Old Dogs with John Travolta and Robin Williams Now Available on DVD and Blu-Ray

Old Dogs Stars John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Matt Dillon, Lori Loughlin, Justin Long, Seth Green, Rita Wilson, Dax Shepard and Bernie Mac

Kathryn E. Darden
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment just released Old Dogs on DVD & Blu-ray. While Old Dogs boasts some of my favorite actors, it manages to fall flat anyway. John Travolta and Robin Williams star in this misguided comedy with a stellar supporting cast including Kelly Preston, Matt Dillon, Lori Loughlin, Justin Long, Seth Green, Rita Wilson, Dax Shepard and Bernie Mac.

The story centers around two men, Dan and Charlie (Williams and Travolta), who are best friends and business partners working on a huge deal with a Japanese company. However, their business plans are disrupted when Dan Rayburn (Robin Williams), discovers he is the father of seven-year-old twins - twins he has to take care of while his former wife Vicki (Kelly Preston) serves time for her brief stint as an environmental activist. Since his condo won't accept kids, he has to move in with his friend Charlie Reed (John Travolta). Dan has no idea what to do with kids. His first night with them, he shakes his daughter's hand good-night - one of the few slightly poignant moments in the film.

The next day finds the kids screaming - literally - to go to camp. There Dan shoots the head off the statue of the camp's founder and later sets it on fire. Things go downhill from there as the kids accidentally mix up the men's pills the next day, and Dan and Charlie must deal with the side effects of each other's prescriptions while Dan golfs with the head of the Japanese company, and Charlie tries to woo the Japanese interpreter (Lori Loughlin).

The rest of the film is filled with bodily function humor, slapstick, more bodily function humor, general silliness and mayhem. Bernie Mac has a brief appearance - his final cameo role in a film - as Jimmy Lunchbox, a puppeteer who is hired by Charlie to put Dan in a remote-controlled puppet suit so Charlie can help him interact with his daughter (Ella Bleu Travolta, the real life daughter of Travolta and Preston).

Somehow Dan and Charlie manage to sign the Japanese deal, but their business partner (Seth Green) disappears in a Karaoke club in Japan, and Dan has to decide whether to go to Japan and salvage the deal, or stay home and work things out with Kelly and his kids.

The Old Dogs DVD bonus features include a collection of deleted scenes and bloopers featuring Robin Williams and John Travolta, commentary by the film's director Walt Becker, producer Andrew Panay, and writers David Diamond and David Weissman. The blu-ray version and the three-disc combo pack include additional bonus features including "Every Little Step" - a new music video performed by John Travolta and Ella Bleu Travolta. Old Dogs is rated PG and is not appropriate for children. The movie is dedicated to both Bernie Mac (who died in August 2008) and Jett Travolta (John Travolta's son who died in January 2009).

If you enjoyed this movie review of Old Dogs, click here to see my other movie reviews.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION:
This content was based upon a free review copy the Contributor received.

Published by Kathryn E. Darden

An author, poet, publisher, publicist & skincare consultant, I have written for publications including CCM Magazine, The Tennessean, Barbie Bazaar Magazine, Christian Activities & several local newspapers....  View profile

  • Old Dogs stars John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Matt Dillon, and Lori Loughlin
  • With Justin Long, Seth Green, Rita Wilson, Dax Shepard and Bernie Mac
  • Old Dogs is dedicated to Bernie Mac and Jett Travolta, the son of John Travolta and Kelly Preston
Kathryn E. Darden is an author, journalist, and photographer who writes articles, reviews, devotionals and poems, some of which are available for reprint. To read more content from this writer, please click on her name at the top of this article.

3 Comments

Post a Comment
  • Charlene Collins3/19/2010

    I love John Travolta.

  • Lois Lunsford3/15/2010

    Thanks for the review, I'll probably still see it, someday.

  • Linda Belcher3/15/2010

    I really liked this movie.

Displaying Comments

To comment, please sign in to your Yahoo! account, or sign up for a new account.