The Parent Trap (1998)

Rating: 5/5

With a well thought out cast, The Parent Trap (1998) is one of the more respectable remakes in the world of Disney.

In her debut role, Lindsay Lohan stars as both Hallie Parker and Annie James, two sisters who are unaware they even have a sibling, let alone a twin. By a chance of fate, the two are at the same summer camp and meet one another. At first, they hate each other, but when they both get themselves in trouble and are forced to bunk together in isolation, they begin to form a friendship. As they discuss their home lives, they realize they are twins and begin to devise a plan to get their estranged parents back together. For their plan to work they must switch places, so Annie goes to California to be with their father and Hallie heads to London to meet their mother.

Once in their places, the two begin their plan to reunite their parents. Hallie is elated to be able to spend time with her mother, but Annie isn't having as much luck. Annie quickly learns of her father's engagement to a much younger woman named Meredith (Elaine Hendrix) and informs Hallie of the problem. Knowing time is of the essence, Annie and Hallie go to great lengths to get their parents back together, so they can once again be a family.

For me, remakes are hit or miss. There are times when it seems unnecessary to remake a classic, but other times the story is so great that it makes perfect sense to modernize it for a newer generation. The Parent Trap is most certainly one of the cases where the remake was a great decision. The story of the 90's version stays very, very close to its' source material, but adds in a few new flourishes to make it a bit more relatable for its' new audiences.

As far as child actors go, Lindsay Lohan was definitely one of the better ones to come out of the 90s. As someone who saw this film as a child, I can say she played two separate people quite convincingly, as I remember being shocked to discover that she was not in fact, a twin. It's a testament to both Lohan's performance and the special effects team that the twin effect was so believable throughout the film.

Compared to the original, it takes a pretty impressive actress to be able to come close to the essence that Maureen O'Hara had brought to the screen, but Natasha Richardson comes pretty darn close. She is able to bring the same effortless beauty and grace that O'Hara did, and is just about as lovable as O'Hara was. When it comes to the father, Dennis Quaid was also a very clever casting choice. He may not be as tall and imposing as Brian Keith, but he definitely is just as handsome and charming. The decisions to cast both actors as the parents was inspired, and is definitely one of the reasons the remake works so well.

The Parent Trap was probably one of the first reimaginings of a classic film that I had ever seen, and it was certainly a good one to start with. Whether it be the original or the one from 1998, the story for the Parent Trap will always be enjoyable and amusing, no matter the decade.