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The silly and completely disposable "Daddy Day Camp," filmed in Utah, is so full of good intentions that it frequently trips over them moving from pratfall to pratfall.
This half-cooked sequel to 2003's "Daddy Day Care" begins with Charlie Hinton (Cuba Gooding Jr., replacing Eddie Murphy) and his buddy Phil (Paul Rae instead of Jeff Garlin) aiming to extend their successful day-care franchise to summer camp by rescuing the dilapidated Camp Driftwood. Charlie has a connection to Camp Driftwood, since it's the camp he attended as a kid - and Charlie is determined to give his son Ben (Spencir Bridges) the positive camp experience Charlie didn't get from his overbearing Marine dad, Buck (Richard Gant).
A few hearty kids join Charlie and Phil as they bumble through the wilderness, though they eventually give in and bring Buck up for his outdoors expertise. Soon the kids are facing a challenge from a ritzy rival camp, owned by the obnoxious Lance Warner (Lochlyn Munro). Lance, it happens, was the kid responsible for Charlie's ignoble defeat in the intercamp competition 30 years before - and is looking for a rematch.
First-time feature director Fred Savage (yes, Kevin from "The Wonder Years") draws solid performances from his pre-teen cast, most of them from the Salt Lake City area and all of them real charmers. Savage also gets good mileage out of the beautiful Utah scenery - Camp Driftwood was filmed in Big Cottonwood Canyon, the climactic Olympiad was shot in Provo Canyon, and both Park City's Main Street and the Heber Valley Railroad depot can be seen.
The script, credited to five writers, is a lumpy mess that mixes slapstick potty humor with ponderous father-son confrontation and reconciliation - neither of them staged effectively. In the middle is Gooding, mugging and shouting in yet another overly manic performance that's as enjoyable as a walk through poison oak.
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* SEAN P. MEANS can be reached at movies@sltrib.com or 801-257-8602. Send comments to livingeditor @sltrib.com.