OK, I admit it – I liked Cheaper By The Dozen. Didn't LOVE it, but I liked it. Which will place me squarely in the critical minority, I'm sure. But, here's the thing. I'm first, and foremost, a family man. And, from a parental perspective, I can tell you that films I can feel comfortable sitting down and watching with my kids are few and far between. Cheaper By The Dozen is one of those films, a non-threatening, light-hearted piece of fluff that leaves you feeling….pretty good.

       When the film opens, Tom (Steve Martin) & Kate (Bonnie Hunt) Baker are happily raising their brood of 12 children (including Tom Welling & Hilary Duff) in a quaint country home filled with the sounds of organized chaos. When Tom, a football coach, lands his dream job coaching his alma mater, the family picks up and moves to the city where the kids have a hard time adjusting to their new life and cope by creating plenty of mischief. Shortly after arriving in their new home, Kate learns that her recently completed book has been published and she reluctantly embarks on a two-week book tour leaving Tom to run things at home. With his growing responsibilities at work and a small army of rebellious children to contend with at home, Tom confronts the issues of balancing work and family with results that are often very humorous.

       If all of this sounds very formulaic it is. There is little in the way of surprises here – much of the plot is recycled from any one of a dozen other family films (this film is, in fact, based on a 1950 film of the same title although this film bears little resemblance to the Clifton Webb/Jeanne Crain version). But it is loaded with nice little comedic moments, such as a frog that disrupts the family breakfast, a running gag involving a chandelier (featuring a fit and trim Wayne Knight), Tom trying to cook dinner while dealing with a steady flow of child-related issues, and a gag involving the family dog, meat-soaked underwear, and Ashton Kutcher (I gotta admire the guy for looking straight-faced into the camera while delivering the line 'My face is what gets me jobs. I know I'm not a good actor, it's the face that gets the work!'). Under the comedic surface lie themes of family unity, cooperation, priorities, and unconditional love.

       As for the performances, they're ok. Martin (Bringing Down The House, Father of the Bride) and Hunt (Beethoven, Bug's Life) work nicely off of one another and have a pretty decent on-screen chemistry. Duff (The Lizzie Maguire Movie, Agent Cody Banks) doesn't have to stretch too far playing the family's teen fashion diva and Welling (TV's Smallville) gets plenty of face time as the oldest brother. Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly) is the oldest child who has recently left the nest to move in with her actor boyfriend. With an ensemble cast this large, it is difficult for anyone in the cast to stand out performance wise, but each gets a moment during the film to reveal a bit of his or her personality.

       The DVD is 2-sided with side 1 offering the film in 1.85:1 wide screen and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and side 2 offering a 1.33:1 full screen version. The disc features commentary from director Shawn Levy (Just Married) and members of the cast, a handful of deleted scenes, and a featurette entitled Director's Viewfinder: Creating a Fictional Family in which Levy details his process in assembling his cast of characters.

Overall, Cheaper By The Dozen is innocent and inoffensive family fare that the kids will probably love and parents will find rather enjoyable.