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Bookmark this pageHotel for Dogs (2009)
Director: Thor Freudenthal
Movie review
From Time Out London
Strictly half-term fodder it may be, but this amiable kiddie flick delivers on its promises: you get lots of dogs doing cute stuff. The set-up has a brother and sister (Emma Roberts, Jake T Austin, Identi-Kit moppets) struggling to keep their pet Jack Russell terrier a secret from their pernickety foster parent (Lisa Kudrow, a game meanie). An abandoned downtown hotel provides an ideal bolt-hole and, they begin to plot, could offer kinder accommodation for the city’s unwanted canines than the municipal pound. With a couple of pet shop assistants facilitating transport and product-placement doggie treats, the dream becomes reality, thanks muchly to little bro’s Heath Robinson-esque contraptions keeping massed pooches fed and watered while the authorities try to work out where all the strays are.True, there’s only the merest suggestion of an education system for these juveniles, but credibility’s secondary when you’ve got lots of dogs doing cute stuff. There’s a treadmill for automated walkies, a canine-operated ball thrower, while bodily functions are catered for by production-line poop-scooping. A whole spectrum of breeds, shapes and sizes supply the aww-factor (pugs with aerobics headbands), but there’s some welcome emotional underpinning too, since the foster kids need a good home as much as their four-legged friends. Enter Don Cheadle as a kindly social services officer: when they start giving actors awards for films they’d rather leave off their CVs, he’ll be up there on the podium.
Author: Trevor Johnston
Time Out London Issue 2008, 12 -18 February, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- momo said...
- Posted on Mar 17 2009 15:05 Best children's film we have seen for a long time. Went with my two grandson's, 5 & 12.We loved it.
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- film crit said...
- Posted on Mar 15 2009 17:19 hotel for dogs? more like hotel for my girlfriend wwwwwwwwooooooooooofffffffffffffffffffffff
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- Lindy said...
- Posted on Mar 14 2009 15:44 you must go and see it even my dog liked it
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- kelsey said...
- Posted on Mar 14 2009 12:59 i am off to see it today i can't wait it's goining to be awsom lol
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- Miranda said...
- Posted on Mar 08 2009 09:46 This is a really good film! I couldn't watch it without a few tears, but in the end I was sort of having tears because it was really happy.
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- emily said...
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Posted on Mar 07 2009 13:37
im of to go and see this film on sunday
soooo looking forward to it!! from all the reviews !!!!
if i like it i will recomend it to everyone !!! go and see the film LOL !!!!!!!! - Report as inappropriate
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- emma said...
- Posted on Mar 07 2009 12:15 is it really that good?? i'm 13, (nearly 14) and me and mum were gonnna see a film but this is the only decent film on, do you think my mum will actually like it??
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- jo gass said...
- Posted on Mar 04 2009 18:00 I loved this film, great for kids and adults, just take a hankie as I cant imagine watching this without shedding a few tears.
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- caitlin said...
- Posted on Mar 02 2009 16:48 I liked this film :)
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- Charlotte said...
- Posted on Mar 01 2009 12:42 might go and see this today with the kids does look good will have to see eh? lol i will tell you all later lol
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- abi said...
- Posted on Feb 28 2009 18:33 this is so suckish do not go and see it its very stupid
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- Denise Tootell said...
- Posted on Feb 28 2009 17:08 I took my 13 yr old son to see this film and it was brill!!! especially if you love dogs! would recomended this film to anyone! great family film!
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- clarice said...
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Posted on Feb 26 2009 19:21
saw it 1 and gunna see it again for my party!!!!!!!! it is well good! ;)
if u havent watched it yet go and wach it!!!! - Report as inappropriate
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- Phimon Habtai said...
- Posted on Feb 24 2009 16:13 Me and My Pet Dog, dog2 mc fee saw this, we loved it. We have been ten times so far!!
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- jo said...
- Posted on Feb 23 2009 18:24 i aint seen yet but im looking forward to it is it good?
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Cast & crew
Director: Thor Freudenthal
Cast: Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, Don Cheadle, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon, Johnny Simmons, Kyla Pratt, Troy Gentile full cast
Genre(s): Children's
Rated: U
Duration: 100 mins
UK Release: Feb 13 2009
US Release: Jan 16 2009
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