways for the summer, Tom suggests to Kate that they go back to the lake house and do things as a family until an old rival (Eugene Levy) shows up at the same place where Tom's envy starts to get the best of him.Some parts of the film worked like the relationship between Steve and Bonnie's characters along with the way they interact with the kids. Sarah's growing up and liking one of Eugene Levy's sons was something that worked as well where she did everything like a normal girl would do from giggles to even stealing make-up. What didn't work for me was the fact that I felt as if I was watching the same thing like the first movie with problems on the horizon that one way or another, there's a happy ending.