Ross Family Movie Challenge: 'DragonHeart' vs. 'The Parent Trap'

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Every week EW’s Dalton Ross and his wife, writer Christina Kelly, have a… um, lively discussion about what movie they should watch with their two children (Dale, 12, and Violet, 10) that weekend. Now they make their cases publicly and you get to vote on the choices and settle the argument. The power is in your hands, people. Last week, Dalton kept his 2013 dominance up as his selection of ‘Matilda’ thrashed Christina’s pick of ‘A Cat in Paris.’ Can Dalton keep his winning streak going? Will Christina bounce back? Read on and then vote for what film they should watch this weekend.

Dalton’s Pick: DragonHeart (1996)

Sometimes you just need to even the score. You parents of multiple kids know what I’m talking about. You do something for one child, so next time out, you have to balance the scales and defer to the other one. Last week, at the request of my daughter Violet, I selected 1996’s Matilda for the RFMC. It was victorious and we watched it during the weekend. But let’s be honest, that film is definitely geared a bit more towards girls. Not that Dale wasn’t into it, but let’s just say it would not have been his first choice. So I’ve decided to stay in the year 1996, yet this time pick something to scratch his inner geek itch. Dale is a total fantasy nut, devouring any and all books with wizards, sorcery, and/or dragons. Especially, dragons — which leads us to this week’s selection: DragonHeart.

DragonHeart stars Dennis Quaid with a particularly ridiculously haircut as a guy who decides to kill all dragons after one of them does something which is too confusing to get into here. Anyway, he eventually teams up with a dragon named Draco and they become con artists of sorts until stuff gets real and a somewhat epic battle ensues. It doesn’t really matter — there’s a dragon kicking butt, which is good enough. As a bonus, said dragon is voiced by Sean Connery, which the kids will get a kick out of since they have been watching the old Connery James Bond films —suddenly making this, like, a super suave secret agent dragon! Who wouldn’t vote to see that?

Christina’s Pick: The Parent Trap (1998)

Fine, Dalton, if you want to watch a Dennis Quaid movie, we can watch a Dennis Quaid movie. I’m all for Dennis Quaid. Two of my (losing) picks have featured Quaid: Breaking Away and Soul Surfer. So let’s do this! Quaid plays a divorced dad of twin girls in this remake of the 1961 Hayley Mills classic. The Parent Trap alsostars Lindsay Lohan back when she was cute, before the ravages of fame had taken their toll. You know the story: The twins, both played by Lohan, are separated by their parents’ divorce. After the girls meet at summer camp, they decide to switch places with the ultimate goal of reuniting their parents. What will happen? Will their plan work?

I admit that the premise is only slightly less plausible than that of DragonHeart, but I don’t think these movies get voted in based on realism. I’m not really sure how they get voted in. Perhaps I am out of step with the American people. Or maybe Dalton always wins because he has 20,000 Twitter followers and I have 40.