The first trailer for Disney's upcoming Old Dogs, pairing Robin Williams and John Travolta as gay dads to Seth Green who learn they have two newborns from a previous gay marriage (or something -- I admit I was simultaneously paying some bills online while watching it), was hampered a bit by the old trailer pitfall of giving away too much, too soon. We have Williams, we have Travolta, and we have Green -- why get bogged down in the details?
That's why the second trailer is so great: It focuses squarely on what has to be one of the movie's most ambitious comic set pieces, in which the trio find themselves locked inside a gorilla habitat at a zoo. The payoff is rich, with Williams emulating aggressive attack poses to confuse their aggressor into thinking he's met his simian match. (Oddly enough, he doesn't go for the most obvious ape-mimick smokescreen, and leaves his shirt on.) Yes, this looks terrible. But let's focus on the positives: 1. Some radical advancements in creature effects make the gorilla seem very real. 2. Some radical advancements in hairpiece effects make the gorilla on John Travolta's head seem very real. 3. Seth Green, people. First the guy was jumped in a parking lot (we think -- we still have some reservations). Now he's turning it to 11 for the laughs playing some gorilla's bitch in a monkey-prison. That's gotta hurt.
VERDICT: OOh oooh ooh ah ah!! Thump thump.