Rating: 
Summary: We've watched it for the past 3 weeks....
Review: I've read a few other reviews that are written from an adults point of view. All I can say is what I have observed in my almost 4 year old son. He knows most of the dialogue by heart and says it along with the kids - remind you of your younger days? In one scene where the kids are running amok, he joins in the fun and runs all over the house. He practices his fake (not sure if it was real) klingon words. He also plays the games included in the DVD edition and they don't require a computer. The DVD edition is not for sale here. We rented it from Netflix and we won't be returning it until we buy it. The music behind it makes it very repeatable, so I can enjoy that when I'm not watching it but my son is. If your kids are in the 3-5 year old range you might be surprised by how much they like this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment
Review: A DVD collection contains movies worth watching over and over again. Daddy Day Care isn't a movie worthy of being found in a collection of DVDs. If I were a critic, I would give this movie two stars only because of it's originality and because it contains developed characters, conflict and resolution. Otherwise, I found that the story line was dragged out and that it should have contained more humor and better actors.
At the beginning of the story, Charlie (Eddie Murphy), and his wife(Regina King) take a tour of and enroll their son, Ben (Jonathan Katz), at Chapmen Academy Preschool, a strict private school for young children. Charlie is a marketer for a new brand of cereal, Veggie O's, targeted to kids. His wife finished law school just before their son was born and, after raising him for a few years, is now going to pursue a career as a lawyer. Charlie's cereal fails. He and his partner, Phil (Jeff Garlin), lose their job. After he and his wife look for a cheaper alternative to Chapmen Academy Preschool, they realize there are no decent alternatives. Charlie, then, comes up with the idea of Daddy Day Care. Charlie, Phil and later Marvin(Steve Zahn) run a daycare out of Charlie's home. At the beginning of their business, the children are out of control and they provide no structure for them. But, since it is a fun place for kids to go, more parents enroll their kids. Conflict arises between Chapmen and Daddy Day Care when Chapmen loses enrollments to Daddy Day Care. Chapmen sends Child Protection Agencies back and forth to make sure regulations are carried out, in hopes that they would be shut down. Chapman's attempts to shut Daddy Day Care down fail. At the end, Daddy Day care uses the money made, at the fund-raiser they held, towards a building for the business.
The plot is the most important part of the movie. The idea of the story was good but the plot began to drag in the middle. The repetition of arguments in the conflict faded my interest. There wasn't much humor to keep my attention. The only part that made me laugh out loud was when the little girls put makeup on Phil and he didn't know it until he saw himself in a mirror after he opened the door to the regulations agent. The best part was the end, during the fund-raiser. Kids might like this movie because there are kids in it. But, I don't think very many kids will even find this movie funny.
Actors can make or break a movie. Eddie Murphy was the only well known actor in this movie. I didn't recognize any of the other actors. Eddie Murphy is a good actor in comedy movies but he needed another good actor to support him and strengthen the humor. Jeff Garlin did fairly well but the movie would have been funnier with Eddie Murphy and Jim Carey running the day care.
I was disappointed after watching this movie because I really wanted to see it. I work at a daycare and I love children. I begged my boyfriend to watch it with me and then I fell asleep on him trying to watch it. Daddy Day Care is definitely not a movie I would watch over and over. You wouldn't find it in my DVD collection.
Rating:
Summary: Let's not forget the real gems in this movie...the KIDS!!!
Review: I gotta tell you, for the most part, I'm a huge Eddie Murphy fan. Even though a lot of the movies he's made in recent years have sorta been dull (but always funny), his artistic choices I'm sure reflect his maturation into full adulthood, fatherhood, and family-themed values. Having said that, Daddy Day Care continues in that vain. It is, however, an extremely enjoyable film and is supported (as usual in all of Murphy's films) by a wonderful and talented cast. Especially the real stars of the film: THE KIDS!! The casting directors are to be given alot of credit for finding some of the cutest, naturally funny bunch of kids that I've ever seen paired together in one film in a long time. You'll laugh over and over again every time you see the scene in which Eddie's partner's son has a "gaseous" episode in the backyard, or the reaction of the kid with separation anxiety when first offered "the bribe", or...and so on and so forth (too many to name here). The kids are HILARIOUS! Eddie plays well off of them, as they do off of him and the rest of the cast. It's a joy to watch and I highly recommend this film to "kids" of all ages!
Rating:
Summary: A Nice Surprise from Eddie Murphy
Review: I usually don't rent Eddie's movies because they are not generally family friendly. But this one was rated PG (which surprised me) so I chanced it. What a nice surprise! It's a cross between Mr. Mom and Kindergarten Cop. Though it's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, it is funny, touching, and free of bad language (unless you count the word Butthead!). The kids are all cute of course, and there is a lot of predictable bathroom humor. But the obligatory "kick the grownup in the crotch" scene was so unnecessarily long and drawn out. Come on Hollywood! It's just not funny anymore! Was it ever? Steve Zahn was hilarious again as the Just-a-kid-at-heart Trekkie. Probably Eddie's die-hard fans from his early movies and SNL won't be too impressed, but face it, Eddie's older now - he's not a crazy, brash youngster anymore. Just as Robin Williams had to, it's time Eddie moved past that image.
Rating:
Summary: another cookie-cutter comedy
Review: "Daddy Day Care" is a one-joke comedy that wears out its welcome in almost world record time. The cookie-cutter premise involves Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin as two recently laid-off fathers who decide to open up a day care center in their neighborhood.Once the setup has been established, the filmmakers shift into automatic pilot mode for the 92 achingly boring minutes it takes for them to spin out their story. The plot consists of little more than endless variations on a single theme: how two grown men cope with the problems and vicissitudes of dealing with preschool-aged children. If the humor doesn't work, the sentimentality near the film's end is even less effective, as the moviemakers move in for the emotional kill, trying to bring some profound "meaning" to a basically hollow, studio-generated enterprise. Angelica Houston provides some much-needed vinegar as the cloyingly named Miss Harridan, the uptight owner of a rival day school who spends most of her time trying to sabotage the efforts of the far more benevolent Daddy Day Care which has begun to usurp most of her privileged clientele. Unfortunately, the role has been conceived as such an overwritten and overwrought caricature that even the talented Ms. Houston is unable to do anything even halfway effective with it. This is another one of those movies in which Murphy gets to show his cushy, "soft" side, fine for the family trade, I guess, but not very inspiring for his legion of devoted followers. Though "Daddy Day Care" may be unobjectionable as "family" entertainment (despite its over reliance on scatological humor), it is really lowest-common-denominator filmmaking - uninspired, unimaginative and unmitigatingly unimpressive.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid Comedy
Review: This film is pretty self-explanitory form the title. Two dads (Murphy & Garvin) with little or no parenting experience get together to form a cheaper daycare alternative. They get in way over their heads initially, but after they are joined by Marvin (Zahn) they begin to relate to the kids and their issues. The story is somewhat predictable, but still manages to entertain with comedy. Steve Zahn by far gives the best performance of the film. Overall family fun.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Family Fun
Review: As a co-owner of a daycare, and being male, I was really interested in catching this movie. First of all, the kids are really cute. Especially the kid who plays Ben, Eddie Murphy's "son". But the entire cast of kids did a fantastic job. I love Eddie Murphy so I wasn't surprised to be entertained by his antics (he has the best facial expressions in everything he does, very likeable). But I also wanted to applaud Steve Zhan who did fantastic as a Star Trek geek. I guess he stood out for me because he reminded me so much of myself especially when around fellow Trekkies. As a daycare provider, I did find some things entertaining. I've heard the horror stories from parents looking for a daycare, so the scene of Ben's parents trying to find a new daycare was quite funny. The scenes of the house being destroyed... oh, there is no way around that with a group of kids. You've got the inspector who we need to deal with on a regular basis (of course, we had to pass inspection BEFORE opening unlike this movie, but it was fun to see the interaction with the inspector). One of the things that made me go, "yeah right" was the competition aspec. No, I'm sorry, Day Care is not a cut-throat business. Actually, there is a lot of business to go around and there seems to be no dominate player that nobody can raise a candle to. That idea was very laughable to me, and I'm sure to anybody else who catches this movie. But the plot would be thin without this aspect, so I can somewhat understand. But I should deduct a star for the very idea... ...But I won't, and only because of the one thing I appreciate most about this movie. Other than some brief questionable parts, this was a fairly clean movie that you can feel comfortable having the entire family watch. Bravo for making a family movie, more need to be made. It was nice to watch a movie and not grimace or have to turn it off because I'm sitting next to my son. Hopefully some of the Hollywood Execs take note as the success of this movie. I would recommend this to anybody.
Rating:
Summary: Good Famiy Fun
Review: Eddie Murphy is hilarious, and this movie is a step up from the past couple of movies that he has been in. Murphy's character gets fired after his veggie o's cereal is a flop. There is a tickling scene with two men dressed as a carrot and a brocolli while trying to make the kids in the taste test like the cereal, but the kids are gagging and throwing the cereal, complaining that it tastes terrible. Murphy's wife and young son had been complaining about murphy not spending enough time with them, and he finally has a chance to get closer to his son. In fact, he becomes really close with his son when he starts his own daycare center with his ex co worker. The idea came to him when he was sitting with his friend at the playground while complaining that all of the daycare centers are trash. The school that he wanted to send his son too was too expensive. There is a humorous scene in which murphy, his wife, and the child are touring the school while the students are studying for SATs and learning five languages in a DAYCARE center. At first no one wants men to take care of their children, but they soon learn to trust the two men. The expensive daycare center is losing business, and so now the war is on! A very funny movie that I recommend to all!
Rating:
Summary: You get what you expect
Review: Movies that play kids in leading roles opposite adults are typically funny. Eddie Murphy = very funny. Therefore, this movie should be FUNNY ... and it is! If you don't laugh during this movie, then you must have had your funny bone surgically removed. It is getting less and less surprising to see Eddie Murphy in family comedies (i.e. no bad language), and I find it refreshing. Eddie is every bit as funny without the gutter humor as he is with it. Two thumbs up for the new, family-friendly Eddie Murphy! Murphy is a perfect choice for this film, and the half-pint supporting cast is every bit as funny as the funny man himself. About the plot ... Murphy and his friend are ad execs, working on a cereal campaign that is destined to fail, although they don't see it coming. Not surprisingly, they lose their jobs when the campaign goes sour. Murphy lives in a beautiful house in the suburbs with his adorable son and wife, who is a stay-at-home Mom (a refreshingly functional family vs. today's norm). Their son was supposed to be starting preschool at the elite Chapman School, where Angelica Huston is the pompous and cut-throat head mistress. Chapman becomes too expensive for Murphy's family as he becomes a stay-at-home Dad while Mom goes off to work. Having trouble finding a new job, he gets the bright idea to start a day care center ... Daddy Day Care. He enlists the help of his partner from work, and eventually Steve Zahn as well, and starts his own day care in his house. The kids that he babysits in addition to his own play off Murphy beautifully, and lend very funny antics to the film. When Murphy's day care becomes successful, despite several pitfalls along the way, Huston attempts to derail Daddy Day Care in an attempt to squelch what she begrudgingly realizes is stiff competition. At the pinnacle of Daddy Day Care's success, Murphy is offered his old job back. He must make a choice between his previous wealthy, powerful position and his son's desire to keep Daddy Day Care open ... therein lies the essential "moral of the story." This movie will make you laugh and leave you smiling whether you're 5 or 35 ... well worth the purchase. In fact, I'd say that adults will enjoy this movie more than kids, but it is at least safe to watch with the kids. In terms of the DVD itself ... The Special Edition (the only edition I've seen) contains both regular and widescreen on the same disc, which is always nice. The extras on this DVD are great -- they give you an opportunity to watch these funny kids in real life, and to see how incredibly bright and talented they are at such a young age. The featurette is impressive graphically, and kids will probably enjoy it, but I have no idea what it has to do with this movie.
Rating:
Summary: A Huge Letdown
Review: I really thought that this was going to be a funny film judging from the previews. But, sadly the trailers contain the funniest parts of Daddy Day Care. Eddie Murphy sleepwalks through this mess, cracking an occasional joke here or there but this is by no means vintage Murphy. The character development is slim to none and we hardly get to know lest care about any of the children or adults involved in the film. Eddie Murphy must blindly throw darts at scripts and take roles because he could not have read this thing and actually been excited about it. Daddy Day Care is a great premise ruined by a horrible script and lack of enthusiasm by it's main players. Not Recommended.
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