Old Dogs (2009) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 2009
Director: Walt Becker
Cast: Robin Williams, John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Seth Green, Conner Rayburn, Ella Bleu Travolta
Rating: PG
Release Date: 25 November 2009
Running Time: 1 hour 29 minutes

The Movie Review

Old Dogs film still 1


OLD DOGS
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

Old Dogs is about two middle aged men, who have been friends for more than 30 years, Charlie Reed (John Travolta) and Dan Rayburn (Robin Williams), are doing something that they are very bad at, taking care of kids, thus playing dads. It's all started when Dan is getting a divorce from his long time marriage, something that Charlie thinks of as minuscule problem, since he never grew up and always flirting with the ladies. But for Dan, it's like the end of the world, so as a best friend, Charlie takes him on a vacation to Miami and to embrace the free world as a free man (or Freemont) for this matter. And in Miami, Charlie is right, Dan meets his dream girl, Vicki Barton (Kelly Preston), and they even getting married while... high.

Anyhow, 7 years later, back in their home city, Charlie and Dan are one the brink of the major business deal in the career life, a culmination of their 30 years of working as Sports Marketing Agencies. When suddenly Vicki contacts Dan, and arranges a meeting out of the blue. And then pops! Dan instantly becomes a pop for the 7-year old twins, Emily (Ella Bleu Travolta) and Zach (Conner Rayburn). Dan is panicking and holds Charlie responsible for his free-movement, and now those two men have to take care of the kids while they're mother is away for two long weeks. What will happen to this instant unlikely family?

Monkey Lovin'

Old Dogs plays more like a buddy film with a heavy dose of family-friendly contents. That being said, it's quite strange seeing the facts that the kids highly likely will find difficulty to understand the material being presented, it'd be hard for them to relate to the movie. I guess the story and the situation will be easily digested by moviegoers who are --at least-- old enough to have kids. It's practically about the difficulty of having to take care of kids when you really don't know how to. What's interesting about the said kids in this movie, is that they are not brats! I repeat NOT Brats! This is a very welcome decision. I initially had thought this comedy would be some boring lame-o same-o jokes about annoying bratty kids who think they're funny but they're not, in Old Dogs, the kids are adorable, they are normal kids who behave nicely. The kid actors could play they role very decently, I even grew to care for them.

Old Dogs have some interesting names, for starter, Elle Bleu Travolta is undoubtedly the daughter of John Travolta, and Kelly Preston (of View from the Top (2003) & Jerry Maguire (1996)) is also the real wife of John Travolta. But I guess if you're a fan of Bernie Mac --Ocean's Eleven (2001), Transformers (2007)-- you just don't wanna miss Old Dogs as it's his last movie before he passed away in 2008. Old Dogs also being crammed with famous names, Lori Loughlin, Seth Green, Dax Shepard, Justin Long and Matt Dillon. One thing for sure, talking about Travolta in comedy movie, Old Dogs is definitely much better than Wild Hogs (2007), in which both were directed by Walt Becker. Besides, Old Dogs was also cherished by Bryan Adams' songs and Pete Townshend. The soundtracks are nice.

Frankly, I had little confidence when deciding to watch Old Dogs, but to my surprise the story really is fun-going and the pace is perfect and the most important thing of all, the jokes are funny. It could constantly make me chuckle and even laugh out loud throughout its running time. Unfortunately, the story is predictable and some of the jokes are really the type of moth-eaten slapsticks that are even going as far as being corny, but I guess general moviegoers wouldn't mind that. That corny episode however-and-thankfully only happens during the middle, and the ending part becomes interesting again when Charlie, Dan and Craig (Seth Green of Rat Race (2000)) decides to break in into the zoo. Despite the Corny McCreepy final shot just before the end credits role, the ending, however, is touching as in mandatory for family movie. And I guess we're all expecting that when watching one. I've got to be honest, this movie is some parts are corny, some parts hilarious, some parts predictable, and some parts are amusing and fresh. I had a good time watching this, maybe you would too.