Family Camp

I thank you Regal Unlimited for letting me see this movie with really no cost out of my pocket. I went in with a drink from home, paid 52 cents for the surcharge and that was it. I still feel like I slightly overpaid. This is a fun family flick for the first act and as it gets into the second act becomes a movie full of lessons and tries to become a tear jerking, feel good movie while still trying to maintain that goofy family fun. Unfortunately, none of this works in a any way. It was forced, poorly acted and the entire movie looks like it was shot in 2010 for a kids channel. Which makes me wonder... How this ended up in movie theaters. The director Brian Cates, as far as I can tell this is his debut film and has a history of Christian shorts. So I understood that after about an hour that this was a heavily Christian influenced film which isn't the problem. I have seen some really good Christian films before, but I think our director in question here doesn't quite understand how to write (he's also one of the writers) a full film. Which is probably why he got the the help of Rene Gutteridge who was a writer on one film before, a Christian film. However I think she suffers the same struggles since no where besides the first act seems to know how to hold a nearly 2 hour movie. Which brings me to my next realization, this is apparently a team of people named "The Skit Guys" a Christian skit channel. If you are unaware of this group like I was, and are wondering why there is a flood of 10's and 9's and 8's it's because it is their fans I have to presume. This film is not a hidden gem by any standards and is not something I would ever recommend you go out and pay over a hundred dollars in tickets and snacks at the theater for with your whole family. It is downright disrespectful for taking the screen space away from other films more deserving of it. The reason for a good opening act is because it is basically a rip off of Cheaper by the Dozen and when it does it's own spin going into the second act it becomes a dreadful nightmare. While there are some highlights in this movie and rare instances of decent acting.... practically just Leigh-Allyn Baker... this movie is very weighted towards the terrible scale. The message of the film is something you see coming the second they are lost in the woods and everything here is as predictable as you could imagine. I imagine the budget on this film wasn't much and they probably bought out theaters for their fans or families and will probably recoup the money that was put into this, but there is no way people are going to their local theaters and taking their whole family here unless it's a family who will only pay for these Christian based movies. In fact this movie made me so disinterested that I actually thought about buying a ticket for a new movie and switching theaters. What a horrible mess of a movie that completely misses the point of being a FUN family movie. I give this a 3 only for the Cheaper by the Dozen ripoff to start the first act and for Leigh-Allyn Baker making miserable scenes bearable. Not even worth waiting for streaming, wait for like a Youtube rip and get hammered and maybe there's some enjoyment.

This film is super cheesy! It is poorly acted, poorly scripted, not realistic, and has many plot holes. The characters are annoying more than funny, and, to top it off, there is a ridiculous beaver "character" and Bigfoot hunters to just push it over-the-top. I wouldn't say it's completely unwatchable, but barely tolerable, and I definitely wouldn't have paid to see it if I'd of know all this ahead of time. The only plus, is that it is a clean, family film. Younger children may enjoy the goofiness of this film more than the average adult. It's always disappointing when a Christian film is so poorly done. A missed opportunity IMHO. (note: First, I am a Christian, so I'm not an non-religious person bashing a Christian film. Second, after looking up a few of the 10/9 star reviews many are new accounts who have only rated this film, so they obviously were trying to bump up the rating, which is disappointing. Third, my husband gave it a 1 star) I say 4.5 stars. May 2022.

Save your money and watch something else. There's plenty of nicer christian movies with better acting in them. The movie stars off okay, even a little funny perhaps, but then it drags on and everything just feels forced. Don't bother.

This film was worthy of a script written for Chevy Chase and his family for National Lampoon's vacation movie. Unfortunately, this one is pretty much in the same vein, so it has that been there and done that feeling. It is squeaky clean, and fit for family viewing, but once again, there will not be too many laughs along the way. The script is weak and so are the jokes. Most of the movie is predictable and is overly PC. An attempt at copying the successful Saturday night formula falls a bit short, but is harmless enough viewing if you have nothing else to do and nowhere else to go. I saw the film for free with my pass.

I saw this in the theater with my 5 year old. It was too silly for me and not funny enough for him. Probably best for pre-teens. Still, the jokes didn't land. I imagined them performed by A-list comic actors and could see how the writers might have thought the script would've been funny but there were very few laughs. Also there were times when they tried to be too emotionally dramatic. The movie is set up to imply that you're about to see a slapstick comedy but then they try to get a little too deep. It's awkward when you're constantly late to realizing that what you're watching is suddenly supposed to be serious rather than funny. The balance just isn't there. And is it supposed to be preachy? I would have to assume so based on the fact that the movie wouldn't have to change at all if it omitted the religious aspect. Classic straight man/comic foil structure done much more poorly than most of the similar low budget B movies of the 90s.