Blu-ray Review
Old Dogs
Directed by: Walt Becker Cast: Robin Williams, John Travolta, Seth Green, Kelly Pickler Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins Rating: PG Due Out: March 9, 2010
PLOT: Dan and Charlie (Williams and Travolta) are two business partners who have been best friends for thirty years. Their life is thrown for a curve when they find out that Dan has two twins with “the one who got away” from seven years ago.
WHO'S IT FOR?: Children will be educated in clichés, and adults will get some kicks watching respectable actors subject themselves to thoughtless wacky humor. In modern comedy terms, fun for the whole family!
MOVIE:
The reputations of Travolta and Williams earned from earlier successful works might help create a sort of leeway for the mindless humor that they seem to partake in here so lazily. Were it not for their familiar faces, the vacuous scenarios that these older gentlemen are placed in would be even weaker, and the lameness of the film’s slapstick bonanza would be even more naked. Specifically with flicks like this, we sign up for the familiar faces of Williams and Travolta, not for the extremely absent logic in its story’s events, or the really weak theme of family that attempts to hold said story together. It might be better also if we just forget plausibility exists when trying to swallow the movie’s heavily hunky dory plot elements.
The scenarios can generate a laugh or two out of those who are more patient with the complete emptiness that is such material. Either way, Old Dogs proves even more that family comedy is certainly starved for new ideas.
MOVIE SCORE: 3/10
EXTRAS
Young Dogs Learn Old Tricks - A cutesy Q&A with the two little munchkins asking questions that even babies would facepalm to. The Old Dogs field their inquiries like Santas at the mall who can't wait to go on a smoke break.
Bloopers - Williams and Travolta get the chance to "goof off" on set, make flubs, or drop something. Not funny, it's fitting that the last sequence in this extra shows Williams exhaling a deep sigh before dishing out a dinky
Deleted Scenes - These three dropped scenes that were once spared the embarrassment of appearing with the final product of Old Dogs are unearthed for the sake of proving the story's resistance to humor. You could only hide for so long, Sequence With Asian Stereotypes.
OTHER EXTRAS:
Music Video "Every Little Step" Performed by John Travolta and Ella Bleu Travolta Music Video "You've Been A Friend to Me" Performed by Bryan Adams Audio Commentary by Director Walt Becker, Producer Andrew Panay, and Writers David Diamond and David Weissman
EXTRAS SCORE: 2/10
OVERALL
The laziness that makes the weak family comedy Old Dogs such a regrettable experience is celebrated by this not-so-super combo pack. There are only three "real" special features (music videos tend to use footage from the movie), and combined they barely total about six or seven minutes. Woof.
There are other movies to consider for family movie night. Ponyo? (Or any Miyazaki for that matter). Perhaps even Where The Wild Things Are? You know what family flick actually made me laugh? Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. Wait, did you guys see Up yet? Yes? Well, see it again!
FINAL SCORE: 3/10