DVD Reviews

Hotel For Dogs

• Rating:
• Director: Thor Fruedenthal
• Starring: Don Cheadle
• Details: US/Germany / 100mins (G).

It's the third dog movie in as many weeks (another, Marley and Me, is on its way), but this one is different - the dogs can't talk. 16-year-old Andi (Roberts) and her little brother Bruce (Austin) are orphans living with rocker foster parents (Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon). In an attempt to keep their family together, the kids have been hiding their pet dog, Friday, in and about the apartment for some time. Following Friday into an abandoned hotel one night, they discover two other dogs living there and Andi and Bruce decide to round up all the strays and house them inside. But with the local dogcatchers on the hunt, things get a little rough. The makers of Hotel For Dogs know exactly who their audience is and make no apologies for the plot holes and scant drama on display - they know the kids won't give a damn and just want to see dogs make adults look like idiots; Hotel For Dogs doesn't do much other than that. Bruce's wee inventions are the highlight and the kids should delight in watching all the contraptions in the 'hotel' working perfectly and then later causing chaos. The movie is really a vehicle to keep Emma Roberts (daughter to Eric, niece to Julia) in the spotlight until the 17-year-old is old enough to take on meatier roles. Although it's easy to know why Kudrow and Dillon need their names on a film's - any film's - marquee, it's hard to see why heavyweight Cheadle, playing the kids' social worker here, signed on. Surely he isn't that stuck for cash?

Review by Gavin Burke