What if Ferris Bueller's parents had a home video surveillance system?

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The Internet was buzzing last week with speculation that Hollywood was going to announce a sequel the 1986 hit film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  The catalyst for the speculation was the video shown above that was posted on Youtube.

This week, we found out the video was a teaser for Honda's SuperBowl ad for the CR-V but the talk of a Ferris Bueller sequel got me asking myself "Would somebody like Ferris be able to get away with it in 2012?" which led me to ask "What if Ferris' parents had iWatchLife home video monitoring?".

I firmly believe there are three ways that iWatchLife would have an impact on the plot of the 1986 movie:

1)  Ferris wouldn't have been able to leave his room

Once Ferris is able to convince his parents that he should stay home, he spends some time relaxing by the pool and this is when he calls Cameron to tell him he should come over.  You may recall this part of the movie because it is when Ferris famously describes Cameron as being uptight so update that if did something specific a piece of coal "... in two weeks you'd have a diamond."

If Ferris' parents had iWatchLife smart home video monitoring, they would probably be watching the backyard and they'd be able to see Ferris hanging out and walking around the house. 

2) His Mom and sister wouldn't have to come home to check on Ferris

Because camera views can be accessed from any computer, smartphone, tablet or even Smart TV, Ferris' mom wouldn't have had to come home to check on him.  In the 1986 movie, there is a very funny and famous scene where Ferris' mom comes home and opens the door to his room.  Fortunately for Ferris, he has rigged up a dummy in his bed and uses his stereo to provide a snoring soundtrack. 

The same goes for his sister, as she ends up skipping out on school to check on Ferris only to find the dummy and become enraged, which leads to the exchanges she has with Rooney, the school principal. 

3) Rooney's day might have turned out for the better, or the worst.  

For much of the third act, the principal of Ferris' school Ed Rooney is trying to catch Ferris in the act of ditching school so that he can hold him back a year.  He even goes as far as going to Ferris' house.  When Rooney rings the door bell, he is tipped off by another one of Ferris' brilliant devices - an automated response to the doorbell.  Unfortunately for Ferris, Rooney rings a number of times and discovers the canned response.  If Ferris had iWatchLife, he could have been alerted to Rooney's presence and responded to him in real-time with his own voice.  Rooney would have never discovered Ferris wasn't home and he might have left.

Instead, Rooney starts poking around the back of the house.  He gets chased by the dog and ends up getting kicked by Ferris' sister and his car gets towed.  If Ferris had iWatchLife he could have recorded footage of Rooney trespassing and shared the footage with the police. 

Personally, I'm glad the teaser turned out to be for a Super Bowl ad and not a remake or a sequal to the original movie.  I watched it again so that I could write this post and it's a movie that's just as good the 50th time you watch it, perhaps even better, than the first.