Cheaper by the Dozen 2

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Cheaper by the Dozen 2's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Cheaper by the Dozen 2 completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 18 December, 2005.

Overall comments and recommendations

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is a light-hearted family comedy. Adults may that the story offers little stimulation and that the portrayal of the Bakers’ lifestyle is totally unrealistic. However, children, adolescents and adults who are looking for a light hearted comedy with some clever and funny slapstick, will enjoy this film.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Cheaper by the Dozen 2 contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Tom and Kate Baker (Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt) are the parents of twelve children, with their youngest in junior primary and their oldest daughter Nora (Piper Perabo) married and eight months pregnant. Tom and Kate, somewhat melancholy about the rate at which their brood is leaving home gather the clan together for one last summer holiday at Lake Winnetka, where the family once spent their summer holidays. When they arrive, they find that Tom’s old high school nemesis Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy) is holidaying across the lake with his eight children and new wife Sarina (Carmen Electa).
It doesn’t take long for the pair to start locking horns when Murtaugh starts to gives Tom advice on how to bring up his children. Meanwhile one of Tom’s younger daughters Sarah (Alyson Stoner) and Murtaugh’s son Eliot (Taylor Launter) develop a liking for each other, as does Tom’s older son Charlie (Tom Welling) and Murtaugh’s oldest daughter. The competition between Tom and Jimmy builds and comes to a head when the two families compete in the annual Labour Day Cup competition.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 contains some slapstick violence, including:

• an argument between Tom and Jimmy develops into a poking match, with the pair poking their fingers at each other’s chests. As a result of Jimmy poking him in the chest, Tom overbalances, falls over the cinema balcony, and dangles there with Jimmy hanging on to his feet.
  
• Tom falls off a log and injures his groin
  

• The argument in the cinema balcony that culminates in Tom falling over the balcony
  
• Jimmy states that his team would “Step down on their throats until they stop breathing”
  
• Tom’s daughter Nora pokes her finger at Jimmy’s chest, telling him that he has just “Pissed off a severely pregnant hormonal woman.”
  

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 contains no scary visual images. However, there are some scenes involving dangerous situations set in a comic context, which could concern some very young children

Over the age of eight

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

There no images in this movie that would scare children over the age of eight.

Sexual references

There is one scene in which the Bakers’ family dog sexually attacks Sarina; highlighting Sarina’s sensuality in a comic manner.

Nudity and sexual activity

The film contains no nudity, but there are a number of images of scantily dressed women, wearing very low cut tops revealing their cleavage, or sensuous bikini style swimwear, including:

• Jimmy’s older daughter catches the eye of Tom’s older son when she swims past in a bikini that exposes a tattoo above her bottom
  
• Jimmy’s wife Sarina wears tight fitting clothing that exposes as much of her cleavage as possible

Use of substances

Alcohol is used on two occasions, one at a graduation party, the other at a clambake at a country club. On these occasions, people are shown drinking beer, wine and champagne.

Coarse language

There is some occasional coarse language and putdowns, including:

• what a moron
  
• screwed up
  
• Sweet Jesus
  
• pissed off.

The movie's message

The main take-home message is about the challenges of parenting and the importance of doing your best and accepting your mistakes. Another message is about the difficulties young teenagers can face growing up.
The film contains some mixed messages that could be confusing for some adolescents. One is about whether or not appearance is important or not, with the statement being made that it isn’t as important as who you are, yet still twelve year old Sarah undergoes a makeover to improve her appearance. There is also a shoplifting incident, which although theoretically frowned upon, is resolved by using bribery. There is also the suggestion that the shoplifting itself was justifiable because it resulted from internal adolescent conflict.
Parents may wish to encourage the manner in which the Baker family support each other, and the caring qualities that family members display for each other. Parents may also wish to discuss with children the real life consequences of practical jokes that backfire, of violence even when it is slapstick and the serious real life consequence associated with shop lifting.