Cheaper By The Dozen 2 (Blu-ray)

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Steve Martin is a wild and crazy guy, but since the successful 1989 film "Parenthood," the former Saturday Night Live popular guest host has become the epitome of the comedic father. Two "Father of the Bride" films, "Bringing Down the House" and now two "Cheaper by the Dozen" films have allowed Martin to monopolize the big family comedy. Robert Reed has nothing on Martin and while the "Brady Bunch" had a houseful, the Baker´s dozen is a larger mess of a family. The "Cheaper by the Dozen" franchise takes its name from the 1948 biographical book by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. The original film shared only the title and the notion of twelve children and it went on to gross $190 million at the box office. That was good enough reason for a sequel and much of the original film´s cast returns and Eugene Levy is introduced as a competitive patriarch of another large family.

The sequel has Martin again starring as Tom Baker. The story is set a few years after the first film and he and his wife Kate (Bonnie Hunt) are finding it difficult to deal with the children leaving the nest. Oldest daughter Nora (Piper Perabo) is now married and she and her husband Bud McNulty (Jonathan Bennett) are looking to move to Houston, Texas after Bud was promoted at work. Next eldest daughter Lorraine (Hillary Duff) is also moving away and wants to attend college in New York. Mark (Forrest Landis) would rather play football than spend time with the family and Tom is frustrated that his dozen children may never again be together for a family vacation. He talks his brood into one more family vacation on Lake Winnetka. Concessions are made and the family all agrees to partake.

When they arrive at Lake Winnetka it is discovered that Jim Murtaugh (Levy) has bought most of the property surrounding the lake and Tom´s successful rival has brought an upscale environment to the vacationing area. Not many old properties remain, but the old cabin still stands and is in need of numerous repairs. The old rivalry is quickly re-established between the two and Tom and Jimmy find themselves comparing everything. Jimmy´s kids are all well-to-do and Murtaugh is very wealthy. Tom is now a stay-at-home father and his children are often mischievous. Jimmy has married the gorgeous former actress Sarina (Carmen Electra) and he and his eight children are on top of the world. The rivalry is long running as the Murtaughs had beaten the Bakers in a yearly competition at the lake between families.

Tom struggles between wondering about the upbringing of his children when he compares his twelve children to the strictly raised Murtaugh clan and his desire to beat Jimmy at the competition. His own children are also finding strong friendships and romance among Jimmy´s children as Tom´s eldest son has been spending time with Murtaugh´s daughter and younger children Sarah Baker (Alyson Stoner) and Jimmy´s son Eliot (Taylor Lautner) go to a movie theater on a date. Soon the Baker children begin to rebel against their possessed father and Tom is left with only a small number of his children to square off against Jimmy. During the final stage of the competition that will decide the winner between the Bakers and the Murtaughs, the two families must work together and find a peaceful friendship.

I have yet to see the original "Cheaper by the Dozen" and therefore cannot offer a comparison between the two. This sequel grossed about $82 million at the box office and was both commercially and critically less successful than the first film. The original director, Shawn Levy, remained to produce this second film and other members of the creative team departed. Ashton Kutcher did not return and "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" is surely a case of a sequel created to capitalize on the success of the first. Without a comparison to the original, I can only look at this film as a standalone picture. My thoughts are that "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" is not a great film, but it can be entertaining. It´s not good, but it´s not bad.

The competitive father routine has been done countless times, but with the always affable Martin in the starring role and another iconic father figure, "Jim´s dad" Levy opposite of Martin, it is hard to not find "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" at least somewhat entertaining. Martin and Levy are two very funny actors and both are stellar at being a comedy father. I would love to see the pairing return in "Cheaper by the Dozen 3," where they all go camping and compete in the woods. Of course, if that project would ever happen I would expect some royalties. There is a reason why Martin is continually cast in this type of role. He is good at it. On the other hand, I would rather see Levy make a few more of these films than show his fuzzy eyebrows in an eighth "American Pie" film.

The supporting cast is full of familiar faces and many of the Baker family reprise their roles from the first film. Bonnie Hunt and Carmen Elektra are good as the film´s matriarchs, but they have far smaller roles than Martin and Levy. Hillary Duff´s star has fallen some since the original, but I found the actress suitable enough to reprise her role as Lorraine. The child actors are all pretty good too. Nobody is going to win a Best Actor award for their work in this film, but everybody keeps things fun. Elektra is slowly becoming a legitimate actress and while she is never going to be taken seriously, she´s talented enough to get through her lines convincingly. "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" has a fairly large cast, so it is difficult to give everybody a lot of screen time in an hour and a half.