The Parent Trap came out in 1998 staring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson. This is a remake of the 1961 classic staring Hayley Mills, Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith.
There are many differences between the two movies but the concept is pretty much still the same. I am happy that they brought Joanna Barns who played Vicky Robinson in the 1961 to play Vicki Blake in the 1998 version of the movie.
This movie brings back so many memories of my childhood. I used to watch the 1961 version all the time. Now as an adult I find that I watch the 1998 version more often and rarely watch the 1961 version. I never owned the 1998 version growing up which could be part of the problem.
The concept of the movie is that two girls who live worlds apart as well as two different locations, happen to go to the same summer camp. When they first see each other they despise each other and play pranks on each other. After a certain prank they are forced to spend all their time together, they are moved to the isolation cabin on the campground and are only allowed to sit with each other in the mess hall. After they needing to help each other out they are find out that they have lots in common after all. They end up talking so much that they end up figuring out that they are twins split at birth when their parents divorced, each parent took a twin.
Soon after this discovery they devise a plan to switch places when they are going home. Each twin wants to meet the opposite parent, the plan is to eventually tell the parents that they have met and switched at camp so their parents have to meet up again and fall back in love so the twins don’t ever have to be apart ever again!
The one thing that makes this plan not work out so well is the fact that when the one twin, Hallie or Susan depending on which version you are watching, father finds himself a girlfriend who he intends to marry by the fall. The father is just smiting with this girl and the only thing that this girl wants from him is his money and plans to send Hallie/Susan to boarding school the first chance that she gets.
Annie/Sharon is pretending to be Hallie/Susan needs help to break them up but Hallie/Susan isn’t ready to give her mother up just yet, after all they have just met. Eventually Annie/Sharon lets their mother know that she is the wrong twin. At this point they go to see the other family. At first the father is surprised to see the twins back together and their mother.
To give fate a further hand the twins say that on the yearly camping trip that they have that the parents must come with them. The dad’s girlfriend isn’t having anything of it. So the dad, twins and the girlfriend go camping. The girl’s pull some pranks on the girlfriend. The girlfriend freaks out and shows her true colours and makes the dad choose between the twins and her. The dad chooses the twins.
Once back at home, and the girlfriend no longer in the picture, the parents end up falling back in love and getting remarked. They end up figuring out where to live so the girls can stay together. The parent trap ends up actually working!
Would I recommend this movie? Yes, 100 times over yes. This movie is for kids of all ages. I would suggest watching it.