Hotel para perros

Usually, I don't like films which have real dogs in them. But, Hotel For Dogs came as a real surprise to me. Of course, the plot is predictable, but the actors & the adorable dogs brought this movie some heart. I don't understand the low rating. This movie was made for kids, not for adults, so you shouldn't have expected anything more than the predictable dialogues & happy ending.

Andi (Emma Roberts) & Bruce (Jake. T. Austin) are two siblings who have lost their parents & are living in foster homes & the adults in that home are very annoying. One day their dog, Friday goes into an abandoned old hotel & it spends the night there. Somehow, the kids want a real family & they start rescuing dogs from all over the place to help the dogs avoid the pound with the help of their friends, Dave, Heather & Mark. They get into all kinds of trouble with the law.

I was babysitting the other day & my little cousin wanted to watch this as soon as he heard it had dogs in them (he's 8 & very cute) & so I had to watch it along with him as no one else wanted to spend time on this with him & I like him (he has two elder sisters & they wouldn't see this, nor babysit him). This is a very fun family film. The acting was good, the dogs were awesome & the contraptions to help the dogs enjoy was cool. Seeing this as he enjoyed really made it good for me. The plot had lot of holes in it; like where did they get the money to feed so many dogs when they couldn't even pay for food for their first dog? And how could they build the hotel for the dogs without the owner's permission & is it really OK to break the law as long as you do it for the cute dogs? This is a kids fantasy after all & I let go of these problems.

Lisa Kudrow (from the awesome show 'Friends') really didn't do much in this. Then again, the kids & dogs are the main attraction. Emma Roberts is a girl I loved in Nancy Drew (I was a huge fan of Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew during my teens, still am I suppose) & here also I liked her. The other kids were also OK. I'm a huge fan of Prison Break & did anyone notice Mark was eerily similar with his dialogue delivery & personality to a character in the TV show? If he is not his son, then its weird.

6/10

So I'm finna be real -

Hotel for Dogs kinda not bad.

Like it's clearly not good. The script is awful. The acting isn't that good. The music both generic and out of place.

BUT the director genuinely makes an effort to be creative here and I'm shocked by it. For a kid's movie, Thor Freudenthal does way more than he had to. Part of that is probably because of the source material, I'm sure all of the wacky dog contraptions come straight out of the kid's book, but part of it has to do with the surprisingly interesting shots and editing.

Now I'm not saying this movie is a masterpiece - again, it's got really bad writing. I'm just saying, as a kid's movie, it's more entertaining than I thought it would be.

Plus doggos pretty cute ngl.

A brother and sister live with their umpteenth set of foster parents. They hide their pet - a small dog - because the foster parents don't want to know about it. When the dog runs away they follow it and find their way into an old abandoned building. To their surprise it is not completely abandoned but actually lived in by a number of dogs. Soon after that an idea comes to life.

And from there the story rolls on in a typical Disney style children's film where evil is evil and good is good and anything else is easily forgotten. As as adult I wasn't overly impressed with the film but the kid I took to see it loved it - and that's good. The target audience for the film must be kids in the age range 6 to 12 or so. The things that happen are fun to watch (at least the very most of the time) and although the acting capabilities of the younger players leaves something to be desired it is not bad enough to turn the film into a complete waste of tape.

All in all, it features a good number of laughs, a few tear drops and surely a lot of hard work - and a cast that is clearly liking to play the roles they were cast for.

5 out of 10 dogs barking in the night

Hotel for Dogs plays it very safe and sticks to a tried-and-true children's movie formula. For a great many viewers the best thing about the film will be the cute and cuddly dogs that perform various tricks – their training is easily more impressive than the humdrum story, based on a hopefully more consequential Lois Duncan book. The dialogue lacks flair, the acting is expectedly simple, and the characters provide only modest entertainment in comparison to their canine costars. Adults will probably find it difficult to withstand the sickeningly sweet conclusion or the impossibly artificial mechanics behind the inner workings of the dog hotel, but the target audience is likely to be pleased.

16-year-old Andi (Emma Roberts) and her 11-year-old brother Bruce (Jake Austin) have bounced back and forth between orphanages and foster parents (five in the last three years) without finding comfort or satisfaction. Bernie (Don Cheadle), the kindly social worker who governs their placements tries to reason with the children, who aren't content with their newest family of quiver-inducing wannabe rock stars (Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon) who conduct obnoxious band practice in their apartment nonstop, and compulsively lock up the cupboards and cabinets in their home. The brother and sister team have also been secretly keeping a pet dog, Friday, who uses automated gadgets constructed by the mechanically inclined Bruce to get food and to remain hidden.

Before school starts up, the trouble making duo (they get money for dog food by pawning fraudulent goods) comes across an abandoned hotel with several canine occupants. Deciding to look after their newfound family of dogs, Andi and Bruce join forces with two employees from the nearby pet store (Johnny Simmons and Kyla Pratt) along with nosey Mark (Troy Gentile), to build an elaborate self-maintained shelter for unwanted, abandoned and stray dogs. Initially it seems they've bitten off more than they can chew, especially when cruel dog pound troops, nagging foster parents and pesky cops begin to take notice of the incredibly large gathering of dogs at the dilapidated old building.

The target audience probably won't be asking the questions that popped into my mind: How can an 11-year-old kid build such intricate mechanical contraptions? Is it really that easy to train dozens of dogs to use said electrical gadgets? Is it simply luck that none of the dogs need medical attention? Is it really okay for children to commit crimes such as breaking and entering, trespassing, and even assault, as long as it's done with the intent of saving stray animals? Clearly this film wasn't designed for me, but the trite dialogue (Kevin Dillon mutters the stale line, "We're in deep doo doo," after falling into an enormous animal waste bin), the predictability of Bernie's role, the sappy ending and the Kill Bill music montage (Tomoyasu Hotei's instantly recognizable "Battle Without Honor or Humanity") are huge distractions – especially when one just wants to see some adorable dogs running amok.Evren Buyruk,Tx

I am shocked to come to IMDb and see this movie with a rating under 5/10. Certainly the film is not art, but it a nice family film, a fun film, a good time film. Kids (and adults) will enjoy Bruce's contraptions, and the film solidly encourages kids to do the right thing and stand up for what they believe in. Best of all, they do not clutter the movie with useless subplots. Any romance between the characters is a minor strand, there are no false arguments to heighten tension. The plot stays focused and the kids (and even adults) will have a good time.

I *HATE* dogs, and I liked this movie. That has to say something.