Cheaper by the Dozen 2: Critic Reviews

A family fantasy that plays at being happy and picture-perfect but primarily comes off as fake and dismayingly unfunny.

This messy blend of silly slapstick and oversentimentality probably won't please children, teenagers or adults.

Give Dozen a slight edge to the mournful Yours, Mine & Ours as a holiday season bottom-feeder, because Martin and Levy are better at slapstick than Dennis Quaid.

This is definitely a family trip to stay home and skip.

Noisy, silly, gratingly upbeat, and piously sentimental, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is what passes for wholesome family entertainment these days.

A cheerless sequel to an uninspired remake.

In this Hollywood fantasy about a family with 12 kids, nobody does chores, we never see dirty dishes and mom (Bonnie Hunt) is always immaculately groomed, dressed and smiling June Cleaver-style, right down to the tasteful string of pearls.

As I watched this sequel, a certain good feeling began to make itself known. Yes, the movie is unnecessary. However, it is unnecessary at a higher level of warmth and humor than the recent remake Yours, Mine and Ours.

A harmless, inoffensive bit of family programming during the holiday season -- and there's nothing wrong with that. But 'harmless' doesn't have to mean dull.

There's a discernible lack of enthusiasm from almost everyone involved, and Duff, who's gone from wholesome to haggard in two short years, is flat-out scary.

While their last movie relied on boisterous physical humor, this is built on a family feud.

Cute kids. Harried fathers. Wise, understanding mothers. Some stupid pet tricks. A little girl falls in love. Over-protective father messes things up. Money isn't everything. Tender moments. And lots of pratfalls.

It aims to be pleasant and good-natured, which it is. There are enough laughs scattered throughout to keep everything moderately amusing, and the cast is likeable.

Bland, canned but studiously professional.

Two Dozens and Ours together don't have a dozen laughs between them.

Sequels tend to be stupider by the dozen, and part two is perhaps overshadowed only by the banality and pointlessness of say, Leprechaun 6.

Sure ain't a movie. Nope, it's a product, pure and very simple and carefully tested to sell to the widest possible market.

A textbook example of how not to mess with success, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is every bit as forced, synthetic, banal and mawkish as the first edition.

There's something pernicious about a toxic mix of sitcom and snickering sex jokes getting packaged and effectively sold as wholesome fun for the family.

Many families are likely to find Cheaper by the Dozen 2 a holiday treat.

I was convinced I was going to hate this film. But, it didn't bug me as much as I thought it would.

I think it should be considered child abuse to inflict this tripe upon children.

A sequel every bit as bland, forced and flat as the generic 2003 comedy which spawned it.