Parent Trap III & Parent Trap Hawaiian: Honeymoon

Parent Trap III & Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon

Most people are familiar with the classic film The Parent Trap, starring Haley Mills. Mills plays twins Susan and Sharon, who are reunited at summer camp after having been separated from each other their whole lives.  In the 1980s, Disney produced three made-for-television sequels to the film, with Mills reprising both of her roles from the original.  Parent Trap II is largely forgettable, but Parent Trap III and Parent Trap Hawaiian Honeymoon are forgotten gold.

ParentTrap III introduces us to a new family: Jeffrey, a single dad (played by The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s Barry Bostwick), living with his three teenage triplet daughters, Lisa, Jessie, and Megan (played by real life triplets Monica, Leanna, and Joy Creel—no trick photography required).  Jeffrey surprises his girls with the news that he has fallen in love and gotten engaged to Cassie, a well-meaning but vapid woman (played by Home Improvement’s Patricia Richardson).  After the girls decide they don’t like her, they meet Susan (Mills), an interior decorator who has been hired to redecorate the girls’ home.  After the girls witness some sparks flying between Susan and Jeffrey, they begin to set their own parent trap.

ParentTrap: Hawaiian Honeymoon picks up where Parent Trap III leaves off.  Jeffrey and Susan have gotten married, and after Jeffrey inherits a legendary hotel in Hawaii, the clan decides to take a visit.  Upon arrival, they discover that the once glorious hotel has become extremely rundown and dilapidated.  Jeffrey faces pressure from an old friend and rival, who approaches him about buying the hotel.  Meanwhile, Lisa, Megan, and Jessie figure out that if they can make things run smoothly around the hotel, then Jeffrey and Susan will leave for their honeymoon, thus leaving them unchaperoned in paradise.

Made for television movies often get a bad rap for their low production values and hackneyed dialogue, but Parent Trap III and Parent Trap Hawaiian Honeymoon prove an exception to the rule.  Both films are extremely well crafted and acted, and feature delightful 1980s kitsch.