The bittersweet feeling of watching a movie you loved as a child is often a source of conflict between desperate nostalgia and unfortunate reality, that they are usually never as good as you remember. Of course their are contradictions to this, The Lion King, the original Star Wars trilogy, yet usually they are a tragic letdown. One example of this for me was the 2003 Shawn Levy directed Cheaper by the Dozen. Following the highs and lows of a 14 member family, it’s easy to see why to an uneducated child the film seemed so appealing. Yet as an adult, I realized that not only was the film lackluster in terms of production, but it’s message was something even more frustrating, these kids are awful, awful human beings. Not only do they complain and ruin their parents life at any chance they can, but they also stop them from pursuing their dreams as individuals. Devoted father Tom Baker (Steve Martin) is forced to give up his dream coaching job  after his devil-children get in the way, and tired mother Kate Baker (Bonnie Hunt) is left no choice but to leave her book tour in New York after she becomes aware of Tom drowning under the weight of 12  spawns of Lucifer.

So the audience is left with a question at the films happy ending, as the Baker’s laugh giddily at their Christmas dinner. What is the point in this film? That in starting a family you must give up any hope of pursuing your own dreams? That family values triumph over all?

It’s most likely that, as with any bad film, there is no meaning. Yet it undoubtedly had it’s own symptomatic meaning from my perspective. The fact that this film can be possibly accepted as a child, demonstrates how truly selfish we are as kids, we don’t understand just how far our parents go and sacrifice for us. The fact that as an adult we can now see the errors in this film, arguably represents our eventual understanding, and delayed gratitude for how unconditionally loving and devoted a true parent is.

See this film, not to enjoy it, but to realize that you owe your parents your life.