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Invisible Dad
Common Sense says
- PG
- 1997
- 90 minutes
Parents say
Kids say
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A lot or a little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Invisible Dad is a highly improbable, groan-worthy, low-budget movie about a kid who accidently renders his father invisible, and it ends up being far more inadvertently hilarious than it ever could have intended. This late-1990s flop features terrible special effects, mostly terrible acting, a needlessly convoluted plot, and some risqué scenes, such as when a tween boy lusts after women in bikinis and a man rips a woman's dress off as he grabs on to her to break his fall (she's wearing a slip). There's light adult drinking and a few instances of profanity ("hell"). The film attempts to impart some positive messages about learning for the sake of it and fighting for yourself when you've been wronged, but mostly it's a spectacle of B-movie antics that are almost so bad they're good.
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What's the story?
Doug (William Meyers) and his dad, Andrew (Daran Norris), have just moved to a new house and a new town where Dad has landed a new architecture gig. Doug finds a strange machine in the garage that turns his dad invisible just as his dad lands a big account to prove his design skills. Now Doug and Dad must find a solution to this problem while keeping everyone, including Doug's teacher, who has a crush on Dad, in the dark.
Is it any good?
By conventional standards, this is a terrible movie. The acting is green and strangely overdone, the plot is amateurish, and the invisibility is barely a notch above hats and jackets held by fishing wire. There's a 1990s risqué quality to the film, with a son obsessed with pretty women in bikinis splashing in pools and characters drinking throughout. It sets a new low bar for movies featuring invisible characters, but there's also a so-bad-it's-good charm here in the sheer spectacle of the slapdash way it's put together. Parents may groan, but young kids might appreciate the silliness.
Talk to your kids about ...
Families can talk about movies where characters are invisible. Why do you think they're so popular?
What would you do if you were invisible? What would be the bad parts about it?
Have you ever seen a really good movie about invisibility? What was it? How does it compare to Invisible Dad?
Movie details
- In theaters: November 16, 1997
- On DVD or streaming: March 23, 2015
- Cast: Karen Black, Charles Dierkop
- Director: Fred Olen Ray
- Studio: FilmRise
- Genre: Comedy
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy
- Run time: 90 minutes
- MPAA rating: PG
- MPAA explanation: Rated PG for mild sensuality, language and violence
Themes & Topics
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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.