Dunston Checks In (PG, 1996)

Jason Alexander plays a sweet-natured single dad who manages a five-star hotel and pays scant attention to his two sons who treat the hotel like a playground. Just as the family is about to take a vacation, the dad's manager's intimidating boss (Fay Dunaway) arrives unexpectedly to see to it that her hotel is upgraded to six-star rating. She mistakenly assumes that the visiting hotel critic is the haughty Lord Rutledge (Rupert Everett), but he's actually jewel thief. His stooge is a trained orangutan named Dunston who befriends 10-year-old Kyle. With his girl-crazy's brother's help, Kyle must protect Dunston from the animal catcher and save them from the fiendish thief -- and try to get his father to believe him.

This film has all the ingredients for a predictable yet entertaining (if forgettable) family flick. The premise of two kids let loose in a fancy big hotel is cat nip for the elementary school set -- just think of Eloise and Zack and Cody, but with more bad behavior. The unsupervised bed bouncing Frisbee games and room service banana splits is the stuff on which day dreams are made. And the nonstop parade of monkey mayhem is the cherry on top. Knowing their audience, the filmmakers put Dunston on the chandelier, give him a cigar to smoke, a stuffed animal to snuggle, underwear to put on his head, and a 10-year-old boy to form a loving attachment with.

But beyond the gimmicks and pratfalls, DUNSTON CHECKS IN is nothing to write home about, nothing even to email home about. Paul Reubens' performance is the film's sole spark of non-formulaic storytelling. He is so good at just manipulating his facial muscles as the weird animal control expert that he foils Jason Alexander's limp noodle of a performance. This, one of his first post-Seinfeld roles, reveals how poorly Alexander does kids movies -- or anything but George Costanza.

Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: Ken Kwapis
Cast: Jason Alexander, Paul Reubens, Rupert Everett
Genre: Family and Kids
Run time: 89 minutes
Theatrical release: January 12, 1996
DVD release: May 28, 2002
MPAA Rating: PG
MPAA explanation: some mild language and sensuality