Hotel for Dogs (Thor Freudenthal, 2009)

With: Emma Roberts, Jake T Austin, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon, Don Cheadle

Plot: Two wholesome foster children take over a derelict hotel and turn it into a hotel for stray dogs, if their foster parents find out, they may get separated

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Well, this is one for dog-loving young children and no-one else at all (the adult actors are wasted), and for this audience it's certainly vibrant and dog-filled enough. All of the children involved are impossibly earnest and bland, having no personality apart from wanting to look for dogs. The story feels stretched, even at just over 90 minutes, and the cloying cuteness of the dogs just isn't for me. What can be said in its favour, however, is that the hotel itself is a marvel of production design, full of Heath Robinson-esque devices dispensing shoes, food and baths to the dogs and the film really comes alive in the montages depicting them. Outside of this? Nothing of interest.

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