Depictions of fatherhood in movies have leaned towards the dramatic and action-packed in recent years, but sometimes we just want to share some laughs. The 90s and early 2000s family-friendly comedies feel like putting on your favorite tunes on your CD player to add a soundtrack to your dad and the designated MapQuest child squabble about directions during a road trip. Take a break from watching dads confront zombies, explosions, and crime syndicates with these funny and heartwarming comedies.
Daniel (Robin Williams) is a divorced dad who loses custody of his children after quitting his voice acting job in Mrs. Doubtfire. While working at a television station, he sees an ad placed by his ex-wife Miranda (Sally Field) seeking a nanny for their three children. Daniel creates the persona ‘Euphegenia Doubtfire,’ complete with prosthetics, wig, glasses, and voluminous dresses, to see his children more often than the custody arrangement allows in this chaotically funny and unconventional display of fatherly love.
In Finding Nemo, Marlin and his young son Nemo live in a sea anemone in the Great Barrier Reef. When Nemo’s teacher announces a class field trip to “the drop-off," Marlin forbids Nemo, who has a misshaped fin, from participating but relents under the condition that Nemo stay by his side. When Nemo disobeys and swims near a fishing boat, he is captured by divers. Marlin meets another fish named Dory, and together they cross the ocean to reunite father and son.
In Cheaper by the Dozen, Tom Baker (Steve Martin) is a high school football coach in the fictional small town of Midland, Illinois where he lives with his wife Kate (Bonnie Hunt) and their twelve children. When Northwestern offers Tom a coaching job, he moves the entire family to Evanston against their wishes. Soon after, Kate goes on a book tour, leaving Tom to come up with ways to care for twelve different personalities.
Best friends and coworkers Charlie (Eddie Murphy) and Phil (Jeff Garlin) open a home daycare after being laid off from high-paying jobs and becoming unable to afford private school tuition for their kids in Daddy Day Care. As the class size grows, both dads realize running a childcare business is a bit more complicated than they imagined.
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