Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Yours, Mine & Ours Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 27, 2021

The original Yours, Mine & Ours released in 1968 and starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda in the lead roles as middle-aged parents to a gaggle of children in the ultimate story of blended marriage bliss. In 2005 those characters were recast with Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid in the re-imagining that refuses to simply regurgitate the same content but rather tell the same story from a different perspective, with new ideas and scenarios and a fresh sense of humor at its back. This is an agreeable update, certainly not so fun and fresh as the original picture but as a breezy family film that finds love amidst chaos and real life amidst a dreamlike full house where privacy barely exists but the purposes of family, friendship, and romance at the top make it all work in its own ways.

Reconnecting

Widower Frank Beardsley (Quaid), an admiral in the U.S. Coast Guard with aspirations of heading the entire branch as commandant, moves his family, which includes eight children, to New London, Connecticut, the same small town where Frank himself grew up. It’s not just a new home. It’s a new home in a string of new homes. His kids are less than thrilled. They crave stability in their lives and some even refuse to unpack, believing that the next move will be right around the corner. Little does Frank know that just down the street lives the widow Helen (Russo), an old high school acquaintance with whom he has a romantic history. Helen is herself mother of a combined 10 children, some biological, some adopted. Way back when, Frank had dreams of building a life together with her. But time passed and their paths never crossed again…until now.

Frank and Helen run into one another at a restaurant and mistakenly believe the other to be taken. But they’re instantly taken back to old feelings, fleeting as the encounter may have been. Each can’t get the other out of their head and when they have more private bonding time together on a class reunion cruise, the connection intensifies, and it turns out they are both very eligible. Against the odds and perhaps against their better judgment, they get married and move into an old lighthouse, the only home large enough to hold their suddenly swelled family. With space at a premium, the kids’ nerves frayed, and two very different approaches to parenting, Frank and Helen find themselves head over heels…in children… with little time for themselves. Can they hold the new family together or will sheer numbers overwhelm even their “I do’s?”

The movie offers little in terms of creative enterprises. It plays out about as expected with the parents falling in love in the first act, capturing the chaos in the second as the families attempt to blend together, and following a period of coming together later in the film (which, of course, plays out in the shadow of frayed bonds, including, even, at the top). It's very well structured for as chaotic as it may be on the screen at any given time; Director Raja Gosnell (Never Been Kissed, The Smurfs) does well to keep the film in line, sort of like merging his Frank and Helen characters: the film is orderly (Frank) but loose and fun (Helen) at the same time. The acting is solid, too, particularly from the parents. The kids are great, too, and while the film can't very well take the time to build all of them to total narrative satisfaction, their places in the core narrative ebbs and flows serve each of them well enough, even if most of them are faces rather than names and thriving screen personalities.

Yours, Mine & Ours Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Here's another 2021 release from Paramount that's just about as good as can be expected. The movie looks terrific on Blu-ray, presenting with a naturally filmic façade. Grain is retained in pleasing fashion lending to the picture a healthy, natural cinematic flavor. It's a vital compliment to the complete details and sharp textures that appear in abundance throughout the film. Facial features are exquisitely revealing, whether pores or applied makeup or freckles or fine hairs: everything is crisp and generously defined. The lighthouse is a treasure. Not only is the massive amount of stuff in it very sharp and well defined – with 20 or so people living there there's bound to be treasures to be seen in every shot – but the house itself, particularly as it's weathered and worn to start the film, offers endlessly agreeable, complex, and perfectly sharp details to old woods, cracked paint, and the like. It's beautiful insofar as the transfer conveys its unkempt condition remarkably well. Colors are vibrant, a touch on the warm side but offering bold, expressive output to a myriad of tones in every scene: hair and eye color, clothing, contents around the house. Natural greens are vivid in every shot in which they appear. Even in low light, the full palette is a pleasure for sure, firm, deep, dense, and detailed colors. Skin tones are very good as they are reflective of the mild warmth and black level depth is superb. Viewers watching very closely will spot one or two speckles but it would not be fair to label the print anything other than meticulously clean. There are no major encode issues, either. The movie couldn't look any better on Blu-ray.

Yours, Mine & Ours Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is fine, largely. For a film about so much on-screen chaos the track isn't really too demanding beyond the basics. Various rampages through the house, rambunctious and screaming kids, and the general din that results when 20 people are talking and yelling at once comes through with good stage engagement and balance. It's nothing special, but it's all perfectly capable. Some fun effects may be found in chapter six when an out-of-control forklift rampages through a store. It spins and crashes and the scene ends with a pile of sand pouring down on the Admirals' head. There are a few fun moments like this throughout; the track never really picks up full steam and goes for broke for aggression and LFE output, but the net effect suits a family-oriented Comedy well enough. Musical fidelity rates as good-not-great and the track's inability to really hit on all cylinders stymies the presentation just a little. Dialogue is clear and firm and finds consistent placement in the front-center channel.

Yours, Mine & Ours Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Yours, Mine & Ours includes a commentary track, a couple of deleted scenes, and some featurettes. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Audio Commentary: Director Raja Gosnell covers all the basics: story, cast and characters, shooting locations, connections to the original film, deleted scenes, some technical details, and plenty more. It's a good track that fans will find worthwhile.
• Deleted Scenes (480i, window box): Included are The Proposal (2:05) and The Families Meet (1:48). With optional director commentary.
• Yours, Mine & Ours - Inside the Lighthouse (480i, window box, 16:30): Cast and crew cover all the basics: story essentials, character details, directing the chaos, the humor, working with animals, making various scenes, and more.
• 18 Kids - One Script: The Writing of Yours, Mine & Ours (480i, window box, 5:22): Writers David Kidd and Ron Burch discuss keeping the spirit of the original but making this version its own story.
• Casting the North Family (480i, 4x3, 7:02): Discussing auditions and why the actors landed the roles. Includes audition footage.
• Casting the Beardsley Family (480i, 4x3, 5:47): Ditto the supplement above.
• Your Big Break! Advice for Aspiring Young Actors (480i, window box, 5:35): Casting Directors Shalimar Reodica and Mary Vernieu and cast discuss the joys and hardships of acting for the screen at a young age.
• Setting Sail with the Coast Guard (480i, window box, 3:11): Transitioning the Frank Beardsley character from the Navy (old film) to the Coast Guard (this film).
• Behind the Scenes Video Diary (480i, 4x3, 8:39): Younger cast members film some fun behind-the-scenes footage.

Yours, Mine & Ours Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This reviewer is father to two children: a 3-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old son. And they're a handful. Add 16 more? Yikes! Talk about breaking the back, breaking the bank, and maybe even breaking the brain. But what's so cool about man's ability to love is that love knows no numerical limit. 18 Kids? 18 more reasons to open the arms and squeeze all the tighter. While Yours, Mine & Ours looks at the zany side of multiplying families, bringing together a disparate group of clashing kiddos under one roof, it also explores the tight bonds of love that even the craziest of lifestyles can easily endure. Paramount's Blu-ray is quite good. Rock-solid 1080p video, a capable lossless soundtrack, and a nice assortment of extras (albeit simply ported over from releases dating back years ago) make this one well worth adding to any family home video library. Recommended.