The Parent Trap (1998)

It is March so I decided to make March Remake Month. It is where all March I review remakes. So lets start with a remake to The Parent Trap. It is based on the book, Lottie and Lisa by Erich Kästner. Let us begin.









We start at a summer camp where a girl named Hallie Parker (Lindsay Lohan)  arrives. She goes to her cabin. Meanwhile another girl named Annie James (also Lindsay Lohan) arrives at camp. Later they both fight each other in fencing. Annie beats Hallie. When they remove their fencing masks they realize that they both look alike. They get angry at each other and start playing pranks on each other. One of the pranks dumps paint on the camp leader and the camp leader sends both the girls to live in the same cabin. Eventually they realize that they have a lot in common. Besides the fact that they look the same they both like Oreos covered in peanut butter, and their parents are divorced. But then they realize that Hallie has a picture of Annie's mother and that Annie has a picture of Hallie's father which means...They are twins *dramatic music*. So they decide to switch places so that Annie can meet her father and Hallie can meet her Mother.

They spend time getting to know the other. When camp is over Annie goes to California as Hallie to meet her father and Hallie goes to London as Annie to meet her mother. In London Hallie meets her mom named Elizabeth (Natasha Richardson) and her grandfather (Ronnie Steven) and her butler Martin (Simon Kunz). Meanwhile Annie goes to California as Hallie and meets her father, Nick (Dennis Quaid), her house keeper Chessy (Lisa Ann Walter) and Nick's fiancée Meredith Blake (Elaine Hendrix) who only loves Nick for his money. Annie gets worried about Meredith so she gives Hallie a phone call about it. So Hallie tells her mother that she is really Hallie and Annie tells Chessy that she is Annie. So Hallie brings her mother to California to stop the engagement. At a hotel in San Fransisco the girls reveal to their father that they switched. That night just like in the original the girls recreate their parents first date, only this time instead of a restaurant  the parents meet on a cruise. So with the help of Grandpa, the girls rented a yacht and the parents have dinner on it.


                  ***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

But Hallie and Annie are being switched back. So they keep switching personalities back and fourth  and it confuses their parents. So they make a deal to all go on a camping trip. But Meredith is unhappy about it so Elizabeth says that she can come along instead of her. The girls take advantage of Meredith being there and start playing pranks on her like putting a lizard in her hair and giving her bug spray that attracts bugs. Eventually they put her air-mattress in the lake...with her on it. OK that is kind of messed up. Can't they just draw a mustache on her face and cover her feet in honey? So Meredith says the engagement is off and leaves. So they go home and Nick and Elizabeth decide that they are in love. But Hallie and Annie still have to go home with the right parents. So Annie goes back to London but Hallie and Nick take a faster flight to London and meet them there so they decide that they can't live without each other and come back together again. The End.


                                            ***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***



I like this movie. Lindsay Lohan gives a good preference as both the girls and it has a good supporting cast. You really feel for the girls when they see their Mother/Father for the first time. The only problem is that Meredith is sort of a cliched type of character. You know, the stick in the mud that never gets the joke. Other than that I like the movie a lot.

Changes from original: The plot is pretty much the same, the only real difference is the ending. The characters are the same as well but there are some changes and new things added. Let me list them: All the characters' names are changed. Annie lives in London instead of Boston, and Nick now owns a vineyard. The only major update is the special effects. I was expecting them to make the character of the fiancée less cliched or cut her out entirely. That's it for this section.

Which is better: They are both about the same. Most of the changes from the original version are pretty minor. They both have a great lead actress and great supporting cast. Overall it just comes down to which one you personally like better. As for me I think it's a tie.

 REJECTED HORROR MOVIE #12 THE HEADLESS LAWYER

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