Old Dogs makes its way to Blu-ray disc in a nice 3 disc edition case including both the Blu-ray and DVD release along with a digital copy on the third disc. A valiant effort by Disney for a movie that falls short.

I tried to like this movie, I really did. But Old Dogs needs to be taken out to the pasture and put out of its misery, euthanize, the big sleep, beddy bye time, you know … SHOT! The movie is filled with cheap laughs, every scene stinks of “Hey, what could we do here to make this funny? Oh, how about we drop something on someone? Or slam a trunk on a hand model’s hands!?” Truly lame. The exact opposite of smart, intelligent, witty humor like that of the likes of Jerry Seinfeld for instance. Who knows, maybe I’m not just totally old enough to appreciate such “Old Dog” humor. Nehhhhhhhhh.

The movie has a great cast, but I often wondered if they too knew how stupid this was and were just in it for the quick buck or if they literally thought that this film had potential. Besides the main actors in John Travolta, Robin Williams and Seth Green the film also has many cameos in Dax Shepard all the way to the late great Bernie Mac! In many terms, this cast would be a new directors wet dream but falls short with a cheaper than cheap slip-trip-fall humor style coupled with atrocious writing. Too predictable, and honestly Travolta just couldn’t nail this part no matter how hard he seemed to try. His body language and mannerisms alone seemed totally off from the norm.

Maybe if you are in a stupid movie mood you can find senseless enjoyment in last year’s Turkey day flick. And I’m not talking a “Super Troopers” mood, more like a “Hot Shots Part Deux” mood. How this movie qualified for a PG rating is also beyond me, it definitely borders at PG-13 many times in my opinion. Usually with a Disney movie of PG rating I don’t have to worry about anything that my daughter is seeing (being that she is 7) but there were times when I wasn’t very fond of certain dialogue or fingers held closely to the fast forward button.

As for the good, regarding the movie? Of course there are some good cheap laughs that you can’t help but snicker at and a few instances of good comedy writing like after the instance at the tanning salon. Case in point, if you have already seen this and like it then you will love the blu-ray and you should definitely pick it up with the current Old Dogs $10 off manufacture coupon Disney is offering. I’m not going to go in full detail about this film as because it’s a film with a wild script that’s hard to make much sense of so if you’re going to watch it you’re not going to want to know any spoilers beforehand but if you really must just read the back of the case. I’m also not a fan of spoilers in reviews! “Here, let me tell you the entire movie so that when you rent/buy it you can be even less entertained!” Uhhmm, no.

Old Dogs leaps onto Blu-ray with a typical lovely blu-ray transfer in 1080p goodness. As always Disney still gives a lot of attention to detail with their transfers and that is a plus considering this release. There is quite a few bright instances in this flick and many warm settings as well but Disney hits them out of the park with very few instances of over saturation in my humble opinion. I’m not going to say I was blown back by the picture quality, but it was still way above average taking into consideration all other blu-rays I’ve viewed. Once more, fans of the movie will be happy to know that this film has been given the proper attention in regards to picture quality.

Old Dogs barks onto Blu-ray but lacks a bit of bite due to the sheer nature of the film. With that aside, Old Dogs howls with its great DTS HD Master 5.1 Audio track. Sure, there isn’t earth shattering bass scenes or those that get an audiophile all geeked up but none the less the film’s track is great with its lossless track. Plenty of work from the fronts and center channel speaker in your setup on this one as the film sound majority is front heavy with very few engulfing scenes so to speak involving the rears in unison. Dialogue clarity is clear and tightly mixed and I don’t really see anyone having any major problems with the audio quality of this release as it does the job well. Another good audio mix from Disney.

The Old Dogs supplemental package is a bit on the light side but I gotta give some thumbs up to Disney for the DVD and digital copy. Although I know many folks don’t care for these extras but they make great use in my family house hold and for watching on the ipod touch for the kiddo.

Audio Commentary: This audio commentary featuring Director Walt Becker, producer Andrew Panay, and writers David Diamond and David Weissman showed me what type of people have to come together to make a movie of this magnitude lol. So bad it was funny.

Young Dogs Learn New Tricks (HD): In this feature, the two kiddos interview John Travolta & Robin Williams.

Deleted Scenes (HD): An alternate ending plus two deleted scenes that are a bit on the lackluster side.

Bloopers (HD): As always bloopers can give a personal insight and amusing laughter and this one does just that.

Music Videos (HD): “You’ve been a Friend to Me” by Bryan Adams and “Every Little Step” by John Travolta and Ella Bleu.

BD-Live Functionality

Old Dogs releases onto blu-ray with a great video transfer and awesome lossless audio track given the film’s nature, but even all of that still makes it hard to look past the rather cheesy written script. Fans of this movie or people who seem rather interested in checking this out can rest assured that it got its fair shake in the video and audio department and the bonus dvd and digital copy are nice for make up of some rather small supplements. However, this is the 3 disc edition as opposed to the single disc edition which is also offered for purchase. None the less fans should have no problem snagging this title especially with the $10 coupon offered by Disney, but those unbeknownst of this movie are better off for a rental if you must.