Story

Charlie Hinton (Cuba Gooding Jr) and Phil Ryerson (Paul Rae) each have seven-year-old sons and run a successful day care service. Both dads are reluctant for their sons to attend summer camp due to their own bad experiences of camp when growing up. For Charlie it reminds him of his loss in the camp Olympiad baton relay, and in particular, his memory of failing in front of his military father (Richard Gant).

Charlie and Phil finally agree to let their boys go to camp, but are horrified to discover their old camp, Camp Driftwood, is now run down and failing next to the highly funded and successful Camp Canola. In an impetuous moment, Charlie and Phil buy the campsite and set about restoring it to its former glory. In the process they encounter a tremendous number of hurdles including a lack of staff and money, dilapidated facilities, pressure of foreclosure from the bank, a motley group of dissatisfied day campers and constant threats of invasion from Camp Canola marauders and their leader, Lance (Lochlyn Munro).

Themes

Bullying; cheating

Violence

There is some violence in this movie including:

  • Phil is punched in the groin.
  • During a Camp Canola raid, all the children get ‘paintballed’ and the adults get hit, punched or tied up in nets.
  • During the Olympiad, Lance gets kicked in the shins.

Sexual references

None of concern

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

None of concern

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie: VANS, Puma and Superball.

Coarse language

This movie contains some mild coarse language and put-downs.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Daddy Day Camp is a light family comedy and the sequel to Daddy Day Care. Children will enjoy the physical comedy scenes and seeing children outsmart adults. Adolescents and adults may find the humour a little simplistic, but the cast are engaging and mostly likeable.

You might like to discuss the following values, which are represented in this movie:

  • teamwork and cooperation
  • the importance of family
  • forgiveness
  • the importance of focusing on people’s strengths
  • the ability to acknowledge flaws
  • fair play.

You could also talk about the real-life consequences of behaviour such as:

  • poor sportsmanship
  • winning at any cost
  • cheating, bullying and stealing.

Supported By

Raising Children Network is supported by the Australian Government. Member organisations are the Parenting Research Centre and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with The Royal Children’s Hospital Centre for Community Child Health.

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