Cheaper By The Dozen 2 -- 2005 -- PG

Yeah, so I've been off the movies for a little bit, and I come back with this one. What was my kneejerk reaction to the thought of it? Another sequel to a family comedy, and it should be pretty predictable. Well, for the most part, I was right, but as most family comedies go, this one was very easy on the brain to watch, which was actually perfect considering how stressful last week was for us.

So, despite the formulaicness, it was enjoyable. We've got a usual range of characters and situations one might expect when dealing with a movie where the whole family gets together and goes out to the lake. You've got a budding childhood romance, the rebellious college student who plans to dump out of dad's business to be an artist, the graduate who doesn't want to make time for family, the youngest twins who will do whatever dad says, and of course, the two patriarchs who are in this inexplicable competition between themselves that goes back years and years and they drag the families into it as well.

The whole thing culminates into a final showdown where our main dad pisses everyone off, and then with an emotional discovery of the glorious past, everyone forgives and competes in good spirit.

And from the beginning, let's just face it, we knew that the pregnant one would end up going into labor out there, which brings on the emotional conclusion using not necessarily the characters developed, but hinging on our relating the characters to ourselves, which is about the only way most of the characters in this movie would get any development, since there are a total of 24 to try and learn: the title 12, the parents, the competing parents and their 8.

Development is really the weakest point of the whole film, since it is near impossible to fully develop your standard horror cast of 8-10 much less 14 in this 90 minute comedy. The focus is placed on the main father played by Steve Martin, who has practically made his name recently in family comedies. Through him most of the interactions are made and developed. There are some sidebar stories with some of the others, but this is the story of him versus an old friend.

Plotwise, this is a very formulaic story, so plot holes are almost non-existant. It works a solid combination of endearing moments, slapstick, and situational comedy to a whole that really isn't that bad.

So in the end, it's a simple movie, but one that is enjoyable to sit down with the family one evening, and just take a mental load off to watch.