Old Dogs

Director: Walt Becker
Starring: John Travolta, Robin Williams and Kelly Preston
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Runtime: 88 mins. Reviewed in Nov 2011

Rating notes:

A checklist of dispositions needed for enjoying Old Dogs:

A very high tolerance level in general. A very high level for corny comedy,
A fan’s attitude to Robin Williams, no matter what he is in (actually, here he has to be both zany and sympathetic),
A fan’s attitude to John Travolta who has to be both comic and insensitive, then sensitive,
A liking for heart-on-sleeve tales of children of single mothers who need a father-figure,
Films that show how big business is soul-destroying and undermines family, love and quality time,
Laughing at slapstick and pratfalls, where humans have to be silly or silly for the sake of the children,
Laughing at Seth Green having to sing to survive while being cuddled by a gorilla (spoiler: it’s an animatronic gorilla),
Laughing at golf balls and accidents with golf and balls, especially with Seth Green,
Seeing Matt Dillon as a taskmaster scoutmaster,
Attending a funeral for a pet dog,
Enjoying Walt Becker’s other films, Van Wilder, Buying the Cow, Wild Hogs. (The sequel plans have been scrapped).
Hoping for compensation with the couple of sequences featuring Ann-Margret.