Feb 23, 2009 

We went to see Hotel for dogs and really enjoyed it. If your child is a dog lover, it is a must see! This is an excellent family movie. It’s refreshing to see a movie where the siblings get along and look out for each other (not like Zathura where the brothers contently fight). The brother and sister (Jake T. Austin & Emma Roberts) are orphans, living with obnoxious foster parents (Kevin Dillon & Lisa Kudrow). They aren’t totally alone in the world, they have a caring social worker who looks out for them (played by Don Cheadle).The brother and sister are very compassionate and begin taking care of a growing collection of stray dogs. They meet three other kids (Johnny Simmons, Kyla Pratt & Troy Gentile) who love dogs and form a “stray dog rescue squad”.

The dogs in this movie are well trained in its pretty neat to see all the different things that they can do. The boy is a young inventor. He makes several interesting gadgets to keep the dogs occupied. Here is something else to like about Hotel for Dogs; none of the dogs die. My kids get so sad at movies where the animals get hurt and/or killed. There are a few moments where you worry about the dogs, and a couple tear jerking moments, but this is a great movie with a happy ending. Watching this movie might make a child more thankful and appreciate his family and pets even more.