''Dunston Checks In'' is a 1996 Canadian-American

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Ken Kwapis Kenneth William Kwapis (born August 17, 1957) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, and author. He specialized in the single-camera sitcom in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as '' Sesame Street Presen ...

. The film stars

Eric Lloyd Eric Lloyd (born David Eric Lloyd Morelli; May 19, 1986) is an American actor, musician, and producer. Lloyd is best known for work as a child actor in such roles as Charlie Calvin in Disney's ''The Santa Clause'' film trilogy and the follow-u ...

, Graham Sack, Jason Alexander,

Faye Dunaway Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) is an American actress. She is the recipient of many accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Award. In 2011, the government of France mad ...

Rupert Everett Rupert James Hector Everett (; born 29 May 1959) is an English actor, director and producer. Everett first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film '' Another Country'' (1984) as a gay pupi ...

Paul Reubens Paul Reubens (; born Rubenfeld; August 27, 1952) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and children's entertainer. He is known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s, an ...

Glenn Shadix William Glenn Shadix (April 15, 1952 – September 7, 2010) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his role as Otho in Tim Burton's horror comedy film ''Beetlejuice'' and as the voice of the Mayor of Halloween Town in ''The Nightmare ...

, and Sam the Orangutan as Dunston. The film received negative reviews and was a

box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

, only grossing $10 million against a budget of $16 million.

Plot

Lionel Spalding (

) and his dog Neil arrive at the prestigious, five-star Majestic Hotel where, due to a prank by Kyle Grant (

) and his older brother Brian (Graham Sack), an overflowing fountain accidentally drenches him, greatly frustrating the hotel manager and the boys' widowed father Robert ( Jason Alexander). He is disappointed with the boys but they are guaranteed a vacation in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

afterward, only for the ruthless, haughty hotel owner, Elena Dubrow (

), to force them to cancel the trip for a third time, due to the upcoming Crystal Ball where one of the guests is revealed to be a critic from the Le Monde Traveller Organization who they hope will reward the Majestic with a sixth star. At that moment, "Lord" Rutledge (

), a jewel thief whom Mrs. Dubrow believes is the critic, arrives with an

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...

named Dunston, intending to steal the guests' jewelry. Dunston and his deceased brother Samson were both trained in thievery their entire lives, and Dunston has been wanting to escape from Rutledge's poor treatment and life of crime ever since. Meanwhile, Rutledge distracts and causes Kyle to accidentally set a sterling rope mini-pulley free from his hand where Brian falls down and out from a laundry chute. Dunston flees from Rutledge and is later found by Kyle, who befriends the poor orangutan and promises to keep him safe. However, Dunston soon begins causing disruption in the hotel such as ruining Spalding's workout and interfering with Mrs. Angela Dellacroce's massage. After realizing Dunston's presence, Robert calls for an animal control specialist named Buck LaFarge (

) to remove Dunston from the hotel. Rutledge searches the hotel for Dunston, and after locating him, ties Kyle up and gags him. Dunston and Kyle escape to the ballroom where the Crystal Ball is taking place, obtaining a picture of Rutledge, Dunston, and Samson from Rutledge's room. Kyle and Brian show the picture to their dad, and Robert is infuriated when Kyle says Rutledge tied him up. Brian and Kyle search for Dunston, avoiding LaFarge and Mrs. Dubrow, while Robert and Rutledge fight in the kitchen. Mrs. Dubrow eventually corners Kyle, but Dunston hanging from a chandelier pushes her into the giant party cake. Robert eventually stands up to Mrs. Dubrow, but is fired in the process. However, it turns out that Spalding, who had been humiliated, injured, and inconvenienced by Dunston's antics, was the critic all along. As a result, Spalding declares Mrs. Dubrow managed to go from a five-star hotel to a one-star hotel before passing out from LaFarge's tranquilizer dart. Rutledge is been arrested by the police officers. Rutledge look at Dunston and Kyle, but the police officers are took him away. LaFarge apologizes to Dunston, who then slaps him. In the end, thanks to the more kind-hearted Mr. Victor Dubrow ( Nathan Davis), Robert, Kyle, and Brian relocate to Bali to manage a Majestic Hotel there and have even managed to keep Dunston as a pet. They invite Spalding over with a complimentary room and meals to make up for all the trouble he experienced and assure him that nothing will go wrong this time. However, in the last scene, Dunston causes further trouble by dropping a large coconut which lands on Spalding's face.

Cast

* Sam the Orangutan as Dunston *

Bob Bergen Robert Bergen (born March 8, 1964) is an American voice actor. He voices Warner Bros. cartoon characters Porky Pig and Tweety and has voiced characters in the English dubs of various anime. He formerly hosted the children's game show '' Jep!'', ...

as Dunston (voice) * Jason Alexander as Robert Grant *

as Kyle Grant * Graham Sack as Brian Grant *

as Elena Dubrow *

as Lord Rutledge *

as Buck LaFarge *

as Lionel Spalding * Nathan Davis as Victor Dubrow * Jennifer Bassey as Angela Dellacroce *

Steven Gilborn Steven Neil Gilborn (July 15, 1936 – January 2, 2009) was an American actor and educator. Gilborn was born in New Rochelle, New York. He attended Swarthmore College, where he was awarded a bachelor's degree in English and earned a Ph.D. ...

as Artie * Frank Welker as Neil (voice) *

Bree Turner Bree Nicole Turner (born March 10, 1977) is an American actress and dancer; she is best known for her role as Rosalee Calvert on ''Grimm''. Early life Turner was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Alamo, California. Her father is fo ...

as French girl

Reception

The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, and holds a 16% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 19 reviews. Some contemporary reviews were more generous, however. Desson Howe and Rita Kempley of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' referred to the film by saying "it ain't half bad", and a "plucky, prank-filled family farce" respectively. Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' stated that ''Dunston Checks In'' "is a delightful and funny family film of exceptional high style", "as light as a

soufflé A soufflé is a baked egg-based dish originating in France in the early eighteenth century. Combined with various other ingredients, it can be served as a savory main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of t ...

and just as delicious", and "plays like a tribute to the resourceful, unpretentious studio productions of the past". According to an article published in the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', "The cast is talented, the

hide-and-seek Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chos ...

action is silly (not killing), and the bond between a sweet little boy and the adorable ape is touching." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A" on a scale of A+ to F. Faye Dunaway's performance in the film and in ''The Chamber'' earned her a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress. The film was also nominated at the 18th Youth in Film Awards (Young Artist Awards) for Best Family Feature Film: Musical or Comedy, and Eric Lloyd for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Actor Age Ten or Under. The film was successful at the box office in India, where it was dubbed in

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and retitled ''Ek Bandar Hotel Ke Andar'' ().

Home media

''Dunston Checks In'' was much more successful in

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

than in theaters. the studio had an estimated $41.6 million in video sales, receiving 75%, greatly exceeding box office gross. The film was released by

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...

on VHS on May 27, 1996. It was released on DVD on May 28, 2002, and re-released on March 18, 2014.

References

External links

* * * {{Ken Kwapis 1996 films 1996 comedy films 1990s buddy comedy films 1990s children's comedy films 20th Century Fox films American buddy comedy films American children's comedy films American slapstick comedy films Canadian children's comedy films English-language Canadian films Films about apes Films directed by Ken Kwapis Films scored by Miles Goodman Films set in 1995 Films set in hotels Films set in New York City 1990s English-language films 1990s American films 1990s Canadian films