Movie · Disney+ · 2003

Cheaper by the Dozen

The children are the point, and the job is not. Slapstick, and the priority is right.

Tom Baker coaches and lectures and is proud of a large family, and then he takes a schedule that makes him a visitor in it. The comedy is chaos, sometimes cheap, sometimes at a child's expense for the laugh. The spine is not cheap: a house with twelve children requires a parent who is in it, and a career that will not fit must lose. Kate is not a prop. She is the other adult keeping the thing alive.

A family can watch it and should say when a joke is only embarrassment. Keep the ending's choice. A large table is not a brand. It is a labor, and someone has to prefer it to the spotlight.

The eight

Industry
6/10
Coaching and a book tour. The conflict is which work counts.
Household
8/10
Twelve children and a marriage. The film's side is the table.
Piety
2/10
None.
Courage
5/10
He has to quit the flattering job.
Republic
4/10
A team, a town. The public is the temptation.
Temperance
5/10
The jokes pile on. The moral puts the appetite down.
Truth
6/10
The children tell him he has been gone. They are right.
Stewardship
7/10
What he keeps, if he chooses well, is the house rather than the résumé.

Live historicallyIf the work is eating the table, cut one duty that is not the children. This week.

Movie · Netflix · 2023

Leo

A creature who finally pays attention. The songs are extra. The listening is the point.

Leo is a lizard who thought the news of his death was the story, and finds out the story was the children he had been ignoring. That turn is worth the movie. The songs are broader than they need to be, and a few of the parents are sketches. Stay for the turn, not for the chorus. A child old enough for a feature can watch it with you and talk about who in the class nobody asks a question of.

The eight

Industry
5/10
He has had one job for decades and slept through it.
Household
6/10
The children have houses, and several of the houses are strained. He does not replace the parents.
Piety
4/10
No creed. He does learn that a life is owed outward.
Courage
6/10
He leaves the only room he knows because staying would be the smaller act.
Republic
5/10
A classroom is a small public, and he treats it as one.
Temperance
5/10
The film is loud in the musical numbers and quiet in the right scenes.
Truth
6/10
The children are believed. Their trouble is not a gag that resets.
Stewardship
6/10
What he hands on is attention, which the room was missing.

Live historicallyAsk one child in your life a question and wait for the whole answer.