Old Dogs: Sit. Stay. Play Dad.

Ah, the wonderful world of family entertainment! Cheesy one-liners, predictable endings, grimace-worthy acting--it's true, my expectations for family movies are below rock bottom. Was I thrilled, excited, and stimulated by Old Dogs? Not exactly. Pleasantly surprised? Yes, I would have to say so, because while Old Dogs is not the shining torch of the winter blockbusters, it is at least a brighter-than-expected ember.

I'll have to say, the acting wasn't half bad. Granted, Robin Williams should probably have enough experience to pull off just about anything by now, but everybody in the movie acted just well enough to exceed my expectations.

This is a difficult movie to take seriously, but I'll give it a shot: the story was lamentably predictable with few surprises and many cliche "forshadowing" aka "repetitive" jokes. Most smaller characters were taken from stocks that Disney would be ashamed of. For example, two reoccurring child-proofers had some of the most pathetic characters ever. One was characterized by not knowing what he was doing, and the other was characterized by eating peoples food. Now, as character traits, these aren't all so bad, but that was their entire character. To create a minor character, you need to start from a stock base, and add maybe 1 or 2 memorable traits. In this case, the traits were the entire characters.

Enough complaining: on the whole, I was actually entertained and humored by this movie. It was funny, although corny; emotional, although not exactly moving; and heartwarming.... no, scratch that. my heart was more "defrosted" than "warmed" by this movie, but they made a noble effort. As far as family movies go, this one is a jewel. As far as Spring blockbusters go, save your money.

The one problem I did have was it's use of rather mature topics to set up funny situations. For example: apparently Robin Williams' and John Travolta's characters go to Miami, get drunk, meet two women, and hook up. While this would be perfectly acceptable in a drama or comedy, mature topics such as this have no place in family comedy, where jokes should be based on things relevant to the target audience, in this case: children, and the parents that get dragged along.

In conclusion. this is a good, solid, entertaining family movie. If you're looking for something to take your kids to, or hang out with friends, this is a good choice. If you're looking for quality entertainment or deep, moving dramas, keep looking.