What do actors always say?  There is nothing worse than working with kids and animals. Eddie Murphy (I Spy) has that covered with his two Dr. Dolittle films and his newest Daddy Day Care. Murphy has given up the comedy that made him a success and is letting the kids and the animals get all the laughs. Rest assured this is a funny movie for the children with all the jokes aimed at the kids and a full arsenal of bathroom humor to guarantee their laughs, but what is really missing is vintage Murphy and a really great laugh. I never laughed so hard when Murphy played all those characters in The Nutty Professor, now that was comedy.

Charlie Hinton (Murphy) and his pal Phil (Jeff Garlin, Bounce) get fired from their well paid marketing jobs and can’t seem to find work, so they go into business together, the daycare business. This pits them against the Princeton of all pre-schools run by Mrs. Harridan (Angelica Huston, Blood Work). The school is a uniform wearing, multi-language teaching, SAT prep school for three-year-olds. But she is losing kids to Daddy Day Care everyday, so she has to play a little dirty. In the meantime, as the Daddy’s discover what it takes to run a daycare, they are dealing with one crisis after another just to keep their doors open.

Murphy is just there to react to what the kids do or say. A very safe and sweet movie trying to appeal to the ‘family,’ only the real humor is lost in the process. Director Steve Carr (Dr. Dolittle II) teamed up with Murphy again for a safe and predictable kids movie. Also appearing in this film were Hailey Noelle Johnson, Susan Santiago, Leila Arcieri (XXX), Joan M. Blair (Tomcats), Lacey Chabert (The Wild Thornberrys), Elle Fanning (I Am Sam), Brie Hill Arbaugh, Laura Kightlinger (Shallow Hal), Regina King (Enemy of the State), Michelle Krusiec (Sweet Home Alabama), Parker McKenna Posey, Sloane Momsen (We Were Soldiers), David Powledge (Rat Race), and Steve Zahn (National Security). Daddy Day Care was far to safe and tame for Eddie Murphy and if he is not careful he might end up only playing the role of the daddy. This movie was more concerned about being sweet and delivering that moral message than making us laugh. The outtakes at the end were funnier than the movie because Murphy was making the jokes instead of reacting to the kids. Bill Cosby can make us laugh without a potty mouth and Murphy is very capable of the same. There is a huge difference in family humor and straddling-the-fence safe humor. One makes us laugh and the other slightly entertains us. I gave Daddy Day Care five couches for playing it way too safe and losing the real comedian in the process.

Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:46:06 AM

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