The Parent Trap

(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing a screenshot from "Good Morning, Miss Bliss", and then clips from "The Parent Trap", 1961 version)

Doug (vo): Well, before her breakthrough performance in the unbelievably popular "Good Morning, Miss Bliss", Hayley Mills got her start with Disney in the classic film "The Parent Trap".

Story

Doug (vo): The story? Two identical twin girls are separated at birth, but then coincidently meet up at a summer camp. At first, they're offended that the other dare look like the other one, and they try playing practical jokes on each other, but after a while, they start to talk to each other more and identify with one another, and find out that they're actually sisters. So they decide to step things up a bit and switch places, one daughter finally meeting her father for the first time, and the other finally meeting her mother for the first time. Eventually, it's revealed what happened, and the mother and the father get together and try to decide what to do. While that's going on, the girls try to set a trap - a parent trap, if you will - to try and get them back together. This is especially tricky, seeing how the father is marrying another woman, who, of course, is the stick in the mud, who never knows how to have fun and always needs her comeuppance to be given to her by, well, our two main heroes.

Review

Doug (vo): This is definitely not a movie like Darby O'Gill or Davy Crockett where there's big adventures or anything like that it's a much smaller kinda story. And as smaller stories go, its... okay. It kept my interest and I wanted to know what was going to happen, and at the time the split screen technology was unbelievable, but now it's kind of obvious. Really the focus of the movie is on Hayley Mills who does a great job as both girls. And what makes it so good is that you know distinctly their personalities in which one is which but it's never overplayed, its not like one is super mean and super harsh and the other is like a complete angel. Their both still real girls with real problems and, well, real personalities. And that's tough to do for a child actor. And she pulls it off really well. I'm personally never a fan of those romantic comedies where they're gonna marry the snob and you know they shouldn't be together and they go back and forth whether or not the couple you know is gonna get together is really gonna get together, it drives me nuts. I think that's partially why I like the first half of this movie much more than I like the second half were it actually is focusing in getting the parents together. The father and mother do make a good couple it's just, oh, why do we have to have that cliched character there? Uh. At least to this movies credit, this was done long before this was repeated over and over in say Wedding Crashers and other romantic comedies. So I guess you can give it a little leeway there too.

Final thoughts

Doug (vo): On the whole, I see the movie is kind of a cute waste of time. There's nothing in that much value to it, but there's nothing I feel like I've really lost. It just kind of is what it is: a cute little movie about two girls who look alike, turned out, are sisters. They share their emotions, do girly things, get in trouble and mishaps. And it's fine for what it is. It's just not a film I'm gonna be watching over and over and over because I like it so much. But it wasn't bad. I just think that's all I need. If you got the time and you just want to see a charming little film with a charming little child actress, this isn't a bad one to check out.

[A scene showing the twins bowing after singing to their parents is played]

Singers: The parent trap!