Movie Review:
Hotel for Dogs
Rated by 30 members
Rated PG for brief mild thematic elements, language and some crude humor.
Recommended for ages 3 to 10.
Run Time: 100 minutes
Quick Take: Adults will have to collar their disbelief but kids will love this tail-wagging treat.
Kids Will Want Repeat Visits to This 'Hotel'
Those of us who spent our formative years using cardboard boxes and building blocks to create elaborate, wacky-outfitted edifices (OK, maybe that was just me) can appreciate what kids would dig about Hotel for Dogs.
What tyke hasn't fantasized about a kids-only retreat? The movie version of Lois Duncan's popular book is an urban fairy tale, what you get when kids create their own kingdom from an abandoned building and a roomful of gizmos.
The kids are Andi and Bruce, orphaned siblings on their umpteenth unhappy foster family, trying to tolerate their current "parents" while secretly caring for their beloved dog, Friday. The industrious pair co-opt a broken down New York City hotel for Friday and a couple of strays. Before long, boy-genius Bruce is outfitting the place with dog-sitting gadgets aplenty, making it look like something Jimmy Neutron would have put together -- dogs chasing auto-fetch devices, dogs using auto toilets, dogs on virtual car rides. In no time, they have the titular Hotel for Dogs housing every stray in Gotham--big ones, little ones, droopy ones, spunky ones.
By and large, Hotel is sweet, predictable fun, the biggest surprise coming during the opening credits, when every adult in the room gasped over the name of one of its stars: Don Cheadle? Really? Literal-minded grownups will have to check adult cynicism at the door. It's funny how we can watch SpongeBob without a hint of incredulity, but a bunch of kids running a dog hotel, and we snark, "As if that could happen." But, the movie benefits from warm sentiment between the siblings, and enough lower-lip moments to make you worry your face is going to freeze that way.
Tykes will be beside themselves laughing over the canines that, with all due respect to the movie's two-legged stars, are the top dogs of the film. While it's not one for date night, parents will at least enjoy the ride vicariously. All that, plus, no dogs died, which, without so much as a "woof," gives Hotel for Dogs a German-Shepherd-sized leg up on Marley & Me. Even better, many of the four-legged stars are actual rescues, which means, after Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Marley & Me and now Hotel (about 70 in the latter alone), the employment rate for rescued pooches is at an all time high, to which, as an animal lover, I say "Hooray!"
If the movie's got a gaff, it's that it's victim of its own cleverness. At 100 minutes, it clocks in at about 10 minutes too long, most of the extra time eaten up by a too-complete accounting of every dog gadget in the room. Admittedly, they're cute, but you can get too much of a good thing, and 'round about gizmo number 50, in-audience fidgeting sky rocketed.
Still, Hotel is a wish-fulfillment hit with the target audience, as evidenced by the young boy sitting next to me. When the movie ended, and the credits rolled, he talked about building a fort, and fulfilled the producers' wishes with the one request he had for his mom.
"Can we see it again?"
Kids Will Like:
Kids rule in this movie, and adults, with the exception of the social worker (Don Cheadle) and his wife, are played for maximum buffoonery, a circumstance that delights kids aplenty. Friday is adorable, as is the entire cast of canines, and their antics -- particularly the predictable poop jokes, and one scene involving big-dog Lenny and a window -- draw belly laughs. The pet-store mobile probably looks like the best family car ever.
Parents Will Like:
Bruce and Andi have a warm, loving relationship. Andi is very protective of her younger brother. Overall, it's a lovely portrayal of a relationship between siblings. There are some fun references only grownups will get, such as two dogs named Lenny and Georgia.
