Hello and welcome back. Today, I'll be taking a look at the TV sequel, The Parent Trap II. This film came out in the '80s and so far, my track record with '80s Disney TV material has been varied but I think that this is one of the better things from that era I've watched. Now fun fact here, majority of the names of the main cast are references to past films that Hayley Mills starred in as a child and I have to say that when I first saw Hayley in this film, I couldn't help but to think of Miss Bliss.
The Plot
Now let's just get this out of the blue. While this film does share similarities to the original, it is not a retread of the original. There are enough differences between the two to enjoy them on different levels. With that out of the way, let's get to the meat. It's summertime in Tampa and Sharon's daughter Nikki is going to summer school to improve her grades as they are moving to New York. Sharon is divorced in this film and this actually reminds me of something said in the first film. There as summer school, Nikki meets Mary and the two become fast friends and we find out that her father is widowed. The girls concoct a plan to get their parents together. At first all of their attempts are met with failure. That is until, they call upon Susan and have her pretend to Sharon until that cat comes out of the bag. Now for the most part, this was an enjoyable film and a bit cheesy and it's odd, this film compared to the '61 original feels more dated with the references to MTV and that one of the girls say that Ralph Macchio as being hot. Even with all of these, I still find this film cute and enjoyable in a cheesy kind of way and I'm not using cheesy to say this film is bad because I feel that a film can be fun and cheesy while still being good. This is an example of that.
Characters
Now I won't be breaking this down into my usual categories because all of the main characters are important and they are the only ones that need to be brought up. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Nikki & Mary played by Carrie Kei Heim & Bridgette Anderson
Now I'll admit that the two leads in this weren't anywhere as good as Hayley in the original but to be fair that apples and oranges. On their own in this film, they were a lot of fun and the way their friendship was believable. Now I will say at points it was bit hard to tell the two apart because they had a lot in common. As I said they trick their parents to go out and I have to say that is so weird to see Sharon's daughter do to her what she did to her parents. I will say there is at least one notable trait that separates the two and I don't mean this to be a hit on the character but Nikki came across being more whiny and bratty than Mary. Now on the one hand, I get it. Moving to a new city is scary but there is no need to exaggerate everything but then again, kids do that.
Sharon played by Hayley Mills
Now I admit that it may seem odd to break up Sharon and Susan but unlike the first film, they serve different roles in the film Hayley as Sharon goes back to what I said about Hayley Mills' character looking like Miss Bliss. Sharon in this film was frumpy. Yeah, that's it. She seemed to be in a down mood because of her divorce and had next to zero interest in dating but with the girls' final trick, their parents got together.
Bill played by Tom Skerritt
Aunt Susan also played by Hayley Mills
Now I do apologize about this picture. I realize it isn't the best but it works well here. It's odd out of all the twins, Susan reminded the most of her younger self mainly due to the fact that she pretended to be her sister because her niece asked her to do it. Man, that is an awesome aunt. Someone that is willing to go along with the plan of two little girls to get their parents together. Then again she did the same thing at 13. We also find out that is marred to a Navy man, I believe. I'm not positive what uniform he was wearing. If you go back up above to what I said about Bill, this is also my problem because it was clear Susan didn't have any feelings for Bill, it seemed as though he was falling for a married man albeit unknowingly.
My Final Thoughts
This film is one that I realize is not as good as the original but at the same time, I can't deny the fact that I had more fun with this film and would probably watch this one again before I watched the original. I like the classic but there was just something about the sequel that resonated with me more and even though, it felt more dated. That didn't bug me. I know some people may not understand this opinion but it goes back to what I said yesterday about liking the remake more. Both of these are good films in their own right but I can't explain it, I liked this one more. I do apologize if this seems like a 180. Peace!
The Plot
Now let's just get this out of the blue. While this film does share similarities to the original, it is not a retread of the original. There are enough differences between the two to enjoy them on different levels. With that out of the way, let's get to the meat. It's summertime in Tampa and Sharon's daughter Nikki is going to summer school to improve her grades as they are moving to New York. Sharon is divorced in this film and this actually reminds me of something said in the first film. There as summer school, Nikki meets Mary and the two become fast friends and we find out that her father is widowed. The girls concoct a plan to get their parents together. At first all of their attempts are met with failure. That is until, they call upon Susan and have her pretend to Sharon until that cat comes out of the bag. Now for the most part, this was an enjoyable film and a bit cheesy and it's odd, this film compared to the '61 original feels more dated with the references to MTV and that one of the girls say that Ralph Macchio as being hot. Even with all of these, I still find this film cute and enjoyable in a cheesy kind of way and I'm not using cheesy to say this film is bad because I feel that a film can be fun and cheesy while still being good. This is an example of that.
Characters
Now I won't be breaking this down into my usual categories because all of the main characters are important and they are the only ones that need to be brought up. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Nikki & Mary played by Carrie Kei Heim & Bridgette Anderson
Now I'll admit that the two leads in this weren't anywhere as good as Hayley in the original but to be fair that apples and oranges. On their own in this film, they were a lot of fun and the way their friendship was believable. Now I will say at points it was bit hard to tell the two apart because they had a lot in common. As I said they trick their parents to go out and I have to say that is so weird to see Sharon's daughter do to her what she did to her parents. I will say there is at least one notable trait that separates the two and I don't mean this to be a hit on the character but Nikki came across being more whiny and bratty than Mary. Now on the one hand, I get it. Moving to a new city is scary but there is no need to exaggerate everything but then again, kids do that.
Sharon played by Hayley Mills
Now I admit that it may seem odd to break up Sharon and Susan but unlike the first film, they serve different roles in the film Hayley as Sharon goes back to what I said about Hayley Mills' character looking like Miss Bliss. Sharon in this film was frumpy. Yeah, that's it. She seemed to be in a down mood because of her divorce and had next to zero interest in dating but with the girls' final trick, their parents got together.
Bill played by Tom Skerritt
Bill was Mary's dad and he was a likable enough guy but there is one problem that I had not with the character but rather his arc. In that when the girls had Susan pretend to be Sharon, it seemed as though he was actually falling for Susan while Sharon was oblivious to everything going on. See, I don't blame the character and I don't if falls under the cliche of The Misunderstanding. A cliche that I'm not too particularly fond of but I think it just teeters there and if it this is the case, the cliche is used well
Aunt Susan also played by Hayley Mills
Now I do apologize about this picture. I realize it isn't the best but it works well here. It's odd out of all the twins, Susan reminded the most of her younger self mainly due to the fact that she pretended to be her sister because her niece asked her to do it. Man, that is an awesome aunt. Someone that is willing to go along with the plan of two little girls to get their parents together. Then again she did the same thing at 13. We also find out that is marred to a Navy man, I believe. I'm not positive what uniform he was wearing. If you go back up above to what I said about Bill, this is also my problem because it was clear Susan didn't have any feelings for Bill, it seemed as though he was falling for a married man albeit unknowingly.
My Final Thoughts
This film is one that I realize is not as good as the original but at the same time, I can't deny the fact that I had more fun with this film and would probably watch this one again before I watched the original. I like the classic but there was just something about the sequel that resonated with me more and even though, it felt more dated. That didn't bug me. I know some people may not understand this opinion but it goes back to what I said yesterday about liking the remake more. Both of these are good films in their own right but I can't explain it, I liked this one more. I do apologize if this seems like a 180. Peace!
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