THE PARENT TRAP 1998
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon
2 :-) :-) out of 4, for a rose coloured view of family disharmony
Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson, Elaine Hendrix, Lisa Ann Walter, Simon Kunz. Screenplay: David Swift and Nancy Meyers & Charles Shyer, based on "Das Doppelte Lottchen" by Erich Kastner. Director: Nancy Meyers.
The danger of revamping a Disney classic is that it becomes unbelievably difficult for the successor, to fill the shoes of the original. Try as you might to revive the magical feel of the first Parent Trap, somehow the nineties version lacks the same charm and grace, that made the first an instant hit.
For beginners, Lindsay Lohan, the new Hallie and Annie Parker, who try to reunite their long separated parents, somehow lacks the adorable cheek of the original Hayley Mills. The basic story line is much the same from memory, throw in a butler and a maid and the matchmaking begins. If one word were needed to describe this film, it would be incredibly perky.
If one knows the story line already, you may question why two seemingly sensible adults, like Elizabeth James (Natasha Richardson) and Nick Parker (Denis Quaid), would split up so quickly after the birth of their daughter's; each taking a twin to care for on opposite sides of the earth. There is no answer, and the question remains unanswered. They just need to be apart, or the novelty of two girls finding out they're twins would be lost, and the fun, pranks and plotting would not begin.
If anything, this movie brings some hope to those children who are hurting after the separation or divorce of their parents. However, Disney has a rather simple minded knack of superficially dealing with such problems - the magical ending suggests that everyone lives happily ever after. Unfortunately, the reality is that many parents don't get back together, and the children carry much of the pain of family break-ups into their adult life. Perhaps, the more truthful, unhappy ending, which Disney has so obviously avoided, is the fact that Elizabeth James and Nick Parker would in reality never get back together again. But such is the policy of Disney, that this remote possibility could never be so.
Timothy Voon
e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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