Hotel for Dogs (2009): Dir: Thor Freudenthal / Cast: Jake T. Austin, Emma Roberts, Johnny Simmons, Kyla Pratt, Don Cheadle: Pathetic showcase about caring or reaching out. The title regards a run down hotel that is the shelter are several dogs. It also symbolizes two siblings that are tossed about in the foster care system and cling to each other for support. Jake T. Austin and Emma Roberts play siblings whose musician foster parents are morons. They secretly care for a dog named Friday, which leads to a run down hotel where they provide for several dogs. The screenplay is a dud from the start with dogs behaving in manners that is forced humour. Austin and Roberts are joined by other kids including Johnny Simmons and Kyla Pratt and together they rig up mechanics that operated around the convenience of the dogs, right down to them lining up over toilet bowls and shitting into blue plastic bags. This isn't even funny on a juvenile level. The young cast can only stand by and react to the idiocy while accomplished actors like Don Cheadle do what they can with predictable elements. He is a social worker whom viewers can predict will become the new loving guardian to our leads. One could say that this film is about providing for those who cannot fend for themselves, but that theme is lost on the dreadful special effects resulting in a film that belongs in the plastic blue bags headed for the dumpster. Score: 1 / 10

A few basics first! Kids will like this! There is little for adults. We have become so used to 'films for kids but written for adults' that it is nice to see something just for the kids again. A parent may be useful with very young kid for the slightly 'spooky' bit. The kids and dogs all act well and Emma Roberts is a great anchor. Don Cheadle is giving his time competently but Lisa Kudrow is miscast. Now the important news. This has very, very little to do with Lois Duncan's book! You can be sure that the book is better and a perfect read for any dog lover. Buy both or buy the book! With only 5 dogs, 2 kids and a family life there is much more depth of character in the book. This film is a good one off. The book will be a favourite reread :)

Attention all dog lovers! This film is full of terrific dogs, all doing cute things, and a very amusing story (a fantasy, of course, but fun). Cat lovers even might learn a thing or two, such as how superior dogs are to those slinking creatures with sharp claws whom some people mistakenly prefer. In this tale, we first have two human waifs, Andi and Bruce, who are brother and sister orphans, played engagingly by Emma Roberts and Jake Austin. They avoid being too sugary sweet and insipid, and manage to be convincing normal kids (i.e. kids who love dogs, since all kids who don't love dogs are clearly seriously abnormal and need counselling). Don Cheadle is excellent as a social worker who tries and tries to find them some acceptable foster parents. Andi and Bruce have a pet dog whom they have to sneak in through a window in their present foster home because the foster parents don't like dogs. One dog leads to another and before long there are other dogs, and a large vacant old hotel which has been condemned and boarded up becomes their secret refuge. Other kids join in and struggle against the baddies of the film, who are the dog-catchers, and the kids go around saving all the stray dogs who are destined for the dog pound and take them to the 'hotel for dogs'. The food for all these dogs is obligingly provided by a boy who works in a pet shop. There are lots of vicissitudes, the dogs are seized, the police are summoned, the kids are sent to reformatories, and things are tough. Then things improve and the dogs are rescued from the dog pound in a hilarious dog crowd scene where hordes of dogs charge down the streets interfering with all the traffic while the public watch and cheer, and the story continues. There are many, many dogs in the film, not just a few. It is sheer Dogageddon. The film is delightful, amusingly done, treated as a lark, not too sentimental, and most enjoyable for people who love dog films. The people who made the recent failure 'Marley and Me' (see my review) should take lessons from the people who made this one. There's no use making a bad dog film, all the dogs and dog-lovers will just hate you. Dog films require a lot of love and care, just like dogs themselves, should never be too sentimental (after all, remember, 'it's a dog's life' out there), and the humour needs to be treated with discretion. Dogs are sensitive, and so are dog-lovers. In this film, there were some nervous moments for all dogs and dog-lovers when certain derogatory remarks were made about certain substances that some clumsy humans stepped in. As all dogs know, humans should be more careful. There are certain dogcessities, which must be respected and not made the butt of jokes. So what with cute dogs and cute kids and everybody hating the dog-catchers (as is only right and proper), and a sympathetic social worker whom we might honour by renaming Dog Cheadle, this film is woofing good fun all round and cannot be recommended highly enough to those of us adhering to the highest canine standards in entertainment.

'Hotel For Dogs' is strictly for kids. As an adult, I did not find it much to enjoy. The only reason why I thought it might be worth a watch was because the cast included Don Cheadle and Lisa Kudrow. Sadly, both were horribly wasted. But, Kudrow does look hilarious in that bad rockstar gettup.Even, as a children's film, 'Hotel For Dogs' isn't anywhere close to being memorable. Kids will easily forget this one once they have moved to another movie. The direction is messy. The acting is mostly over-the-top. The story does not have much in terms of structure. Even the poor dogs lack character development. I do hope there won't be a sequel.