Hotel for Dogs (2009)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Manu G

  
  Bienvenue aux chiens perdus! (Welcome to the lost dogs!) Good family movie! For all you dog lover's out there this movie will satisfy your thirst. Decent story with some funny moments and a happy ending. Siblings Andi (Emma Roberts) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin) are orphans, and… More
  Bienvenue aux chiens perdus! (Welcome to the lost dogs!) Good family movie! For all you dog lover's out there this movie will satisfy your thirst. Decent story with some funny moments and a happy ending. Siblings Andi (Emma Roberts) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin) are orphans, and they live with wannabe rock-star foster parents Lois and Carl Scudder (Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon). Due to the foster parents awful treatment, the kids and their beloved dog Friday (who is hidden from the foster parents) spend their days on the streets. To get money for food for themselves and the dog they deceive a pawn shop, but are caught. Their social worker Bernie (Don Cheadle) reprimands them, but helps them to minimize the damage. One day while out on the streets as usual, they witness a store being robbed. The police seeing the two kids standing nearby accuse them as being the robbers and here starts a silly chase all over town. The kids eventually hide in an old abandoned hotel but are spooked when they here footsteps and chairs falling over. Come to find out the hotel is occupied by two dogs. The following day the kids gather up all the food from their foster parents pantry and refrigerator and secretly take the food to the hotel for the dogs. That's when they get the idea to turn the hotel into a home for the three dogs and any other strays they can find. They are joined by a boy named Dave (Johnny Simmons), a girl named Heather (Kyla Pratt), (both of whom work at a pet store). And later joined by a kid who lives nearby named Mark (Troy Gentile). The kids rescue about 20 or so dogs. Bruce invents and constructs many ingenious machines using parts he steals from his foster parents, to help feed the dogs and provide sanitary facilities, exercise and entertainment for them. The dogs are quick in learning how to use the machines. Later on Bernie announces to them they can move from the foster home they hate to a new one that is a few hours away. Even though this may be their last chance to be placed in a foster home together, they decline as they care too much about the dogs to abandon them, but they cannot tell Bernie this reason because they might be forbidden to continue their care for the dogs. One night while Andi and Dave are at a party (which turns into a disaster when Andi ends up getting punch on her dress, causing her to leave the party in tears) and Bruce is at his foster parents being reprimanded for a hair dryer he stole from them, the machines fail and the dogs go wild and cause so much noise that the police are called. The dogs are taken to a pound and Bruce and Andi's foster parents kick them out for stealing. As predicted, they are sent to separate foster homes. The pound prepares to euthanize the dogs, but Friday escapes and finds Dave. The two reunite all of the kids and they decide to save the dogs despite the fact that they are going to get in big trouble. They break the dogs out of the pound and try to lead them over the county line (Bruce tempting them to follow the van with sausages) to an animal shelter that has a no kill policy, but as the dogs get close to the hotel, they make a bee line there instead as that is their 'home'. The kids and a massive crowd of people follow. The police call Animal Control who tries to take them back,. Bernie having seen what the kids did, makes a speech in favor of the dogs for the kids rescued so many strays and gave them a home which is something he had been trying to do with the kids he dealt with. (When he introduces the two twin dogs, Viola and Sebastian, this makes reference to the play, "Twelfth Night". The characters Viola and Sebastian are twins in the play. And the dogs Romeo and Juliette are mates) With donations from the people of the city, the hotel is fixed up and turned into an actual hotel for dogs. The kids all work there. Lois and Carl Scudder are 'howling' good entertainment for the dogs in the lounge and Bernie and his wife end up adopting Andi, Bruce, and Friday.

• Luke B

  
  Harmless but forgettable fluff designed to make every child feel as though they are worth something. Roberts plays a young girl thrown from foster home to foster home with her brother. Needless to say, they soon meet a load of dogs that also can't find a family. Soon they're… More
  Harmless but forgettable fluff designed to make every child feel as though they are worth something. Roberts plays a young girl thrown from foster home to foster home with her brother. Needless to say, they soon meet a load of dogs that also can't find a family. Soon they're running a Hotel for Dogs to escape the misery of their lives. All this would be easier to swallow if Roberts and Austin were relatable. They commit crimes to make money. Who cares if their parents are dead, there are plenty of law abiding orphans out there. Cheadle is a surprise turn out in this paint by numbers fluff. It can be entertaining, but the dog handlers deserve the biggest congratulations.

• Roy G

  
  All the innocence of the Beethoven film series but with more dogs.

• Dean M

  
  Wonderful and sweet family movie with really great performances - and yes, I'm also referring to these of the dogs because I love them as I have one.

• Cassie H

  
  Really cute movie. I adored it. A great family movie.

• Jose Z

  
  Hotel for Dogs is a movie that tells the story of a two orphan brother and sister with a dog. One day they found a abandoned hotel and decide to transformed it on a shelter for dogs. The movie is good, it has some funny moments and also some dramatic ones. The plot is good yet… More
  Hotel for Dogs is a movie that tells the story of a two orphan brother and sister with a dog. One day they found a abandoned hotel and decide to transformed it on a shelter for dogs. The movie is good, it has some funny moments and also some dramatic ones. The plot is good yet predictable and with some flaws. The cast is decent Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin aren't bad but I think they were a little weak, Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon were very good as a couple, both were very funny and Don Cheadle in a very different role that we have seen him lately more hedaded to comedy than to drama. In conclusion, Hotel for Dogs is a enjoyable and entertaining movie for the whole family and for those who love dogs.

• Lewis C

  
  Very cute kids, very cute dogs, it's all pretty standard. There was a brief Entourage cameo, which is always a good thing.

• Jackson W

  
  I don't know how people can look at this and not think it's anything less than a great family movie. The inventive idea between a dog-themed inn was so creative its almost cool. Having great child actors Jake T. Austin and Emma Roberts make the film worth it, but it was more… More
  I don't know how people can look at this and not think it's anything less than a great family movie. The inventive idea between a dog-themed inn was so creative its almost cool. Having great child actors Jake T. Austin and Emma Roberts make the film worth it, but it was more than just worth it for me. Sure, it had a predictable plot, but it was done with more honest emotion than usual.

• Juan C

  
  this is for dog lovers and cat lovers who want to give their cats to the shelter and trade in for a dog. B

• Deb S

  
  Sixteen year old Andi (Emma Roberts) and her younger brother Bruce (J.T. Austin) are orphans that have been bounced from foster parents to foster parents as most people want to adopt younger kids. This time they end up living with foster family Lois and Carl Scudder (played by Lisa… More
  Sixteen year old Andi (Emma Roberts) and her younger brother Bruce (J.T. Austin) are orphans that have been bounced from foster parents to foster parents as most people want to adopt younger kids. This time they end up living with foster family Lois and Carl Scudder (played by Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon respectfully) who lock up the pantry, in case the youngsters want to snack, and serve the most unappetizing meals imaginable. The siblings also have to hide the fact that they have a dog, Friday, who comes home to sleep with them at night. Feeding him, however, is a problem and the kids turn to innovative stealing to keep his stomach full. They soon befriend a young kid at a pet store who provides them with dog food. One day they find an abandoned hotel and the youngsters realize it is the perfect hiding place for Friday. They even begin to collect a few more unlucky strays too. But, will they be able to keep this a secret forever, especially with the animal control workers constantly on their heels? Don Cheadle did a nice job as a social worker who tries to find them acceptable foster parents and give them a great home. The gadgets in this movie are pretty cool, as the kids create inventive ways to feed the dogs and elaborate toys to keep them occupied. Hotel for Dogs is a fun, cute film that is great for kids and those who love dogs.

• Nicolas K

  
  The things I do for my children...

• Yinalí R

  
  Lovely!

• The S

  
  Nice little family film featuring lots of dogs. Most impressive cast members are the dogs and the unsung heroes must be the dog trainers. If you like dogs enough you'll probably enjoy this regardless of any other considerations like my mum did. PS. There're lots of dogs… More
  Nice little family film featuring lots of dogs. Most impressive cast members are the dogs and the unsung heroes must be the dog trainers. If you like dogs enough you'll probably enjoy this regardless of any other considerations like my mum did. PS. There're lots of dogs in it. Woof !

• Jim W

  
  Despite bad reviews by critics, this movie was cute and harmless. It's better for the whole family than Marley & Me was as well. Kids at least won't be left crying.

• Barry L

  
  I watched this with the children and we all really loved the dogs and the way they interacted with the actors. I had one massive problem with this film and it was the end speech made by Don Cheadle.. It was so sugary, sickly sweet that it actually made my teeth ache......really put a… More
  I watched this with the children and we all really loved the dogs and the way they interacted with the actors. I had one massive problem with this film and it was the end speech made by Don Cheadle.. It was so sugary, sickly sweet that it actually made my teeth ache......really put a dampner on the whole film it was so bile enducing.

• Sunil J

  
  Push through the first 20 minutes or so of lame sibling drama and you get to the utterly adorable dogs. The story part gets better but the brother's inventions are rediculous.

Read all 16 featured audience ratings