Old Dogs (2009)

Absolutely the worst movie.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film is a comedy, family filled fun with Robin Williams at his comical genius. There are a lot of negative reviews for this film but let me put a positive spin on it. The plot is pretty simple; two best friends who are in business together and continuously help one another out. One gets divorced and they head to Miami for fun like the old days. Enter Kelly Preston who plays a minimal but significant part. A fling occurs AND then we fast forward 7 years later when Vicky pops back up in Williams life with two children. Here is where the comedy ensues and Travolta and Williams are at their best. There are a lot of laughs within the film and with co-stars such as Seth Green, Bernie Mac, Matt Dillon, Justin Long, Amy Sedaris the film is enlightend with fun.

(12%) Since Williams' tragic passing this third rate talent leech is if anything even sadder to watch than ever as it shows Hollywood clearly not knowing at all what to do with such a talented man. The result of which is this shinning example of crass throwaway trash. Travolta is here because he had a gap in his dairy, and there's a big red plane he wants to rent over the summer, so he signed on the dotted line. Why he looks like a creepy wax of himself I'm not too sure. The jokes aren't funny and amount to people getting hit in the gentleman's region with golf balls, or kids messing around with medication that in reality would possibly kill someone. But thankfully this is set in no kind of reality I'm aware of. With birthday parties in zoos and rocket men (yes rocket men) who happily hand over an expensive piece of equipment for a few dollars; the last half hour really is oddly similar to "Jingle all the way", only not as cheesy. Despite the hopeful cast, give this a big miss.

I had a good time and that's really all that counts. Yes, it's silly, and yes, it's really for kids, and not really clean enough for kids, but not bad.Robin Williams isn't doing his best work here, but he impresses in some quiet, more serious scenes. He's good enough where he's funny.John Travolta doesn't exactly show why he's one of the greats, but he is convincing as a successful businessman.The guys have quite a mess to clean up in their business, and that's fun to watch.The scenes where Charlie and Dan took the wrong drugs have enjoyable visual effects and hilarious pratfalls.Lori Loughlin looks great, and she's quite professional as the translator.Bernie Mac does a good job too. I don't share Jimmy Lunchbox's musical taste, but the song was pretty good.Sab Shimono does his usual fine work.The music is mostly my taste. For once, a Disney family comedy has music geared toward the parents, not the kids.If I have any criticism, it's that the zoo scenes didn't last longer. Shortly before the movie started, we were told what the movie would be about, and it appeared mostly about sneaking into the zoo. That looked really funny, but we saw the best parts.Not Disney's best work, but overall, I had a good time.

Old Dogs is a great family film, as the majority of Amazon reviewers have said. The comedy is obvious, the slapstick infantile and the script isn't Shakespeare. Viewed as such, it's good, modern family fun.Critics always only want to see another Citizen Kane and when they don't they get all huffy and bloated and denounce movies such as this as not worth the little round bits of plastic that DVDs are made from. The drug-swap scene is very obvious but for a ten year old, it's absolutely hilarious.John Travolta and Robin Williams work well together - William's gift for comedy is well known but Travolta's, not, but he does have the knack for it. Like other comedy duos, there's an easy chemistry that cannot be invented by any script or by any director.However, I'm not a family man and watched it as an adult, on my own, so I could see where others would have found it really funny but was less so for me. I'm used to watching deep and meaningful and World cinema films, the sort that do keep the critics in a job but unlike them, I'm thinking outside of their blinkered box and am thinking of others.My three stars are for a film that was funny, but not really worthy of four stars, when you consider that four stars should be reserved for things a bit special.