Martin and crew make Dozen 2 a success

by rebekah mccombs
Courier Staff

If you are looking for an enjoyable movie for the whole family to see, “Cheaper by the Dozen 2,” is a good choice. This 94-minute movie was directed by Adam Shankman and produced by Shawn Levy and Ben Myron.

I saw the first “Cheaper” by Shankman and I really enjoyed it. I figured the sequel had potential to be pretty good. Although I was hesitant the second wouldn’t be as good as the first, I nonetheless figured this sequel could have potential.

The overall storyline and film were surprisingly good. I laughed numerous times and almost cried at the end.

This is the perfect movie you would take a family to go see. It had little profanity and there were no sexual innuendos.

The Baker family, complete with 12 children, goes on a summer trip to a lake where they have vacationed before. As soon as the family arrives at the lake, problems immediately begin.

The plot of the sequel features the Baker clan competing with a rival family while on vacation. All the actors from the original return, including Tom Welling and Hilary Duff.

Throughout the movie, Tom Baker, the father of the 12 children, played by Steve Martin, and Jimmy Murtaugh, father of the rival family of eight, played by Eugene Levy, battle it out to see who is the better father.

During the movie, Martin and Levy are so determined in outdoing one another, their children begin to lose interest in the competition and start making friends with each other. This promotes a lot of unnecessary chaos between each family that results in a lot of laughs for the audience.

For example, the children are a couple of years older now and they are becoming interested in things older kids want to do, such as dating. Martin’s daughter and Levy’s son decide to go out on a date. As a result, the two beloved comedians go ballistic.

However, when the day of the competition arrives, some family members are more willing than others to try and win.

When a member of the Baker family becomes in danger during an event, the two families forget their rivalry and work together to save Martin’s daughter. This lets the two families work out their differences and they become friends in the end.

All the cast members did a great job really playing off each other. I felt like I was watching a real family bond together while watching this movie. For this reason, I found “Cheaper by the Dozen 2” to be an above average sequel.