User reviews

If you're old enough to remember the book and the original Disney film, then you'll be well aware of the glue that is strong enough to hold a family with 12 kids together - unconditional love for the family. When push comes to shove, the Baker clan has always known that family comes first.

This updated version sets its tone immediately with a mini-documentary that establishes where all their many kids came from, and in this case it is in many ways. There was a divorce on both sides of the relationship, an adoption, bi-racial kids from the new marriage and of course a nephew that quickly enters the picture to round out a total of 9+1 children.. That's the way they have chosen to interpret a dozen this time around, 12 bakers. You have your black kids, your wheel-chair bound child, your Indian represented child and the white kids and the bi-racial kids that came from the new marriage. If you're getting the feeling that this might be motivated to create a sense of token diversity you might be encouraged to feel that way by the political content of the film. The Baker's home features BLM signs and their dogs are named Joe Biten and Bark Obama (not sure if that's a compliment or an insult). Many opportunities are taken in dialogue to feature political ideologies including micro-aggressions, victim shaming and profiling. There are even some painful moments where the white cast are lectured about inequality and how they naturally fit in everywhere they go because they're white while black people are profiled, ostracized, discriminated against and generally lose opportunities because of generational wealth. White people are told that they can never understand what that is like and that their accomplishments are invalidated.

The writers handle this in some creative ways, and the responses are thought provoking. A contradiction is present, for example, when their white nephew is profiled because of his past behaviour and he was bullied and felt like a misfit, but the answer is found in the Baker's #1 rule - family comes first.

Not all of the scenarios outlined make sense but on the whole it is a sweet story of a family fighting to be genuine and the gist of the plot remains the same as previous films, albeit with some changes to the characters. But too many faces quickly disappear into the background while posing some unanswered questions along the way. There are two sets of twins, contributing to the feeling that the children all blend together. It never truly feels like a full house. This is where the film struggles to stay coherent. There are many characters that fail to be distinct, and several agendas that don't support the plot, all contributing to the feeling that this film was rushed while never connecting well with the traditional family audience that typically supported this kind of a family comedy/drama.

Meh....it was ok. Pretty generic and nothing new or special. I like the idea of a mixed family but they made it so PC it kinda ruined it for me. I find Gabrielle Union plays the same type of character in most things I've seen her in, so I wasn't impressed with her performance. Zach Braff is a good comedic actor and so I expected a bit more of a comedy element from him. All in all it was just a below average family comedy that only made me laugh a few times.

Tries to cover too many social issues with no solid character building. I couldn't tell you what any of the childrens names were or anything about them.. a real missed opportunity.

This was one of the most eye-rolling experiences anyone could have watching a movie. From the moment this film begins it sets its low bar with a long expositional scene that shows the cringe-inducing Disney Channel quality that will follow. It pretentiously tries to be funny while at the same time trying to appeal to the younger audience of this generation leading to a film that feels like catering without style or substance. This was obviously not going to be a film that should be taken seriously, but considering the intended audience this film tries to appeal to, it should have had some sense of self-respect. The look of the film feels cheap and lazy. There were many points in this film that felt embarrassing to watch, especially because of how much it tries to throw at the screen in hopes that it will somewhat entertain anyone who bothers to watch it. It's a shame that throughout this entire film there wasn't an ounce of effort to tell a compelling story of any kind, leading to a film that tries too hard and morbidly fails in every aspect.

This was horrendous. And Walt must be spinning in his grave with this one. There have to some creative minds that Disney can hire. I honestly don't understand the lack of creativity.

Surprisingly, I was seated for both Cheaper By The Dozen flicks with Steve Martin in theaters as a kid when they came out, so I gave this one a shot.

If you're looking for some decent entertainment, try to avoid it. If you're forced to watch it with the kids, good luck... it's bad. Eye-rolling, lazy, unfunny, I felt bad for the actors involved because Zach Braff & some of the kids are actually trying. It's a sad excuse for shameful product placements and creating uninspired content from an existing IP.

Great fun! It really is a great reflection of real family problems. Just better than the original by a smidge but some poor acting by most of the kids. It is very entertaining and a great family movie. 7/10.

This movie seems to be all about portraying stereotypes. It was like watching a really long television commercial about the lives of privileged people or a commercial for medication.

If I'm being honest, I only watched this to support Gabrielle. The trailer looked awful and I really wasn't interested, buuuuuuut I'm glad I watched it. Is it corny? Yesss. Is it also cute and enjoyable? Absolutely. I know some of these bad reviews are probably just because they are "tired" of hearing about racism. Well trust me black people are "tired " of living it so you can suck it up. The movie deals with real issues and honestly they were super tame about it, so yeah, people can chill! Just watch the movie for yourself don't base it off the reviews. It was a cute feel good movie.

Click on any of the 10 star reviews and they are by people who have never reviewed anything on here before. Which would make sense I guess. You'd have to have been born yesterday to give this that many stars.

Creativity is dead. Movies are being regurgitated so fast at this point they are literal barf.

Mise-en-scene, mise-en-scene is what family movies need, proper camera movement. Being honest with itself was the best point of this movie, the definition it gives of family, but everything is in its most ideal form.

If you are looking for an entertaining movie to watch with the family or use as background noise, this film works. It has some sweet moments and is watchable, but from a critical standpoint, this movie is very flawed. The biggest issue is that this film has too many subplots and not enough time to adequately tell those stories or develop the characters.

The film tries to address racism, classism, Paul expanding the restaurant, life as a multicultural blended family, and the events going on in some of the kids' lives after the move. This results in some of the family getting lots of screen time while others barely get any, and we hardly know some kids' names or anything about their personalities.

Also, some of the monologues about racism in the film feel shoehorned into places where they didn't fit, and change the tone abruptly from comedy to after-school special. While there is a time and place for social issue discussion in cinema, these felt tacked on as though the writers used the characters as a mouthpiece for their own opinions. The speeches also seem to come out of nowhere, with no big event in the film prompting the discussions.

This story becomes hard to follow because of all the material the filmmakers packed in while failing to flesh out the details. This comes up particularly in Paul's scenes about expanding the restaurant. It's difficult to understand how some of the business meetings came about because so much of the backstory is missing.

If this film had narrowed its focus, it would've been much better. Having a clear story is something that the 2003 version of the film got right, and it's unfortunate that the reboot couldn't do the same. The film gets swallowed up by its own ambition to tell too big a story into little time.

This isn't a movie. It's an attempt by Disney to cram propaganda of todays talking points down everyones throats.

Everything just looks so out of place. I understand the need for diversity in our current climate, but using the template of the original cheaper by the dozen is incredibly stupid. .

Why couldn't Disney just create a new IP with some fresh ideas that made sense? Instead of remaking a film about a wholesome white family and replacing them with a wholesome black one. You have three white family members, it just doesn't make sense.

Immediately when the film begins you see the "Black lives matter" logo in one of the windows which became abundantly clear that this wasn't going to be a fun family movie. This hammers home even more when you realise the dogs are called "Joe Biden" and "Barrack Obama". It's political messaging disguised as a film.

Honestly, Disney should be ashamed that they are using kids films to promote political identity.

I'm British and really don't care for this type of stuff. We view movies as a form of escapism, not to be indoctrinated with left or right politics.

I knew I was in trouble when I saw the Black Lives Matter sign in the window of the opening scene. I have no issue with BLM, none at all, but it clearly showed what direction the film was heading. The white people are ALL idiots. All of them. Of course there's the obligatory goofy white man trying to dance, the white police officer offending the black woman, and pretty much every other liberal in your face nonsense. It's all forced and so cringe. What did we learn? White people are bad.

It is impossible to express all the ways this movie is dreadful. Here are the lowlights.

It has none of the charm or humour of the orginals.

It is so woke and nihilistic, it is as far removed from reality as the imagined world it is trying to critique.

Some movies should not be social commentaries - this is one of them.

Union cannot act and nor can some of the kids.

It is depressing.

I recently read an interview with the show runner from a very popular and well made TV series that has been off the air for a number of years. They asked him, with excitement, if he was going to reboot or restart the show. He simply said absolutely not, all these reboots are awful and I would never want to destroy the memory of my show by making a cheaper, woke, lazy version like everyone else in Hollywood is doing. I really wish someone from Disney would read that article and take it to heart. You built an empire on good entertaining family shows, don't destroy it by making cheap, woke, lazy shows (which seems to be all you are doing nowadays).

We found the film real fun and giggled all the way through. Far better than the originals and not cheesy rubbish like a lot of the kids films these days!

Interesting story with starting right in the family life together instead of how the parents met. Liked the story about trying to promote their family restaurant. This movie has none of the charm of the movies before it. As a comedy this movie falls flat, with very little laughs.

I'll admit - I only watched the trailer, but that was enough for me! I'm not one for remakes - especially when the originals can't be beat! The 1950 version, with Clifton Webb, Myrna Loy and Jeanne Craine, was wonderful! AND it's based on a TRUE story, and follows the book! The remakes with Steve Martin (who I do like) and now Braff & Union, can't compare with the pure, entertaining plot of the original. There's nothing like real life! When will Hollywood (and Disney) learn?

I watched this with our children and we really enjoyed it. The kids were intrigued by the storyline which follows two single parents and their merged family.

The kids weren't familiar with split biological parents, differing levels of wealth for those parents and what that looks or feels like for the kids perspective or parents.

They were familiar with the Dad's work / life balance theme.

The movie was modern which I think made it easier for the kids to relate to different issues raised, racism, relationships, value of family etc etc. A lot of the time we put on old films, the fact they are old is a bit of a hurdle.

The comedy was cheesy but I really enjoyed it and the kids did too.

It's not an academy award winner but it's so worth a watch and definitely doesn't deserve the negative reviews I'm seeing here..

Here's another remake that nobody asked for or wanted, there was no need for the first remake let alone this one, come on Disney lets have some original movies.

That said I decided to give it a go, I managed to get half way through before I turned it off.

If you want to watch this film watch the original or even the first remake, not this one.

We weren't expecting much with all the critics slamming this one, but it was non-stop laughter with actual decent plot stories and perfect casting. The kids were all amazing - especially the younger twins, and Gabrielle Union with Zach Braff had convincing chemistry and imo were perfectly cast and performed as such. Great writing, directing and just the right amount of fun and laughter. A must see, and a well deserved 8/10 from me.

I thought this movie was better than the Steve Martin version. A lot of complaints on here about it being too political, and I'm definitely not a fan of blatant political agenda's in movies. It had some moments, but was definitely not over the top like past Disney movies of late. Had some good messages, some funny stuff on occasion, and was pretty on par with the Steve Martin movie in terms of quality. I just liked this one better.

I think they got confused and thought they were making a Yours, Mine, and Ours remake. They messed with what separated the 2 franchises. Of course we all know that Braff plays himself again. It's unfortunate that they did this to one of my favorite Franchises. When I heard Disney Plus would be remaking it I was so excited. I should have known better. Hopefully they get it right the next time they reboot it.

I loved the Steve Martin ones but they were average films and the fact they had to use that name to get this garbage film out is desperate.

The two leads, neither of which have ever been good actors, scrubs obviously worked well with Zack and that's the one anomaly but since then he's done nothing. These two have so little chemistry it genuinely wouldn't have surprised me if she'd put in a clause to have very little contact with him. It was just uncomfortable and forced, thru had no spark, no nothing.

Within a minute with the blm sign, wheelchair bound girl and interracial family I got what this was about. Point scoring. Can we be honest, the type of people you're trying to make less ignorant don't fear jail or violence, they're not going to change via Disney, kids learn the behaviours, they are born hateful so it's got to the point where these tv experiments need to stop unless they work. I'm all for it if the chemistry is off the charts fun.

It's boring, the twins were funny, other kids were very poor had no family feel, no bond, none of the warmth of previous versions.

The scene where the basketball player changed into a weak cheerleader was disappointing, why was he cheering for Seth? It just felt weird, even the stranger felt more natural.

No humour, no nothing worthwhile, makes home alone last year look a masterpiece.

My one worry, a team of people would put this together and think it's atleast ok.