Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Walt Disney
October 10, 2014
Children's, Comedy
DVD
B-

Well, I was not expecting this to be the first modern movie I'd like on this blog, but I found it a satisfying although not great family film,  Yes, it's a family film that mentions butts and penises and there's a scene with a trio of "Australian cowboy" strippers, but it is about the "super Coopers" realizing that as long as they have each other, they can get through the worst days.  Also, I like that the child actors were better than in many other movies I've seen.

Note that Van Dyke plays himself, and it's one of the likably dated things about the movie that parents are scandalized that he reads a book about "taking a dump" rather than "taking a jump" (inexplicable mass typo), when after all, Everyone Poops was published in Japan in 1977, and '93 in the West.

This is based on the much more wholesome 1972 Judith Viorst book, with a younger-than-12 protagonist.  Miguel Arteta directed.