Old Dogs - Daddy oder Deal

Walt Becker's critically panned 'Old Dogs' is one of those films, that entertain till you are in the auditorium. It's aim is simple: Entertainment, the audience has to enjoy it, calling it as a 'Fun' fare. I liked 'Old Dogs', I laughed & enjoyed it.

Films like these is never meant for critics. Critics are losers, 'Old Dogs' is an out-and-out audience film, and the box office returns prove that. These films are not meant to be remembered, such films comes, earn money, tackle your funny bone, that's it! 'Old Dogs' is a winner... mainly because it's intentions are clear, and it succeeds in it's way!

Becker's direction is not as good as compared to his classic 'Wild Hogs', yet it's passable. Coming to acting, John Travolta & Robin Williams steal the show with terrific performances. Plus, it's a pleasure to watch two legends come together. Seth Green is superb, especially in the climax. Kelly Preston is good. Ella Travolta & Conner Rayburn are lovable. Lori Loughlin does her bit well. Bernie Mac, in a minor posthumous role, is as good as ever. Justin Long is fantastic in a brief role. Matt Dillon is wasted.

On the whole 'Old Dogs' is entertainment at it's best!

There were no other family flicks out that my older kids would sit through, so we decided to give Old Dogs a shot. I have to say that we laughed very hard and enjoyed it. This is a kids/family film, and in that context it delivers. It certainly is not a bad film. John Travolota and Robin Williams work well together and make this film worth seeing. I hope they have a chance to collaborate again as they have good chemistry. There were some surprises in the plot, which is unusual for most kid films. This film is not going to be an academy award winner, but it certainly was not a waste of time. I expected to be bored and found myself laughing from beginning to end. I want to thank the producers for making a family film that is worth seeing. The kids loved it and when that happens they develop a loyalty to the actors and trust them to deliver again the in future. I hope that is the case.

Travolta and Williams are an explosive combination in this one. Scratch all the bad comments you may have read. Sometimes, people watching movies try to be too damn smart and eclectic for their own good. Instead they end up just being plain snobs.

This is supposed to be a light-hearted funny comedy, not philosophical argument. You shouldn't have to keep your Freud, Heidegger or Kant books at hand just to feel good about a movie you watch. It's okay to just kick back, relax, go with the flow and enjoy yourself every once in a while.

This is supposed to be silly, crazy entertainment and it delivers... in spades! These two sacred monsters of the screen show us that they still got the "mojo".

If you loved Robin Williams' "Mrs. Doubtfire", I think you'll most certainly love this one as well.

So, do yourself a favor on this one, don't listen to others... just see it and make up your own mind.

Some of the comments are way off. I've even read one that said this movie is racist because most of the main characters have blue eyes. Can you believe that? We have a racist, "anti-racist". (lol)!!!

On that note, it's racist that the actors happen to have blue eyes but it's not racist from the commenter's part to pick on their appearance or looks. Some think that just putting yourself on the "right", "anti-racist" side, allows you to make any comments about others; even if they're way overly-racist. God help us!

As for the rest of the guys who are all bitter about it... well, go to a museum instead, look at some paintings with a few crossed lines, some dots and paint splashes and marvel at the "deep", "overwhelming" artistic emotions they inspire in you. And feel good about how "different" and "profoundly superior" you think you are. ;-) Don't spoil our fun.

I'm sorry, you guys who complain about this, that this one couldn't meet your expectations. It's true, there's no cruel humor, no tits and ass, no explicit sexual content or innuendos... what's to laugh about, right?

Well, it was never meant to be. Just plain old-fashioned fun... for those who can still enjoy it. :D

As for the rest of those who keep balking at it: you are hereby and henceforth banished from the fun side! :D

Dan: If I'm gonna be an old dad, you're gonna be Uncle Charlie. We can do this. Charlie: We?

I'm "gonna" be Uncle Johnny and measure Old Dogs against other non-animation family films and say it is not Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but it is fun without being condescending. In fact, I will measure it against what it didn't do.

This slapstick comedy is about middle-aged Dan (Robin Williams) finding out he has 2 children, now twin 7 year olds, and friend/marketing partner Charlie (John Travolta) joining him for two weeks taking care of the kids. What the film doesn't do is let Robin Williams get too sentimental as he has done in the past—think Patch Adams; it doesn't let the kids take over the film and insult the adults; it doesn't let the obvious bonding motif get out of hand with absurd sharing and caring.

Of course, the humorous parts are inevitably the slapstick of these two veteran actors from the old pie in the face to the misguided golf balls into the groin. Throw in some standard Asian stereotyping as well.

Oddly enough, most of this old fashioned laugh generation works because the two actors know how far in enough.

The family can go to this film for the laughs, not sophisticated, and the joy-of-family message, not new to kids' films. Where the Wild Things Are this is not, not in visual ingenuity and disturbing ideas about being imperfect humans.

Charlie (reading one of Dan's many prescription bottles): "Watch out for sudden loss of depth perception?" Really, no depth to worry about in Old Dogs; it's just old tricks.

This film is about a businessman suddenly having to take care two kids while in the middle of closing the biggest business deal in their company's history.

"Old Dogs" is such a disappointment. The script is terrible and is simply not funny. John Travolta and Robin Williams are both miscast, and most of the time actors over-dramatise that they look so silly and annoying. This film is about the kids and yet they are always delegated to the background. We don't get to know so much about the kids at all. There could have been some touching moments, but there weren't any. The film repeatedly makes fun of older people, but the jokes are more tasteless than funny. The jokes repeat themselves over and over, but as they are not funny the first time, they are not funny the second time either. "Old Dogs" falls totally flat in both the comedy and drama departments. It's a big disappointment.