Parents' Guide to

Dunston Checks In

By Erika Milvy, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 6+

Silly orangutan brightens lackluster family flick.

Movie PG 1996 89 minutes
Dunston Checks In Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 11+

Based on 3 parent reviews

Bonnie G.
Bonnie G. Parent of 6, 8, 10 and 15-year-old
October 9, 2022
age 14+

Ruined by sexual scene

Not a family movie. Too much swearing, too many sexual comments, not even innuendo, it is very clear. In one scene a lady is clearly naked, you see her naked back all the way to her waist as she lays in a massage table. She is clearly getting turned on by the massage. When he walks out of the room the gorilla takes his place for the massage. He then gets on her back and starts slapping the ladies butt. She responds with making sexual sounds. Why on earth an adorable kids movie has such a scene is beyond me. When immediately turned it off. I’m very upset that this was in a kids movie!!!!

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
1 person found this helpful.
Stacey L.
Stacey L. Adult
June 6, 2018
age 13+

I’m might need a new job soon

I was heading out on a school camp for year 5/6. We needed some G rated movies for the bus, I do not have that many. I found my Dunston Checks In DVD and was reminded of how much I loved this movie at their age. I couldn’t wait to show it to them. They loved it! The bus had a beautiful silence over it whilst the movie played. Dunston the orangutan was a crowd favourite, this movie was perfect for children. You can imagine my surprise when one of the characters suddenly yelled “holy shit” at the top of his lungs when he realises there is an orangutan in his 5 star hotel. I have never heard children so quiet in my life. They aren’t allowed to say shit, I’m not allowed to say shit but suddenly this feel good family film, (rated G I’ll remind you) was screaming the word. They all looked at me for answers as a scrambled to find the DVD cover and confirm it was rated G. It’s not often I am speechless but I was this afternoon. All I could do was tell them that this is a G rated movie and clearly they made a mistake with that line. So yeah, that’s dissapointing and let’s hope 43 kids forget that part of the movie and don’t tell their parents even though it’s fresh in their memory because it was the trip home. If they share this if anyone on here has a job available that would really help me out. Cheers

This title has:

Too much swearing
See all 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

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.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3):
Kids say (3):

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.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about animal rights or simply the idea of training animals to do our bidding or entertain. Parents with younger children may simply want to discuss the similarities between humans and apes and the emotions that Dunston displays -- missing his brother, bonding with the young boy, and turning against his jewel thief owner.

Movie Details

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