Old Dogs (PG)

   

Dir. Walt Becker, 2009 , USA , 88 minutes

Cast. John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Seth Green,

Review by Michelle Moore

From the director of Wild Hogs comes a comedy film which sees childhood friends and co-owners of a sports marketing firm, Charlie Reed (Travolta) and Dan Rayburn (Williams), given a taste of what fatherhood is like.

When all is going well and a big deal looks set to be made for the aging bachelors, things take an unexpected turn. Seven years prior to these events on a trip to Miami , a recently divorced Dan got into a short-lived marriage to a woman called Vicki ( Preston ). Flash forward to the present day and she gets in contact telling him he is the father of seven-year-old twins!

What come next are some hilarious attempts at bonding, misunderstandings and accidental mishaps. Camping doesn't go to well when the statue of the camp's founder is set alight, a mix up of pills results in golf balls hitting men somewhere unpleasant and Charlie smiling through a bereavement gathering and the zoo segment is particularly funny when gorillas and penguins set their sights on three men on a mission.

There are a few other moments to laugh about and there is also some serious bonding. After a few disastrous moments, father and children make the initial steps in their relationship with a happy ending, as with the majority of Disney flicks.

The script was apparently written with Travolta and Williams in mind for the lead roles. Admittedly they do manage to play the roles of two middle-aged long time best friends pretty well and there is something about their differing personalities that gives them the edge; Charlie as a confident long term ladies man while Dan is the settling down type of figure. On paper the script sounds to be quite funny but when on screen, there only a few segments when you can actually laugh out loud, those mentioned above as well as the hand models run-in with the car boot, ouch!

Some of this is made up for by brief appearances by many actors including Dax Shepard as baby-proofer Gary, Bernie Mac as child entertainer Jimmy Lunchbox, Matt Dillon as a hard-nosed camp instructor, Justin Long as Troop Leader Adam but the most vital being Green as trainee Craig White, who at times offers a reminder of his role in Without a Paddle .

Old Dogs reminds us all there is more to Disney than animated features and that live action can be just as enjoyable for all. It may not be able to reach the box office heights of Wild Hogs , but there is family fun and laughter for all where this one is involved.