Hotel for Dogs
Starring: Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, Don Cheadle
Director: Thor Freudenthal
Runtime: 100 minutes
Rated: PG
Release Date: January 16th, 2009
Reviewed by: Len Berger (ConNotations Film Editor)
Throughout the world there are stray dogs that few people want. The dogs end up in the pound and we all know what could occur after the waiting period. In the film Hotel for Dogs two foster care troublemaker siblings Andi (played by Emma Roberts) and Bruce (played by Jake T. Austin) quite inadvertently stumble upon this issue and take it to task. The pair already cares for their dog Friday who must be kept hidden from their foster parents who are not too keen about pets. Bruce built an amazing doggie elevator outside of their apartment window so Friday can come and go.

As the film opens our siblings are "raising cash" to feed Friday since their foster parents keep the cabinets locked. Things do not work out as planned and Bernie (played by Don Cheadle) comes to their aid. Bernie had placed the pair with their current foster parents and was called by the authorities when Andi and Bruce were caught.

Hotel for Dogs is a classic good vs. evil (the animal control officers) film with a lot of humor and some romance. Being a film about dogs there is some doggie romance which at times is more touching than the human romance. On the humorous side Bruce created the Golden Fire Hydrant with an auto flushing device to deal with the problem of - well you know. And when Cooper is on the streets he spots a police car with a bumper sticker that reads "Take a Bite Out of Crime" and Cooper does - he bites off the license plate which is just another chew toy for him.

The film used both acting dogs and dogs rescued from a pound. Training the dogs took a few months and training the actors to work with the dogs took time as well. As part of their training the dogs were taken to public places so when the dogs were on set they would think everything is normal. Teaching the dogs to work with the various gadgets was also a step by step process. Trainers were given dummy gadgets to work with so the dogs would become familiar with them before being trained with the working gadget. The actors themselves had to deal with the dog trainers who were often yelling or gesturing in the background during a shoot. The DVD release will undoubtedly have footage showing the training and the doggie outtakes.

This is an enjoyable family film and dog lovers will love it even more. The film is rated PG due to some language and intensity. Very young viewers might be scared by some dog growling but these scenes are very short.

Hotel for Dogs is rated "B-" .