Movie Review: Daddy Day Camp
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There was a time when casting Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. wasn't the kiss of death for a feature film. But, frankly, after a long string of painful lowbrow comedies (Boat Trip, Norbit) and just-as-bad attempts to be taken seriously (Dirty, Shadowboxer), it's a wonder Gooding can still find work.
But find it he did in DADDY DAY CAMP, a project that was surely cast away by Eddie Murphy, who starred in the cute-but-not-sequel-worthy original, Daddy Day Care. Gooding plays Charlie Hinton -- who, with Phil Ryerson (Paul Rae, cast in the Jeff Garlin role), runs the successful daycare biz established in the original. But the action quickly shifts to an even less-original plot about the dads trying to reconnect with their sons by buying the run-down summer camp they attended as kids.
Amidst the movie's many fart and vomit jokes arises a primal need for the Bad News campers and their clueless counselors -- who just barely made the camp usable -- to compete with the neighboring camp, which is run by Lance Warner (Lochlyn Munro), a Hummer-driving jerk of a jock. Desperate, Charlie turns to his father, a Marine Corps. colonel (Richard Gant) to swoop in and rally the wary troops.
Kids who still giggle at poop gags or the sight of adults acting silly will delight in the outdoor mayhem, but parents will find the over-the-top performances and too-familiar story disappointing.
As for Gooding, one can only hope that the actor who wowed audiences and critics with his performances in Boyz N the Hood and Jerry Maguire can find his way again.
Families who like camp comedies will enjoy The Parent Trap (both the original and the remake, which stars a young Lindsay Lohan) and SpaceCamp. But skip anything with "Sleepaway" in the title; those are horror flicks.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this basically harmless family sequel (it follows up 2003's Daddy Day Care) does feature several fart and vomit jokes, as well as some cartoonish slapstick violence -- like an outhouse burning and falling around a counselor who's on the toilet. The language is mild (of the "crap" and "stupid" variety) and used almost exclusively as insults. One tween camper is obviously smitten with a pretty girl; she eventually kisses him on the cheek. But overall, even though it's not a particularly good movie, it's a clean, kid-friendly comedy.
Families can talk about the tradition of "camp" movies. What other summer camp movies have you seen? What do they have in common? Is this one different in any way? How? Families can also discuss good sportsmanship. The neighboring campers were really competitive, but they also cheated. Is winning the same if you cheat? Finally, families can talk about father-son relationships. Why was Charlie so opposed to having his father teach the kids? How was Charlie wrong about his father?
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