Other than being silly most of the time and stupid on occasion, there is nothing offensive about Daddy Day Camp.
No kids were killed in the making of the movie; no animals were squashed, eviscerated or otherwise compromised; there are no creepy scenes implying any sexual misconduct; and both the adults and children who try to win a inter-camp Olympics by cheating get their comeuppance.
As a time-waster, this might even please those who want their movies to be safely by the formula and not off the cuff, innovative or provocative.
But the odd thing about Daddy Day Camp is that it is a sequel to Daddy Day Care -- with a different cast.
In the original Daddy Day movie, Eddie Murphy played the hapless dad who puts his best slapstick foot forward to run a daycare centre with his buddy. Phil Garlin was the other freshly unemployed father who found a new calling with kids.
In the sequel, the daycare centre is wildly successful. But the two goofs, thanks to unusual circumstances involving one man's guilt about his son and his hangups about his father, expand their operations. They buy into a risky, dilapidated "wilderness" camp for day visitors, including some of the same children who populate the daycare centre.
Thing is, our heroes are now played by Cuba Gooding Jr. (he of the Oscar-winning Jerry Maguire) and Paul Rae (Air Buddies). Also new to the cast are Tamala Jones as Gooding's long-suffering wife, Richard Gant as his estranged militaristic dad, and Canuck character actor Lochlyn Munro as the smarmy psycho who runs a competing day camp.
I know Hollywood can change actors playing in the same role: There are many James Bonds; there soon may be a new Jason Bourne; and so on. But, usually, individuals get more than one kick at the can. Except for pompous Australian George Lazenby, who blustered his way to obscurity, all the official Bonds got more than one chance (Daniel Craig will be keeping his job).
So Daddy Day Camp is jarring because this is only the first sequel and the main characters maintain the same names while changing faces.
There is also a new director. He is former child actor Fred Savage (Wonder Years), who turned to directing television after he grew up. Daddy Day Camp is his feature film debut as a director and he needs to find a real voice before movies like this turn him into a journeyman hack.
The movie lurches forward from one predictable (if preposterous) scenario to the next. Reliance on jokes about bodily functions -- outhouses here blow up real good with someone sitting on a disgustingly filthy toilet -- indicates exactly what the filmmakers think the target audience is.
And "crap" has different levels of meaning here.
As for the actors, they do the best they can under the circumstances. That means most overact by overemphasizing an emotion or idea, because that is the only way you can get a thin plot to hurtle past exploding excrement and on to the next scene.
Gooding is one of the transgressors. But he is no more or less guilty than any of his colleagues (or anyone in the original Daddy Day Care, including that other Oscar nominee, Eddie Murphy). So Daddy Day Camp is exactly what you would expect -- Hollywood schlock.
(This film is rated PG)
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