Jencyclopedia

I loved both of these movies when I was a kid, but It Takes Two is simply the better movie. They’re both based on The Parent Trap (1961), which I have never seen, but I’ve read the Wikipedia article, so I’m pretty much an expert.

Believability

The main reason It Takes Two is better is because It Takes Two is The Parent Trap with all the ridiculous parts taken out. You’re seriously telling me that a couple gets a divorce, they each take one of the twins, and never see the other kid again?

You’re telling me that a girl who lives in London (England) and a girl who lives in California (USA) both go to the same summer camp… in Maine?! (You’re telling me people go to Maine? (No offense, Maine. I don’t know anything about Maine, so I figure no one else does either.))

You’re telling me that at this camp, when two kids want to kill each other, the counsellors force them to live in an isolation cabin with each other for the rest of the summer? (And what do they do when another couple of kids hate each other? Do they have multiple isolation cabins at this place?)

I can believe identical strangers. I’ve seen lots of unrelated people who look a lot alike; two identical unrelated people isn’t too much of a stretch.

The parents

The other major reason that It Takes Two is better is because Steve Guttenberg and Kirstie Alley are better than Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson. That’s right. I said it. Guttenberg and Alley are comedians; Quaid and Richardson are not. This is a kids’ movie, a comedy, not a drama or romance. As a kid, I couldn’t stand the long boring scenes with the parents in The Parent Trap that just dragged on and on. Take the opening credits: in The Parent Trap, we get a two minute scene of the parents’ wedding, no dialog. In It Takes Two, we get a two minute scene switching between Alyssa’s piano recital and Amanda’s baseball game, and the dialog starts before the two minute mark. One of these situations is more appealing to kids.

In The Parent Trap, we also get long scenes of Nick and Liz having dinner on the yacht and chatting in the wine cellar, and both times, they get all mushy about their relationship and other things I didn’t understand or care about. In It Takes Two, we get Roger and Diane horseback riding, swimming, and having a food fight. One of these is more fun to watch.

Having big name actors as the parents means they have to be given more screen time. In a kids’ movie, you shouldn’t be wasting time on boring adult things. Granted, It Takes Two had some boring scenes with Roger and Diane; namely, when they go back to his house and he explains that he got rich by buying the airspace used for cellular phones.

The antagonists

Clarice Kensington and Meredith Blake were both great characters. Clarice was more successful in her endeavours, as she actually got to walk down the aisle. She also had a more satisfying ending, as we got to see her humiliated, while Meredith just kind of disappeared. Also, in It Takes Two, Roger made the decision himself that he loved Diane more than he loved Clarice. In The Parent Trap, Nick didn’t pick Liz over Meredith; he picked the girls over Meredith, and that’s just an obvious choice for most parents.

The supporting characters

I much prefer Vincenzo to Martin the Butler, but Vincenzo should almost be compared to Grandfather instead. Martin was a more overtly comedic character than Vincenzo, which was necessary for his role since the parents weren’t as funny. Chessy didn’t have a counterpart in It Takes Two, but she was a wonderful character (and one of very few smart adult characters in kid movies).

The music

I’m going to have to say it’s a tie for music; they both had a good selection of oldies but goodies, which pleases me. The Parent Trap has “Do You Believe in Magic?” (by the Lovin’ Spoonful), “Here Comes the Sun” (cover of the Beatles), and “There She Goes” (not oldies, but still a good song. It’s by the La’s — apparently, the Sixpence None the Richer version was the cover: TIL), while It Takes Two has “Hippy Hippy Shake” (cover by the Georgia Satellites), “I Got You (I Feel Good)” (by James Brown), and “Tutti Frutti” (by Little Richard). It Takes Two is probably the reason “I Got You” is on my iPod.

The kids

The Parent Trap gets a point for Lindsay Lohan playing two characters, which is far more impressive than Mary-Kate and Ashley each playing one. I’m not sure how fair it is to compare a twelve year old’s acting to two nine year old’s acting; though the nine year olds did have about eight years more acting experience. Nevertheless, all three did a great job.

They are both fun movies, each with their own strengths, but It Takes Two will always be my favourite.