Movie Reviews

Movie Reviews: Hotel for Dogs

Emma Roberts, last seen as 2007's charmingly retro-wholesome Nancy Drew, is only slightly more wised-up in the Disneyesque-but-not-Disney Hotel for Dogs. And that's not a bad thing.

Roberts is Andi, a slightly troublesome 16-year-old foster child. When we first meet Andi and her 11-year-old brother Bruce (Jake T. Austin), the two are scamming a pawnshop for some quick cash. But wait: The reason they need the dough is so they can feed their dog Friday, who is banned from their latest foster parents' apartment. Later, after the kids must resort to bribery to bail Friday out of the pound, they find the perfect hiding place for him: a dilapidated high-rise former hotel populated by only three ownerless dogs.

With the help of a friend and two pet-store employees, Andi and Bruce soon populate the abandoned hotel with strays rescued from all over town. Budding engineer Bruce concocts a bunch of clever Swiss Family Robinson-like mechanical contraptions that feed the growing number of "guests," keep them entertained, and even trick them into doing their business in appropriate places.

Refreshingly for a modern-day children's movie, Andi is that rare teenage beauty who is not presented as a sexually aware, Gossip Girl-ish tart. Roberts does a good job of portraying Andi's social awkwardness about being a foster child, her fear of being separated from her younger brother, and her embarrassment when she's caught lying about having real parents. Her barely puppy-love relationship with an accomplice (Johnny Simmons) results in only a single kiss. Andi also is endearingly amusing instead of cynically smart-alecky. When she's trying to find something to wear to a party, she mutters, "If cartoon birds and mice were going to make me a dress for the ball, now would be a good time."

Andi and Bruce's flaky-funny foster mom Lois (Lisa Kudrow) is simultaneously stern and ditzy, while doofus foster dad Carl (Kevin Dillon) is delightfully dumb. Preparing for their fifth gig in two years, the two rehearse bad rock songs in their living room as keyboard-guitar duo The Carl Scudder Experience, barely acknowledging the existence of their two young charges.

Don Cheadle's appearance as a caring social worker who has Andi and Bruce's best interests at heart is both a good and an odd thing. On the positive side, he delivers an understated and uncondescending performance that anchors the otherwise lightweight proceedings to something resembling reality. One of his emotional scenes near the end of the movie is genuinely touching.

Still, some wags may howl that there is something awkward about Cheadle going from Hotel Rwanda to Hotel for Dogs. Both movies have similar "save the innocent from extermination" plots, only this time it is pooches instead of people who are spared after checking in.

That trivial quibble doesn't take away from the fact that this is a really enjoyable and clever kids' movie with a good message and a lot of heart. Two paws up!

—James Dawson
01.15.09