520. Hotel For Dogs (2009)

Starring: Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, Lisa Kudrow

Director: Thor Freudenthal

Running Time: 100 mins

Hotel For Dogs is an American film about two orphaned siblings, stuck in a dull life with their mean foster parents, who find an abandoned hotel near their house, and along with a group of friends, they rescue stray dogs from all around the city in secret to house them in their own hotel for dogs.

Who doesn’t like a nice old film about dogs? I certainly do, and that part of the film was really entertaining, which was a pleasant surprise to see, however whenever it reverts to its normal Disney-esque cheese, the whole thing becomes a lot more irritating and disappointing.

However, I was delighted with all the dog stuff in the film. Luckily, it didn’t fall into the trap of those annoying talking, computer animated dogs, but managed to maintain a delightful charm throughout that really surprised me and made for a largely fun and enjoyable watch.

Despite the whole dog theme, which was indeed good fun, the rest of the film was annoyingly cheesy, predictable and formulaic, and what was worst was that it was constantly desperate to bring in a typically Disney-esque/tweeny feel.

I’m surprised by how formulaic this film was, because it wasn’t made by Disney, but Dreamworks, and yet, it felt so much like watching an episode of Hannah Montana that it was ridiculously annoying.

Whenever the film moved away from its dog bits, and went to have a look at the kids’ (I say kids, the most of them are about 18, and are surely way too old to be making a fun hotel for dogs, and yet their characters are too young to be having these absolutely ridiculous social lives) social lives, it just became incredibly dull to watch.

Nonetheless, the film is simple and charming enough to be enjoyable, especially for kids, however it is overly generic, predictable and cheesy, which makes it very irritating to watch.