2008 might have been the Year of the Rat in the Chinese calendar, but in the world of movies, that came a year earlier with "Ratatouille" dominating the scene. All of which left the subsequent earthly rotation -- and particularly the end of it -- as the year of the dog. Considering the box office clout of the likes of "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," "Bolt" and "Marley & Me," there's little doubt the studios and their family-friendly films will be going to the dogs for years to come.
While it was obviously already filmed before that recent string of cinematic canine success, those behind "Hotel For Dogs" are obviously hoping the trend continues, and there's no reason it shouldn't. Kids love dogs, and parents love films targeted at their offspring (notwithstanding the adult oriented material in "Marley"), so box office and later DVD returns should have everyone's tails wagging.
Adapted from Lois Duncan's 1971 book of the same name, the pic doesn't feature talking dogs (thank goodness, but there are the obligatory pooch reaction shots, etc.), is live-action (meaning lots of animal trainers and patience were involved in some/many of the shots and stunts), and doesn't have an emotionally devastating conclusion (although there is the background threat of the various stray dogs being put down).
The latter is what motivates the lead characters (played by Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin) and their later teen helpers (Johnny Simmons, Kyla Pratt and Troy Gentile) to save the dogs, and that should more than adequately engage and entertain younger viewers.
That is, along with various kid-based inventions that meet the dogs' needs (for exercise, entertainment, feeding and what naturally comes after that) and a majority of adults who come off as buffoons or the enemy (the former portrayed by Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon as the kids' uncaring foster parents, the latter by Ajay Naidu and Eric Edelstein as the animal control officers).
But the main attraction, to no one's surprise, is the menagerie of pups, big, small, cute and ugly, who upstage their human counterparts (even the great Don Cheadle as one of the few positive adult figures) and make Marley's out of control antics seem tame in comparison, if simply due to being far outnumbered by the pooches here.
And it's a good thing they and their stunts (overseen by director Thor Freudenthal, a bevy of trainers, and some special effects work) are fun to watch as the screenplay by Jeff Lowell, Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle is fairly threadbare. In short, it consists of human "strays" (those being the central siblings who can't find a good foster home) taking in canine counterparts and giving them a home in an abandoned hotel, with the threat of discovery by the foster parents, cops and dog catchers always looming overhead.
Thankfully, the cross-species orphans caring for orphans motif isn't applied too thickly, but there's never any doubt (at least to older kids and adults) about how things will ultimately end up. But that's how fairy tales (and that's exactly what this is, even with the cityscapes looking surreal to a point) are supposed to turn out.
Nothing tremendous and clearly best geared for less discerning, younger viewers, "Hotel For Dogs" is fairly cute, occasionally amusing, and features enough fun dogs for several films, no matter what the year might be. It rates as a 5 out of 10.
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