sparky182

This is basically Planes, Trains & Automobiles meets Uncle Buck meets Overboard, with a dash of Home Alone thrown in. Ed O'Neill is competent in the "likeable loser" role (see: Al Bundy), but that role really belongs to John Candy (who was in three of the four aforementioned movies) and one can't help but think things might have clicked better here if he were in it. This is a watchable albeit fairly generic film. Part of the problem is that the writers spend too much time emphasizing the stereotypes of the leads (Dutch is a rough-around-the-edges blue collar worker, Doyle is the spoiled, bratty rich kid) at the expense of producing laughs. It probably didn't help matters for Ed O'Neill any that he was essentially upstaged by his Married...With Children co-star Christina Applegate that year as "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead" would fare much better than this. Dutch is a worth a view on a lazy Sunday afternoon, but don't expect anything groundbreaking here.

This is a good concept of a film, but unfortunately the execution falls flat.

Los Angeles family moves abruptly, not because of crime or overpopulation, but SMOG. (that smog will get you every time). They blindly move into an isolated section of the wilderness 25 minutes away from the nearest people. The parents apparently didn't do their homework because their house is a rundown one-room shack that makes Charles Ingalls' house look like a mansion in comparison. But wouldn't you just know, the father is a man-of-all-trades (just like Ingalls), so he's able to build a new house.

The entire rest of the film is filled with lots of shouting. And YELLING. And SCREAMING. And ARGUING. And SHRIEKING. Did I mention the shouting, because there is a lot of it. You really think these people would tone it down now that they are just by themselves and would seemingly value their peace and quiet, but I suppose not. Oh, and wild animals. Lots of befriending wild animals and running from wild animals. If you like shouting or wild animals, this is the flick for you.

Obviously, there's no large cast with this film. The father does lots of YELLING. The mother is acceptable, if not bland. The daughter alternates between being in a seeming euphoria and positively SHRIEKING at the top of her lungs when she is in danger. The boy is young and has vast difficulty carrying his end of the load.

Despite all of this, the movie does have a few redeeming qualities. The scenery provides for some spectacular shots. The movie also does a good job of portraying animals as living things and explaining the value of befriending them or respecting their territory. The father does kill a moose, but explains to his son they had to because they needed to eat and not because the dad wanted to mount its head on the wall.