Daddy Day Camp

Plot[edit]

Four years after starting their daycare and putting Harridan out of business, Charlie and Phil take their kids, Max and Ben, to Camp Driftwood for the summer, a camp where they attended as kids back in 1977. But once there, they discover that Driftwood is now completely falling to ruins and also no longer the kindhearted campsite of their time. To save the run-down site, Charlie and Phil buy a partnership from the younger man who ran it when they were children, after the older partner and the original counselor run off on vacation save for bus driver Dale, after spending 30 years running the camp without a vacation.


They run into misadventures along the way when Lance Warner, Charlie's childhood rival, who now runs the luxurious rival camp Canola and has a son named Bobby J (although he denies it), is eager to buy Driftwood just so that he can tear it down. He challenges Driftwood to the upcoming Camp Olympiad, but Charlie refuses, saying he wants nothing more to do with it after losing to Lance when they were kids. The first day of camp turns out to be a disaster involving a skunk caused by Max and a bathroom explosion when Phil dropped a match in the bathroom while doing his business when the light in the bathroom went out.


As a result, most of the parents pull their kids from the camp and request refunds, but Charlie and Phil have already spent all the money on repairs, leaving Driftwood with only 7 campers instead of the original 35, and in need of help to improve their financial situation. Initially reluctant, Charlie eventually calls his military father, Colonel Buck Hinton, for help to whip the kids into shape since they have problems following orders. The next day, Driftwood is raided by Canola, which has been joined by the 28 campers who left Driftwood, and they steal the Driftwood flag. Buck arrives and starts training the campers easily until Canola raids them once again and teases Buck: that's when Buck chooses to get back on Lance and help Driftwood get the flag back, which they do and succeed.


Lance shows up and taunts Charlie over his teaching style when he remembers him from the Olympiad they competed in when they were kids and Charlie responds by accepting the challenge to the Camp Olympiad, so the kids start training for it. As they train, the kids admire Buck because of his military ways and support, but Charlie disapproves as he recounts that he doesn't want the kids to become like Buck because Charlie believes that Buck has always only cared about toughness and that Charlie was a disappointment to him. Charlie starts to regret his decision to call Buck when his son runs off to the woods after Lance and some of his fellow campmates tease him about his father's over-protectiveness because his grandpa Buck told him that he became 'tough' when he ran off to the woods. They manage to find Ben, but then when Charlie complains to Phil about Buck, Buck overhears their conversation and leaves camp.


On the day of the Olympiad, the others find out that Buck has left. Seeing all the kids discouraged, Charlie goes to find Buck and bring him back, resolving all his problems with his dad in the process. When they return, the kids report that they found out that Camp Canola has cheated in the Olympiad; this is especially possible when it's revealed that Lance won the 1977 Olympiad. Buck formulates a plan to win against Canola by outsmarting them. After outmatching Canola through to the finals, Driftwood is all set for the baton relay: with Mullet Head doing the climbing course and Max doing the sprint - against Bobby J. of Canola. However, Mullet Head injures his ankle from falling in the three-legged race (or so it appears) so Charlie lets Ben do the climbing course instead, as Ben also knows how to climb by instinct, but he falls. However, his campmates encourage him to keep going and Becca even shows everyone that Lance greased the wall, corroborating the truth that Lance cheated in every game in the Olympiad to everyone including Charlie, and had in fact been doing so for years. Therefore, Ben uses the tree next to the wall with enough time left to hit the bell, thus finally giving Driftwood the win for a change and proving himself to his father.


Lance reprimands his son for costing their camp the entire competition; insulted and fed up with Lance constantly denying being his father, Bobby J turns against Lance by talking back and angrily kicking him, making Lance stumble backward into the wall's supports and causing the wall to collapse on top of a trophy case, smashing them instantly and subsequently causing Lance to break down crying. With Driftwood's victory in the bag, all of the parents who pulled their kids from Driftwood and even those who sent their kids to Canola originally, tell Charlie and Phil that Driftwood might set the best example for their kids after all and request permission to send their kids there, thus saving it from foreclosure. The movie ends with Buck and Charlie reconciling after all these years apart and the current Driftwood campers heading to get the trophy for their first Olympiad.