Hotel For Dogs (2009)

"A bright, funny family movie that gets everything right, from story to production design to cast (both human and canine).  Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
"A lively, funny, imaginative film that should appeal to kids and their pet-loving parents.  Connie Ogle, Miami Herald
"Kids will be as enthralled by this film as you were by the live-action Disney movies of the '70s.  Kyle Smith, New York Post
"Bark out loud funny.  Mark S. Allen, CBS
"...its combination of mild comedy, slapstick, pathos, many photogenic canines and a positive message will make it irresistible to families.  Walter Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle

Editor's Note Thor Freudenthal makes his feature-film directorial debut with this adaptation of Lois Duncan?s children?s book HOTEL FOR DOGS. Sixteen-year old Andi (Emma Roberts) and her younger brother, Bruce (Jake T. Austin), are orphans living with their foster parents (Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon), two washed-up musicians. Desperate to keep what?s left of their family together, Andi and Bruce have secretly been caring for their family dog, Friday, on the sly for the last few years. When they follow their beloved pet into an abandoned hotel and find stray dogs living there, Andi and Bruce decide to round up all the strays in the city and expand their family. With the help of Dave (Johnny Simmons) and Heather (Kyla Pratt), two teens who work at the local pet store, they transform the abandoned hotel into a canine wonderland, using young Bruce?s skills as an inventor to make an automated feeding system, doggie restrooms, and some fun amusements, such as a car-ride simulation and a fetching machine. But if Animal Control has their way, all the residents of the hotel will be taken to the pound, and it?s up to Andi and Bruce to save their new family. This heartwarming tale reinforces the importance of family and the idea that families can come in many shapes and sizes. Although the idea itself is pretty improbable, it?s still loads of fun to see the gadgets and gizmos that Bruce creates to keep the dogs fed, in shape, and content. Roberts and Austin are believable as brother and sister, and Kudrow and Dillon are amusing as washed-up '80s rockers. Don Cheadle also appears as the compassionate social worker assigned to Andi and Bruce?s case.

	Emma Roberts
	Lisa Kudrow
	Kevin Dillon
	Jake T. Austin
	Kyla Pratt
	Don Cheadle
	Jeff Lowell - Screenwriter
	Jason Clark - Producer
	Jeffrey Clifford - Executive Producer
	John Debney - Composer
	Jonathan Gordon - Producer
	Lois Duncan - Source Writer
	Lauren Shuler Donner - Producer
	Tom Pollock - Executive Producer
	Michael Grady - Director of Photography
	Ewan Leslie - Producer
	Ivan Reitman - Executive Producer
	Thor Freudenthal - Director

USA Today
"[HOTEL FOR DOGS] features a cast of so many endearing dogs that there's a purebred or adorable mutt of everyone's tastes." 01/16/2009

Los Angeles Times
"Think of HOTEL FOR DOGS as a sort of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE with canines....What it is packed with is lots of sneaking around, very cool gadgets, excellent stunts and some clever kids..." 01/16/2009

Variety
"HOTEL FOR DOGS is a fantasy and looks like one....Ultimately warm and furry..." 01/16/2009

Box Office
"Based on Lois Duncan's wonderful children's book, the film mixes laughs, heart and action while also throwing in a nice message about the importance of a family unit." 01/14/2009

Washington Post
"This comedy, starring perfectly pleasant up-and-comer Emma Roberts is about kids, not parents....The movie could do something really positive for the cause of homeless pets..." 01/16/2009

Hollywood Reporter
"The dogs in HOTEL FOR DOGS perform breathtaking stunts, touching love scenes, heart-breaking soliloquies with their eyes and clever, clever tricks." 01/11/2009

DVD Talk 5 of 10
Struggling to remain together while bouncing around foster homes, siblings Andi (Emma Roberts) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin) are forced to commit petty crimes to make sure their clandestine pet dog Friday is properly taken care of..."Hotel for Dogs" is strictly mild sauce for family audiences looking to ooh and ahh over highly trained canine actors, sent directly through a cinematic obstacle course of pranks and bodily functions. Though billed a comedy, there's nothing explicitly funny about the picture, which resembles a mid-70s Disney throwaway production, intended only to babysit, not thrill...For the less demanding, I could see "Hotel for Dogs" filling a small void in the now red-hot cute dog genre, as this picture is overflowing with all canines great and small. Director Thor Freudenthal deserves a medal for simply surviving the shoot, as he orchestrates the emotions of a plethora of professional pooches, who often swarm the frame. Thankfully, the seams rarely show, though the director doesn't find enough visual oddity to backdrop the hotel residents once the kids get the place up and running...Of course, finding fault with a film that encourages proper dog caretaking seems cruel, but the screenplay for "Hotel for Dogs" is such a flavorless, unfunny piece of writing that doesn't aspire to be anything but obvious, which begins to fatigue the picture after the first five minutes. Sluggish stabs at tween romance, wicked dog catchers, and neglectful foster parents end up a bore, leaving the animals with the burden to keep the film passably engrossing, if you can get past the picture's unnerving urine and poop fixation, the dogs carry the film appropriately, perhaps even outacting their human costars. Especially Cheadle, who should really have a long conversation with his agent about his future in worthwhile film roles. - Brian Orndorf

Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
"Hotel for Dogs" is a sweet, innocent family movie about stray dogs that seem as well-trained as Olympic champions. Friday, the Jack Russell terrier who's the leader of the pack, does more acting than most of the humans, and doesn't even get billing. I know, because I searched for one, hoping to mention him by name and call him a good doggie...What can Friday do? Let himself up and down from a fire escape landing, using a pulley-and-counterweight system. Find his masters anywhere in the city. Steal hot dogs and possibly a whole gyros wheel. Get out of his collar and back in again. Out-race dogs five times his size in a sprint down city streets. And join dozens of other dogs in mastering these abilities: Feeding himself. Using a doggie fire hydrant. Sitting on a toilet. Running on a treadmill. Activating a bone-throwing mechanism. I'm only scratching the surface...Friday belongs to Andi (Emma Roberts) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin), a brother and sister in foster care. He is kept a secret from their foster parents, two obnoxious would-be rock musicians (Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon). The kids saved him from the streets, and he has been their secret pal through three years and five foster homes. One day, he leads them into an abandoned downtown hotel occupied by two dogs he makes friends with, and soon the kids find themselves running an unofficial animal shelter...Don Cheadle plays the dedicated social worker in charge of the kids, who bails them out when they get in trouble with cops and meanie attendants at the animal pound. He even has a big speech on the dog hotel steps, during which I did my best not to think of "Hotel Rwanda." What I thought instead was, Marley has a lot he could learn from these dogs. - Roger Ebert