While I never saw the 50s original, I really enjoyed the two Cheaper by the Dozen, Steve Martin led movies of the mid-00s. They were fun family movies that I have had the pleasure of watching a few times. I was actually pretty interested to see what Disney would do when they decided to reboot the series for their Disney Plus service.
How to Download Cheaper by the Dozen (2022 film)
You can stream it or you can download the film from Disney+. Click on the Download button at the end of this review.
The Movie Review
The movie is directed by Gail Lerner and it is her feature film debut. As I said, I did have high hopes for this, Disney tends to nail it when it comes to movies for the whole family. However, this is like a made for Disney Channel movie from like 1999 and not one of the good ones either.
I feel that they got a good cast, Zach Braff is usually charming in most things that he is in and I think some of that charm is here. Zach Braff plays the lead role of Paul Baker who is married to Zoey (Gabrielle Union) and the two do have some fun chemistry together. Look, I have to be honest here, I am trying really hard to think of positive things to say about this movie!
This is not about a husband and wife who have 12 kids. Instead, Disney has gone for the blended family route where two families come together and make a huge family. Only as well as the kids, the other parents are a focus here and you get to see how the parents react to other people parenting their kids.
I think there was some real potential to have a bit of heart and deeper stuff going on here in this regard. When I heard that they were doing the blended family thing for this reboot, that was the route I was sure they were going to go. Instead, we get this very cringy and juvenile “comedy” that I am not sure who it is made for.
The two other Cheaper by the Dozen movies had a lot of silliness and slapstick comedy going on. However, the family dynamic and the heart those two original (well mid 00 reboot) movies had was so much better than what is going on here. To be fair, the actors both the kids and the adults are not bad, but what they are working with is just not good at all.
At just over an hour and a half, the movie actually feels like it lasts way longer than that. It is sure to have you rolling your eyes and cringing throughout most of it. I think part of the problem here is the title, Cheaper by the Dozen. It made me (and most other people) go into it with a set of expectations as the other movies were fun and well done, but this one is just not good at all. They should have called it something else and maybe it might not have been quite as bad?
As you can tell, this was not a movie I enjoyed. I do not think Cheaper by the Dozen topples Home Sweet Home Alone as the worst Disney Plus movie, but it does come pretty damn close. Give this one a miss and just watch the two Steve Martin Cheaper by the Dozen movies instead!
