Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Python Hyena Hotel for Dogs (2009): Dir: Thor Freudenthal / Cast: Jake T. Austin, Emma Roberts, Johnny Simmons, Kyla Pratt, Don Cheadle: Pathetic showcase about caring or reaching out. The title regards a run down hotel that is the shelter are several dogs. It also symbolizes two siblings that are tossed about in the foster care system and cling to each other for support. Jake T. Austin and Emma Roberts play siblings whose musician foster parents are morons. They secretly care for a dog named Friday, which leads to a run down hotel where they provide for several dogs. The screenplay is a dud from the start with dogs behaving in manners that is forced humour. Austin and Roberts are joined by other kids including Johnny Simmons and Kyla Pratt and together they rig up mechanics that operated around the convenience of the dogs, right down to them lining up over toilet bowls and shitting into blue plastic bags. This isn't even funny on a juvenile level. The young cast can only stand by and react to the idiocy while accomplished actors like Don Cheadle do what they can with predictable elements. He is a social worker whom viewers can predict will become the new loving guardian to our leads. One could say that this film is about providing for those who cannot fend for themselves, but that theme is lost on the dreadful special effects resulting in a film that belongs in the plastic blue bags headed for the dumpster. Score: 1 / 10

vchimpanzee Andi and Bruce keep getting moved from one foster family to another. Their current situation isn't ideal--Lois and Carl are rock musicians who don't really seem to care about the kids--but social worker Bernie warns that if they can't make this family work, the siblings will be split up. That is absolutely unacceptable, so the kids have to try to make this work. I wonder--might Bernie and his wife Carol, a teacher, consider taking the kids? No, a social worker can't rescue every problem child. It's too much to ask.One problem that could end their time with the rockers--Andi and Bruce have a dog which they are trying to keep hidden. If their dog gets caught, it gets sent to the pound, where the employees are all too eager to get rid of excess dogs--if you know what I mean.One day the dog escapes into the abandoned Sir Francis Drake Hotel. Several stray dogs are living there. The kids realize what they have to do to keep their dog. Bruce is a genius who can design science projects that would surely win at science fairs. With a friend who works in a pet store, the kids turn the place into a real "hotel for dogs", with lots of Rube Goldberg gadgets to meet the dogs' every need. Other dogs are brought in from elsewhere, but ...You just know this isn't legal. And if the cops and the evil dogcatchers ever find out what's going on ...This is an okay movie, with some amazing work by the dogs. Some of it is surely CGI, but the dogs are very well trained.Emma Roberts is good, and the gadgets are great. No, none of this is realistic, but it's a kids' fantasy. And wait until you see all the dogs running down the street! Yes, it had to happen in a movie like this.Don Cheadle is a better actor than this, but it's okay. He doesn't have to limit himself to Oscar-quality material. Instead, he can help to make movies like this better. And he does.I couldn't stand Lisa Kudrow or Kevin Dillon. Anything that could make their lives miserable made me happy.This is a family movie. Sure, that means bathroom humor, but there's nothing really bad here.It's not brilliant, but it's good clean family fun.

filmsbythefire Kids movies these days vary incredibly, don't they? Currently, I think one of the best producers of good kids movies is Pixar - recent works such as Wall.E and Up (though I haven't seen the latter, it is greatly praised) are true masterpieces which can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. They embody what good kids films should be. While Hotel for Dogs does attempt to do this, it's clear the only real appeal is the dogs. The storyline is thin and very, very predictable. It's got all the typical clichés of dog movies - the pound are the enemy (the real-life pound are actually a valuable and caring service), the dogs are all adorable and in pet-show-winning condition, and the humans pretty much take a back seat when the canines are on the screen. Aside from the impossibility of the whole thing, what really got me was how perfect all these 'strays' were? I understand that they could hardly use untrained, ill or injured dogs, but they could have perhaps picked less pristine ones - even kids will have a hard time believing these purebred mastiffs, poodles and Chinese crested pooches are actually strays. Any half-decent dog breeder would kill to get their hands on some of these beauties! Still, the lead dog, Friday, really stole the show, and the main reason I watched this right through, as I cared about what happened to him in particular. The human roles are, by contrast, quite poor - two children with no moral values, another two who are necessary to the plot in order for the first two to be able to afford the pet food, and one other one who is there purely to ensure the other girl has a boyfriend at the end (everyone hooks up with each other, of course. Can boys and girls never be just friends in Hollywood?) And you'll know who the foster kids will end up with from the start. If you have children between about 4 and 10, this film should prove an enjoyable treat. But the adults - well, here's hoping you have a lot on your minds to think about while it's on. Otherwise, you'll be pretty bored.

MLDinTN This was a simple story. Two foster kids team up with some friends to save stray dogs from the pound by putting them in an abandoned hotel. They rig the hotel with all these devices, like a way to feed the dogs at one time, entertainment for the dogs, a moon to howl at, etc... One of the kids works at a pet store which is how the kids are able to afford to buy all this dog food. So, of course, conflict ensues when the foster parents find the dog hotel and call the pound. Then it is up to the kids to save the dogs again.Nothing original about this movie. The dogs were the best part for me. 10 year old kids will probably like the story.FINAL VERDICT: I'd only recommend it for kids.