Hey guys! mB here from A Blog Next Door, subbing for Nathaniel for this weekend. Now, I am usually one to follow up punny post title with something equally as punny (and SJP-worthty) like "The world is going to the dogs!" or "It's a dogged world out there" but really, I'll spare you - mainly because you're probably wondering what dogs I'm talking about. But if you are, it means you haven't been cringing at movie trailers in the past month. Seriously are dog-movies the new biopics?
Disney's Bolt (or the movie I like to call: Disney Animation's attempt at making a name for themselves in the shadow of [and with creative direction from] PIXAR])
Watch the trailer here and listen to John Travolta who instead of being the owner of a dog who talks (remember that?) to being the eponymous hero of this very troubled animated production (Lilo & Stitch's Chris Sanders penned and directed it before, well... who knows what happened, he's only credited for writing now). Miley Cyrus is also on board, to give the film tween-cred.
Cringe-Factor: 2/5
The pigeons scene and the annoying sidekick hamster make up for the overall sense of 'so...?' that I felt while watching it: kinda feels like a Dreamworks film and not a Disney one, no?
Hotel for Dogs (or the movie I like to call: Why can't Lisa Kudrow find better roles/films?)
Watch the trailer here and try and make sense of why this movie was made. It looks like a Rick Moranis film from the 1990s. Turns out Emma 'Nancy Drew' Roberts is still trying to make a name for herself as an actress and a film about a Hotel for Dogs is the way to do it. Like I said, Lisa Kudrow offers the parental role.
Cringe-Factor: 4/5
What made me cringe more: Lisa Kudrow's hair, seeing Don Cheadle in this or the shoe vending machine? No wait the "This is the grossest thing I have ever seen"/"That's awesome" banter.
Beverly Hills Chihuahua (or the movie I like to call: wtf?)
If you haven't seen this (which would mean you haven't seen Wall-E as
it premiered before that PIXAR gem) watch the trailer here. Now, come back and tell me what the Aztecs, chihuahuas and Beverly Hills have to do with each other...
Cringe-Factor: 5/5
There are no words really...
Marley and Me (Or the movie I like to call: Huh... Jen's breasts bounce a lot in the trailer of that memoir-turned-film film)
I have probably been lying under a rock cause I had never heard anything about Marley and Me (the book) nor Marley and Me (the film). While watching the trailer last night at a Mamma Mia! showing there were too many awwwws when the pup Chariots-of-Fires his way into the screen. I just wanted to know what the hell the movie was about. Isn't that what trailers do? Either that, or get you weirdly interested. This one did nothing. (Maybe TFE readers can enlighten me and get me excited as I do enjoy Ms Aniston's work)
Cringe-Factor: 4/5
A puppy running in the beach... it's just too cutesy for me. And Jen screaming after him with Owen Wilson... yeah. No.
I don't have anything against dogs - I just wonder why is it they are (more often than not) at the forefront of 'bad' Family Films (and really... am I the only who wonders when did Hollywood forget how to make good Family Films?): think of Tim Allen's Shaggy Dog, Cuba Gooding Jr's Snow Dogs, the awful-looking Cats & Dogs, even stuff like Firehouse Dog. Rarely do we get an 101 Dalmations, an All Dogs go to Heaven, or a Beethoven anymore.
