The King of Flops and Critical Failures found a box office hit with Daddy Day Care, but it unfortunately does little to raise my expectations of Eddie Murphy.

Murphy, who has starred in major failures such as I Spy, Dr. Dolittle 2 and, of course, Pluto Nash, not to mention many more critical bombs in recent years, aims at the younger crowd with Daddy Day Care, as he plays an out-of-work dad who opens up a day care without any prior experience. Of course, movies targeted at younger audiences will not appeal to older ones, and such is the case with Daddy Day Care.

The first third of the movie is moderately funny, with some good jokes and scenes. The best, of course, is the scene at the sold most audiences in the previews - the "I Missed" bathroom scene. There are some other ones as well, but nothing too noteworthy.

Daddy Day Care goes downhill from there, never reaching the pits of hell but definitely sinking into a shallow grave. It is watchable from beginning to end, and mildly enjoyable, but the laughs wane heavily as time goes on. Murphy is decent, but, since he is catering to younger audiences, is not used to his full potential. Steve Zahn, who is typically very funny, is not used even close to his potential here, though he is able to draw one or two laughs. At least some of the children are sort of funny.

Essentially, just like the title indicates, Daddy Day Care will appeal to more to children than adults. It has enough cute and goofy scenes to keep a little kid entertained, but isn't so bad that adults can't have fun either. Just don't expect anything that you'd want to watch more than once.

Review by Erik Samdahl.