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SummaryA 5-star hotel turns into a 3-ring circus when an orangutan named Dunston checks in! Dodging his jewel-thieving owner and the frantic hotel manager, Dunston is befriended by the manager's ten-year old son, Kyle, who is determined to help his new friend escape.

Directed By:Ken Kwapis

Dunston Checks In

Metascore
54
User score
Mixed or Average
5.0
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Metascore
54
46% Positive
6 Reviews
31% Mixed
4 Reviews
23% Negative
3 Reviews
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  • Positive Reviews
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90
Los Angeles Times
Dunston Checks In is a delightful and funny family film of exceptional high style.
75
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The story is predictable from start to finish, but there's ample fun getting there. Director Ken Kwapis lets the orangutan set the tone, and it ends up a slapstick ensemble comedy. [12 Jan 1996, p.3E]
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Dunston Checks In is a fast- moving, well-done farce that both kids and adults will enjoy.
60
New York Daily News
Ken Kwapis' Dunston Checks In contains not a single surprising moment. But it is well crafted enough to squeak by. Kids should get a few laughs from it. Accompanying adults will be only moderately bored. [12 Jan 1996, p.33]
40
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Dunston does all sorts of zany things in Ken Kwapis' wisely brief feature, but whether the movie is therefore worth seeing will depend on whether his monkeyshines are apt to make the viewer go ape. [12 Jan 1996, p.L24]
38
Philadelphia Inquirer
A movie so dumb it raises serious questions about our place on the evolutionary ladder. [12 Jan 1996, p.12]
25
Chicago Tribune
In the new wave of kiddie animal movies -- "Babe," "Black Beauty," "Gordy," "Fluke," "Roan Inish" and all the rest -- Dunston Checks In is valuable only as a new standard of screenwriting ineptitude. Don't play it again, Sam, at least not with this bunch.
See All 13 Critic Reviews
User score
Mixed or Average
5.0
17% Positive
1 Rating
67% Mixed
4 Ratings
17% Negative
1 Rating
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May 16, 2021
6
pur__0_0__
Dunston Checks In is one of the films that we had the DVD of back when I was a kid. I'm not gonna lie, it's a guilty pleasure of mine to watch this silm in spite of all its flaws. And for me it doesn't even come under the "so bad it's good" category. It's a piece of the lore that defines my childhood. It was the first film that I watched in Hindi dub (it's called Ek Bandar Hotel Ke Andar in Hindi). And it was also the movie where I learnt that the film has Hindi dubbing and the characters are not actually speaking in Hindi. I won't go into the story since I don't want to give any spoilers just in case you accidentally stumbled upon this page and are reading this review. So all I'd tell you is that this is about an orangutan who has been brought to a hotel in order to steal by a thief. There are two mischievous kids of whom the younger one is the protagonist (obviously). The kid manages to befriend the orangutan and then they help catch the thief to save the day. There are a lot of other things also going on and the characters always have a background story, but this was the basic premise of the story. You know those silly children's films from the 90's that we all watched and had a good time laughing at? Baby's Day Out, Home Alone, Jingle All The Way - It comes under the same category: A mindless comedy not meant to be taken seriously. Though it does make me kinda sad to know people don't exactly like it. And I genuinely don't see a single reason why this film has such poor reviews. It's just like all those movies that we were used to seeing back then. It deserves probably a little more appreciation. Sure it's a bit mindless and a copy of something we have often watched, but still this is too low.
See All 6 User Reviews
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  • 20th Century Fox
  • Joe Wizan/Todd Black
Jan 12, 1996
1 h 28 m
PG
He's about to turn a Five Star Hotel into a three ring circus.
Young Artist Awards
• 2 Nominations
Razzie Awards
• 1 Nomination
The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards
• 1 Nomination
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