Hotel for Dogs (2009)

Release date: 2009-01-16
Country: Germany|USA
Language: English
Director: Thor Freudenthal
Production Co: DreamWorks, Nickelodeon Movies, Cold Spring Pictures
Genre: Comedy, Family
Rating: 5.4/10
Length: 1h 40min

Storyline

Animals are strictly forbidden at Andi and her little brother Bruce's foster home. But for Friday, the adorable dog they secretly care for, they're ready to risk everything. They finally find him an ideal shelter, a huge abandoned hotel that Bruce transforms thanks to his engineering genius. In what has become an incredible paradise for dogs, Friday is soon joined by all kinds of furry friends, so many in fact that their barks alert the neighbors...and the local pound, who can't understand the disappearance of all the stray dogs. Andi and Bruce will have to call on all their friends and all their imagination to stop the hotel's secret from being discovered.

Plot Keywords

overalls, husband wife relationship, hot dog, foster parent, foster child, killing a dog, interracial adoption, toilet humor, talking to a dog, poodle, orphan, orphanage, orphan girl, foster care, pet food, brother sister relationship, barbecue, bad singing, based on novel, dogcatcher

Short Review

The dogs are never quite as entertaining as they should be for the kids in the audience, and the hypercutesiness and speechifying at the end will lead to much tightening of adult sphincters.