Dog Hotel – Hotel for Dogs (2009)

Directed by: Thor Freudenthal | 100 minutes | comedy, family | Actors: Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, Kyla Pratt, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon, Don Cheadle, Johnny Simmons, Troy Gentile, Hira Ambrosino, Diane Baldwin, Samantha Bee, Yvette Nicole Brown, Lance Bruyette, Georgie Del Junco, Leslie Del Rosario, Eric Edelstein, Kelsey Higgs, Jeremy Howard, Emily Kuroda, Robinne Lee, Mariah Moore, Ajay Naidu, Tiya Sircar, Omi Vaidya, Kenny Vibert, Andre Ware, Brendan Wayne

With the American ‘Hotel for Dogs’ we end up in a subgenre that has spawned quite a few legendary names: from Lassie and Old Yeller to Hooch and Beethoven. Although in ‘Hotel for Dogs’ the dog Friday is the main dog character, here we are dealing more with a dog ensemble than with a single hero. What’s more, the orphans Andi and Ben are just as important as characters as their dog family has gathered together.

‘Hotel for Dogs’ is not only an adventurous dog movie, but the film also wants to say something about serious things like family ties and loyalty. Naturally packed in cheerful, exciting and funny events and suitable for a wide audience. The youngest viewers can enjoy the dogs’ physical humor and pranks; for teens, there’s teenage romance and a nice analogy between orphaned children and abandoned dogs. For adults there are a few (successful) jokes, often between the lines so as not to disturb. The question is whether the youngest viewers are waiting for a real French kiss and whether the older youth always enjoy the physical humor. For adults, the predictability of the story can be counterintuitive.

‘Hotel for Dogs’ is based on a youth novel, and that turns out to be both an advantage and a disadvantage. The film has a clear structure, outspoken characters and a clear theme. The disadvantage is that there is too much going on for a film of child-friendly length. The fact that the pace is continuously on the high side is not even the biggest problem. It is more annoying that some scenes are not sufficiently developed, the film sometimes seems a bit messy and that some characters are given too little space.

Despite those minuses, ‘Hotel for Dogs’ is well worth a look. Predictability, messiness and lack of elaboration simply weigh less in family films than in adult films. Much more important is the cheerful, funny and moving quality of the film. All in all, not a top performer in the genre, but entertaining enough to please not only dogs and dog lovers.