i must have seen a different film!!

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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.

"Hotel for Dogs" is just another boring live action Disney film, with annoying characters and a horrible plot, full of bad clichés and dumb jokes. Nothing in this film is remotely funny. The story was dumb and the direction was bland at best.The only good things were the dogs, but the human characters were annoying. This is a terrible movie, and I don't recommend it to anyone. I think that not even the kids would like this. Disney should stick to animated films and stop doing this boring and bland live action films. Along with "The Game Plan", "Hotel for dogs" is one of the worst Disney films. 0/10

Kids movies these days vary incredibly, don't they? Currently, I think one of the best producers of good kids movies is Pixar - recent works such as Wall.E and Up (though I haven't seen the latter, it is greatly praised) are true masterpieces which can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. They embody what good kids films should be. While Hotel for Dogs does attempt to do this, it's clear the only real appeal is the dogs. The storyline is thin and very, very predictable. It's got all the typical clichés of dog movies - the pound are the enemy (the real-life pound are actually a valuable and caring service), the dogs are all adorable and in pet-show-winning condition, and the humans pretty much take a back seat when the canines are on the screen. Aside from the impossibility of the whole thing, what really got me was how perfect all these 'strays' were? I understand that they could hardly use untrained, ill or injured dogs, but they could have perhaps picked less pristine ones - even kids will have a hard time believing these purebred mastiffs, poodles and Chinese crested pooches are actually strays. Any half-decent dog breeder would kill to get their hands on some of these beauties! Still, the lead dog, Friday, really stole the show, and the main reason I watched this right through, as I cared about what happened to him in particular. The human roles are, by contrast, quite poor - two children with no moral values, another two who are necessary to the plot in order for the first two to be able to afford the pet food, and one other one who is there purely to ensure the other girl has a boyfriend at the end (everyone hooks up with each other, of course. Can boys and girls never be just friends in Hollywood?) And you'll know who the foster kids will end up with from the start. If you have children between about 4 and 10, this film should prove an enjoyable treat. But the adults - well, here's hoping you have a lot on your minds to think about while it's on. Otherwise, you'll be pretty bored.

This was a truly funny movie that was obviously aiming for the younger set, but just about everyone will find much to like. Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, and Don Cheadle were perfectly cast as the kids and social worker assigned to their case. The kids are orphans living with a foster family, and they continuously run scams (which is running them out of options and pushing Cheadle to the limit) and can't let their families know that they have a dog. They go to great lengths to hide it, which often get hilarious. After finding a bunch of strays and an abandoned hotel, well, you can probably guess what happens next. Some teenaged employees at a local pet store (and Cheadle too) get involved and wind up helping. This was a funny and fun movie that will appeal to just about everyone, and I recommend it. You will not regret watching this.*** out of ****