Kinda terrible. I've seen all the previous versions of Cheaper by the Dozen and this was by far the worst.

Lets start with Kate, the ex-wife of the lead male character Paul. Kate always seems to be hanging around the house where Paul and Zoey live, but there is no explanation for why Paul seems to have full custody and why Kate doesn't seem to have any. She is constantly called "the sitter" as if she is just around to baby sit, which she does, poorly.

Then there is Dom, Zoey's ex-husband who ends up being a jerk threatening to take custody of his children away after the daughter sneaks out to visit a boyfriend, and the son dresses as a punk/goth for a birthday party.

Zoey herself was such a strange character who at every turn took everyone's comments to be racist, or prejudicial in other ways, and she was always accusing people of being so. Then when someone actually was racist and actually did accuse one of the kids of being a thief, Zoey is just like, ok whatever and bewilderingly that person gets away with those comments several times over the course of the movie with barely a blink from Zoey. She also kept accusing Paul of leaving her out of things involving the business, but she didn't imo put a lot of effort into talking to Paul about what was going on with that. Its 2022 (in the movie) they could have been facetiming, zooming, txting, doing virtual tours of shop spaces for the franchise etc. There is absolutely no reason she couldn't have been just as involved as Paul was.

The kids themselves were charming and fun, but aside from a few "cute" moments nothing about the plot involved them (other than being a part of the family.)

Also I think somewhere along the way the movie forgot how many kids there were supposed to be.

The entire movie there only 10 kids:

(2) Kate and Paul's daughters: Ella and Harley
(1) Haresh, who was adopted by Kate and Paul who are his godparents (his parents were killed in a car accident)
(2) Zoey and Dom's children: DJ and and Deja
(4) then Zoey married Paul and they had two sets of twins, Luca and Luna, and Bronx and Bailey.

Thats 9 so far.

(1) Then Paul and Zoey took in Paul's nephew Seth.

So that makes 10 kids.

[spoiler]At the end of the movie we see they named their new restaurant "Baker's Dozen". Now a Baker's Dozen is actually 13. But there are only 10 kids. Since Dom invested in the "Sauce" I suppose the Baker's dozen is the 10 kids plus the three adults. Zoey, Paul and Dom. But thats actually confusing because that leaves Kate (who is still a part of the family) out.[/spoiler]

And the entire joke of the title is a call back to the original 1950 movie, where someone asks the father "Hey, mister! How come you got so many kids?" and the father replies "Well, they come cheaper by the dozen, you know". The joke works in the first two movies because there are 12 kids. It does not work in this version, because there are only 10 kids.

Let me start this with admitting that I have never watched the original movie from 1950, but I like the remake and it's sequel with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt just fine. Sure they are not great or innovative in any way, but charming and sweet and profit from a great and believe cast dynamic. And an at leat somewhat coherent storytelling.

I'm also still convinced this film is actually another remake of "Yours, Mine and Ours" and they got confused during production, because it has really more in common with those films.

The cast is okay, with Gabrielle Union and Erika Christensen serving as the saving grace of the film, but most characters just feel very random or at worst unlikeable. The kids are introduced via voice over and while some get more personality than others (which is a think in Remake 1.0 as well) they never truly feel like a family union. Same goes for Union and Braff who just lack any kind of believable chemistry.

The story is also truly lacking. Not that the Steve Martin version (and yes, I can't help it but compare them) tells the most original story, but it still feels more well-rounded than whatever this mess is. To make it short, breakfast is not that interesting.

The best thing about this movie is obviously it's very diverse cast, but as most of the time, not the way Disney is handling it. They cram in so many different issues and messages that characters and story get lost in it. The film is build around sending messages (albeit good ones) instead of incorporating them naturally, so everything else suffers for it. Characterizations, relationships etc... It barely feels like a movie and more like Disney trying really hard to improve their image... again. The problem is, this has been done better before.

What's left is a soulless reboot that feels completely unearned and unnecessary. While people are still looking back fondly at the original and the remake, this one will probably join other recent remakes in the realm of "Movies YouTube Reviewers Make Fun Of and then Will Never Be Watched Again."

Or Disney wants a sequel because it means some fast money.

Unfortunately... rather bad.

'Cheaper by the Dozen' undoubtedly has its heart in the right place but what a mess of an execution, they basically come up with as many messages as possible and cram them together - but there's one problem, they forgot the glue! It's just a sequence of points, as it culminates with a woeful, forced family drama.

The cast make it slightly more watchable than it would've otherwise been, I will say that - they aren't great, but are predominantly hindered by the lame dialogue and yawnful character development. Zach Braff and Gabrielle Union are a solid pairing, while Mykal-Michelle Harris and Leo A. Perry are the pick of the younger lot - I would've liked to have seen more of their characters, as those two definitely had the best comedic timing of the kids. Others I note: 'Talking Dead' favourite Ron Funches and 'White Chicks' alum Brittany Daniel.

The only hero from this 2022 flick? Larry Sims. That dude went ham on Union's hair - I've never noticed a character go through so many hairstyles before! Hope he got paid enough.

I feel a tiny bit bad for disliking something that tries to come out meaningful, but man this is a cringefest. If you want a film adaptation of the 1948 novel, I'd recommend the 2003 remake with Steve Martin.