Old Dogs
(2009/Disney Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: C Film: C-
Wow! What
happened to Robin Williams and John Travolta?
Seriously, two of the biggest names in Hollywood have both decidedly given up on
making quality films to make serious bank.
Now I understand John Travolta has made some major cash on films like Wild Hogs, but this is just
horrible. Meanwhile Robin Williams can’t
even hold his head high after disasters like RV and Man of the Year;
granted he has also made bags of cash of films like Happy Feet and Night at the
Museum (both of which spawned sequels).
So it comes down to making money I guess; for every 3 flops they make,
if they make bank on one, that is good enough to stay afloat. I hope selling your ‘acting’ soul is worth
it.
The film Old Dogs stars Robin Williams (as Dan)
and John Travolta (Charlie), two life long friends who founded a Sports
Marketing Company together and are now ubber rich. The film goes with the premise that the two
best friends aren’t young anymore and will find that out the hard way. Apparently years ago when they were young and
wild, Dan got married for a period of a couple hours, but quickly had the
marriage annulled. Sadly it turns out
that in the heat of passion Dan also managed to get that lover pregnant. Dan and Charlie are now in charge of two kids
that Dan never knew he had, while their dear old mom goes to jail for two weeks
for trespassing (no, its ok I don’t get it either). The film diverges into a host of wild
situational humor, site gags and overall idiotic insanity.
The film
was directed by Walt Becker of Wild Hogs
fame and apparently John Travolta’s check writer. He managed to create a film that was insanely
boring even with countless gags and putting the characters in stupid
situations. Uninteresting and uninspired
is the best way to put it.
The
technical features aren’t even all too great for being a newer film. Disney’s 1080p AVC encoded feature slides by
as adequate as there is not enough fine detail and the colors aren’t nearly
vivid enough. The skin tones are
slightly off as the stars seem to have an orange hue about them. The image is pretty crisp and clean with
blacks that frame the picture nicely.
Overall it is a nice presentation, but far from the best Blu-ray out
there. The sound is nicer as the Disney
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is well balanced and clean. There is a fair bit of jumping around and action
on the screen, but besides the heightened musical scores I don’t feel the sound
presentation was immersive enough to knock my socks off. Dialogue is wonderfully done as it is crisp
and clean, but nothing else was too impressive though nicely done.
The
extras include an Audio Commentary; Deleted Scenes; Blooper Reel; Music Videos;
Old Dogs Learn New Tricks. The bonus
features are pretty much waste of time (as was the film) I even begrudgingly
took a gander at the Audio Commentary that was just as sad as the film.
If I
could teach an old dog new tricks it would be for Williams and Travolta to stop
doing films like this. Sit. Stay. And please play dead.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
