Leave It to Beaver (1997)
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21% of critics liked it
(28 reviews) -
34% of users liked it
(9,673 ratings)
The Cleaver Family makes the jump from the small black and white screen to color and Panavision in this updated version of the classic TV sit-com. Eight-year-old Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Cameron Finley) is a good natured kid with a habit of getting in trouble; he's not bad, mind you,… More The Cleaver Family makes the jump from the small black and white screen to color and Panavision in this updated version of the classic TV sit-com. Eight-year-old Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Cameron Finley) is a good natured kid with a habit of getting in trouble; he's not bad, mind you, just a bit absent-minded. Beaver lives with his 12-year-old brother Wally (Erik Von Detten), his father Ward (Christopher McDonald), and his mother June (Janine Turner) in a small town in Ohio. Beaver wants a new bicycle more than anything, but his father wishes that he had more of an interest in team sports; someone suggests to Beaver that if he joined the school's football team, Ward might be impressed enough to buy him the bike. Beaver signs up, but his skills on the gridiron fall somewhere between slim and none, and the experience proves more than a bit embarrassing for both Beaver and Ward. Before long, Beaver has quit the team, but he tries to hide this fact from his father. Beaver does get his bike -- but he doesn't get to do much with it before it's stolen by a bigger kid in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, Wally's best friend, the mildly sleazy Eddie Haskell (Adam Zolotin), has fallen for a cute girl at school, Karen (Erika Christensen), and wants Wally to help him impress her; however, Karen seems to like Wally more than Eddie. This puts Wally in dutch with his best friend, and Wally feels even worse when he and Karen begin to quarrel. Ken Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell on the original TV series, plays Eddie's father here, and Barbara Billingsley, the original June Cleaver, appears as Aunt Martha. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Andy Cadiff, Andy Cadif
- Written By
- Bob Mosher, Joe Connelly, Lon Diamond, Brian Levant
- Genres
- Television, Kids & Family, Comedy
PG,
- In Theaters
- Aug 22, 1997 Limited
- Studio
- Universal Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader
[The] dead-on imitations of some of the characters from the television series created by Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly will seem pointlessly stylized to viewers unfamiliar with the old sitcom.
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Joe Leydon, Variety
Fuzzily conceived and blandly executed.
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Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
The Cleavers have come to represent the stereotype of the white-bread family.This reverent '90s remake doesn't do much to challenge it.
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Mike Clark, USA Today
The result is depressingly halfhearted.
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Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle
Credit the makers of Leave It to Beaver for their kindliness.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Christopher McDonald
as Ward Cleaver
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Janine Turner
as June Cleaver
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Cameron Finley
as Theodore (Beaver) Cleaver
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Erik von Detten
as Wally Cleaver
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Adam Zolotin
as Eddie Haskell
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Barbara Billingsley
as Aunt Martha
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Ken Osmond
as Eddie Sr.
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Frank Bank
as Frank
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Erika Christensen
as Karen
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Alan Rachins
as Fred Rutherford
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E.J. De La Pena
as Larry Mondello
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Justin Restivo
as Lumpy
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Geoffrey Pierson
as Coach Gordon
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Grace Phillips
as Miss Landers
- Walter C. Bassett
- Brenda Song
- Geoff Pierson
