#623 – Invisible Dad (1998)

Invisible Dad (1998)

Film review #623

Director: Fred Olen Ray

SYNOPSIS: Andrew Bailey often moves around the country thanks to his job, with his son Doug. Arriving in their new home, Doug finds a strange device in the garage left by the former occupant. Hooking it up to his computer, he finds it can grant his wishes whenever he wears the headset to communicate with it. When he inadvertently turns his dad invisible, chaos ensues as Doug has to find a way to turn him back.

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Invisible Dad is a 1998 sci-fi children’s film. It is somewhat a sequel to the 1996 film Invisible Mom by the same director, but features none of the original cast or settings. Invisible Mom II was released in 1999 (reviewed previously) is perhaps the true sequel, as it features the original cast and continues their story, so this film just exists in a strange void with no real continuity to the “franchise” (if we can call it that). Anyway, the plot this time concerns Andrew Bailey and his son Josh, who have to move around often due to Andrew’s work as an architect. In their new house, Josh finds some strange inventions in the garage left by the former occupant, one of which he hooks up to his computer. It turns out that this computer can grant any wish by simply speaking into the headset. By anything, I mean anything: Josh manages to make food appear out of thin air, teleport a model directly to his bedroom, and even travel back in time. When Josh’s Dad finds out about it, he tells him to destroy it because it causes too much trouble. Unfortunately, Josh wishes his dad would “just disappear” just before he destroys the device, and he turns invisible. With no way to turn back visible, they must find a way to fix the device.

There’s inherently some issues with the story here: The most glaring one is that Josh finds a device that can do anything: time travel, make anything appear, the works. The fact that the film is just about one man turning invisible is a bit underwhelming when you’ve already established everything else. Josh tries to plead with his Dad that they could print infinite money or anything, but he simply says it is too much trouble, which is a very weak cop-out. The film goes through all the expected tribulations of being invisible, with no real surprises in that regard. There’s a scene where Josh and his Dad are at a restaurant, with Andrew covered in clothes to hide the fact that he is invisible, and they are constantly interrupted by a man who cracks mean-spirited “jokes” after every line of dialogue; I mean, really nasty remarks about how ugly he probably he underneath all those clothes. It’s really odd for a kid’s film. Anyway, on top of the whole invisible thing, there’s also the sub-plot concerning Andrew’s job as an architect, and him needing to turn visible before his colleague steals his idea, and also before said colleague contracts a dodgy builder to build the project using sub-standard materials that will probably collapse and kill whoever is inside. Add in the romance sub-plot, and also the inventing partner of the guy who made the device, who now resides somewhere in the jungles of Africa, and you’ve got a film that is trying to do way too much. Lots of the plot elements get lost in the mix, and the whole invisible thing doesn’t really get enough time or attention to be interesting.

The characters don’t really have anything interesting about them: Josh is a typical lead whose Mom has passed away and he carries around a photo of her and such. It’s not too traumatic for kid’s. His Dad is a workaholic, and doesn’t take kindly to being invisible. There’s also Sandy’s teacher, who he tries to set up with his Dad, who doesn’t really have much of a role to play. However, Josh keeps constantly telling us how hot she is in his narration, which is a bit weird for a kid. Combine this with the pretty dire acting, and you’ve got nothing redeemable on this front.

Aside from the previously mentioned scene of the men-spirited harassment in the restaurant scene, there’s other parts of the film which are morally dubious too. there’s the dodgy contractor who is planning to kill Andrew to get his cheap material on the project he is working on, which never gets beyond meagre threats, but is still an odd addition. There’s also a part of the film where Josh literally goes shoplifting for computer parts, and his caught and thrown in jail. His teacher then breaks him out, and Josh’s Dad just overlooks his shoplifting, because he was doing it to “help him out,” which is a pretty weird message to be giving out in a kid’s film, and also since his character has already been established as not wanting to get into trouble.

Overall, Invisible Dad is a mess. It throws too much into the mix and ends up creating a directionless mess. Even for a kid’s film, there’s just nothing interesting or imaginative for them to latch on to, and I doubt that it would keep their attention long enough. Probably the worse of the invisible trilogy if I’m honest, as while the original had barely anything going on in it, it was at least easy to follow and mostly harmless, whereas Invisible Dad is all over the place, mean-spirited in parts, and sorely lacking in humour or charm.