The Parent Trap (Vault Disney Collection)
by David Swift
Our Price: $64.75
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $6.21 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Brian Keith, Charles Ruggles, Hayley Mills, Maureen O'Hara, Una MerkelDirector: David Swift
Cinematographer: Lucien Ballard
Writer: David Swift
Editor: Philip W. Anderson
Producer: George Golitzen
Writer: Erich Kästner
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 129 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-05-07
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Walt Disney Video
DVD Reviews of The Parent Trap (Vault Disney Collection)
DVD Review: Yes - but will modern kids like it?
Summary: 5 Stars
Will modern children like it? This is a 50 year old Disney movie about
a divorced couple with twins. The twins meet at camp and trade places.
The plot is classic, almost Shakespearean. The actors are all better
than the Disney average. The music, if you call Bobby Darren's work music, is
so dated that it sounds like a parody, but that will not be noticed by
the target audience, which is kids and nostologic oldsters.
The 8 and 10 year old that watched it with me were literally bouncing
around the room since they found the film so funny and exciting that they
could not sit still.
Well, that's the bottom line. They insist it get 5 stars. Anything more to be said?
Yes.
Those two kids are white, live with both their biological, married parents, and
have been brought up to believe that marriage is good, and divorce is bad. They are
the optimal audience. If that doesn't describe your kids, "The Parent Trap" is probably
not a good idea. Movies like "The Parent Trap", provoked the making of "Mrs. Doubtfire",
which is usually floating around in Kid's Movieland. If your kids have seen that, your
might want to show them "The Parent Trap" so that they can make some sense of the Robin
William's long weepy speeches there.
One other yellow flag. One of the marital problems, which in the end is just ignored, is
that the wife occasionally socks the husband in the eye. This is not treated as a
physical abuse, or even a serious issue, and attributed to the wife's fiery Irish background,
signalled by red hair. If your kids have had to deal seriously with this problem, this movie
might not be for you. Other stereotypes of the era are there as well. Both husband and wife
are fabulously wealthy, dress up for dinner, and don't do any work. There are plenty of loyal
domestic servants, but they are all white so the at least there is no "Mammy" problem with the
dialogue.
This is a popular story and there have been many remakes, but all the ones I have seen
are terrible. I am told that the "pre-remake", a 1950 BW German film, is quite charming,
but unless your kids are bilingual old-movie buffs, that's irrelevant. What makes the remakes
terrible is what saves this work, which is that it is not a message movie, is not at all preachy,
and there are no moral lessons wrapped up in fake dialogue.
This is a old fashioned Disney film, so there is none of the flatulence/groin humor
kids have come to expect from the Disney experience.
The DVD is sharp and nice as far as the movie goes. The controls follow the typical
Disney method: Every time you put the dvd in the machine, they block your controls and
force you to watch a ream of advertisements before you can get to the main menu, where
'play' is down in the corner of the screen and hard to get to, so that if the kids make
a mistake they instead get the features, which are, of course, more advertisements. Of
course, the 'play' key is blocked.
If you stop the film, that counts as if the dvd has been ejected, so when you restart you
have to watch all the advertisements again, as well as the charming FBI warning threatening
you with not only a 250K fine but 3 years in jail. For kids movies this is a especial pity,
since they will typically watch the same movie many times, and so are stuck not only watching
long loud advertisements in a movie they own, but the same ones, over and over and over.
You might want to spare them the pain and make a videotape of just the movie for day to day
watching. (Ask you teenagers how to do that.)
[Of course, the other studios are doing the same things, but Disney's are noticeably worse.]
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
The Love Bug (Special Edition)Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2003-05-20; DVD
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops:
Mary Poppins (Two-Disc 45th Anniversary Special Edition)Disney; Release date: 2009-01-27; Published: 2009-01-01; DVD
Best price: $17.89
Price in other shops:
Summer MagicWalt Disney Home Entertainment; Release date: 2005-05-03; DVD
Best price: $5.62
Price in other shops:
Bedknobs and Broomsticks Enchanted Musical EditionDIS; Release date: 2009-09-08; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Freaky FridayBuena Vista Home Entertainment; Release date: 2003-12-16; Published: 2003-12-01; DVD
Best price: $5.43
Price in other shops:
The Apple Dumpling GangRelease date: 2011-01-01; Amazon Instant Video; Movie
Best price: $1.99
Freaky FridayBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-06-01; DVD
Best price: $4.74
Price in other shops:
Swiss Family Robinson (Vault Disney Collection)Walt Disney Video; Release date: 2002-05-07; Published: 2002-05-01; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Pollyanna (Vault Disney Collection)Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2002-05-07; DVD
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops:
The Parent Trap (Special Edition)Walt Disney Home Entertainment; Release date: 2005-05-31; DVD
Best price: $5.35
Price in other shops: