Family films don’t come bigger than this – well, actually, there is a remake of the 1968 comedy, Yours, Mine and Ours where husband and wife bring 8 plus 9 children from previous marriages!

This time it is just a Baker’s dozen (that’s the actual name of the large family).

The original film, from 1950, had a quiet charm. Of all actors, Clifton Webb was the acerbic father and Myrna Loy the soothe-all mother. Their sequel focussed on the daughters of the family. It was called Belles on their Toes.

No such charm, no such reticence in the 21st century remakes, Cheaper by the Dozen and, prosaically, Cheaper by the Dozen 2. And there is absolutely no quiet. A quick review of this sequel would be that it is infinitely better than the first film. But, that is not saying very much. The first was raucous with a frantic Steve Martin and a gaggle of obnoxious children who spent a lot of the film squabbling and/or being mischievous.

This one is far more genial, even some niceness in the behaviour of the children who are actually growing up better behaved than you might have imagined. There are also some touches of romance in the air. As Dad, Martin does a whole lot of mugging with some overly intrusive parental control. He is also in consuming competitiveness with a successful businessman who was a rival back in schooldays - played with his customary double-take humour by Eugene Levy.

Bonnie Hunt manages to survive the proceedings by bringing sweetness and light and infinite tolerance as the unflappably wise mother of the dozen.

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