So many canines are going potty in the nation's multiplexes this month, what with "Marley & Me" and now the ensemble bowser adventure "Hotel for Dogs," I wouldn't be surprised if Lars Von Trier re-released "Dogville" just for fun. He'd make $10 million before the kids knew what hit 'em.
I love dogs. My kind of animal. They understand my needs, and their owners are kinder, more humane, more intelligent
and better-looking than the average non-dog-owning citizenry. I didn't mind "Hotel for Dogs," either: not bad, not great,
a little less pushy and grating than the usual.
More than the dogs, even, the hotel -- retrofitted by the human heroes for maximum Rube Goldberg doggie contraption
action -- takes center stage.
After bouncing around the foster-care system, 16-year-old Andi (Emma Roberts) and her 11-year-old brother, Bruce
(Jake T. Austin), land in the dubious hands of a couple of metal-head rockers (over)played by Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon.
The kids' best friend is little Friday, a sweet Jack Russell terrier with a highly developed sense of smell. They keep
Friday a secret from their alleged caregivers. One day, in the downtown area of a big city that looks a bit like Los
Angeles and a bit more like Backlot Heights, USA, Friday and the kids discover a condemned old hotel where a few strays
have set up shop. The kids and their newfound human pals get to work rehabbing the joint, while avoiding the police, and
romance blossoms between Andi and the nice kid from the pet shop portrayed by Johnny Simmons.
All this is verrrrry loosely based on Lois Duncan's book, which dealt with far less gimmickry and a more conventional set of teen issues, of the new school/tough transition/local bully variety. The fun onscreen, however, comes largely from Bruce's inventions and gadgets and, of course, the pooches. I was grateful Roberts and Austin were around to calm things down. They avoid the iCarly School of Acting, i.e., perpetual sarcasm, with an extra layer of sarcasm. Don Cheadle plays the kindly social worker. He's fine. As the "Mystery Science Theater" guys once said about Gene Hackman, "He's good in everything, isn't he?"
The dogs include a fine three-legged fellow who reminded me of my in-laws' old dog, Buddy, and that's the sort
of movie we have here. You use it to think about dogs you once knew, or the ones whose company you're enjoying at
present. Your kid, meanwhile, uses it for his/her own purposes. Director Thor Freudenthal has precious little finesse --
the pounding close-ups of the animals in the dog pound sequences, I'm still a little upset about -- but how often do you
find a film like this in the neighborhood of finesse?
Hotel for Dogs Movie Trailer
"Hotel for Dogs" Movie MPAA rating: PG (for brief mild thematic elements, language and some crude humor).
Running time: 1:40.
Starring: Emma Roberts (Andi); Jake T. Austin (Bruce); Kyla Pratt (Heather); Lisa Kudrow (Lois Scudder); Kevin Dillon (Carl Scudder); Don Cheadle (Bernie).
Directed by Thor Freudenthal; written by Jeff Lowell, Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, based on the book by Lois Duncan; photographed by Michael Grady; edited by Sheldon Kahn; music by John Debney; production designed by William Sandell; produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Jonathan Gordon, Ewan Leslie and Jason Clark. A DreamWorks Pictures release
Kevin James plays a mall security guard trying to stop a Black Friday robbery scheme. Underneath all the cartoonish mall
mayhem and silly slapstick lies a comedy that aspires to be the sort of gentle crowd-pleaser John Hughes used to make.
Jamal Woolard stars in this biopic about The Notorious B.I.G., the rapper who was gunned down on Wilshire Boulevard in
1997 when he was just 24. Woolard turns in a performance that goes a long way toward saving a movie that has fallen
obsessively in love with its subject.
Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson smooth over most of the problems just by showing up and doing what they do for a
living. Hoffman plays a composer who meets the lonely-hearts frump played by the luminous Thompson and invites
her to his daughter's wedding.
Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber portray two of the four Bielski brothers, Jewish farmers and smugglers who led more
than 1,000 Jews to safety in a Belarusian forest during the Holocaust.
Steven Soderbergh's two-part Che is a methodical if coolly romantic portrait of the most familiar 1960s T-shirt icon
outside the peace symbol. Though not without its faults, this is Soderberghs most interesting film in years, defiantly
eccentric and absorbing at its best.
This charmless film concerns two lifelong friends, played by Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway, whose competing weddings, mistakenly scheduled for the same day at Manhattan's Plaza Hotel, turn bride-to-be against bride-to-be. Half the comedies made in Hollywood are based on the premise of boy-men acting like idiots. Switching the gender and toning down the vulgarity to a PG level offers only change, not improvement. Hathaway in particular deserves better material.
Based on a book by Bishop T.D. Jakes, this film is a faith-based love story, secondarily about God's role in the care and feeding of an L.A. couple's turbulent marriage. Thanks to Morris Chestnut, whose warm, easy screen presence was an asset way back in "Boyz N the Hood," and to Taraji P. Henson, a by-the-book scenario (described by screenwriter Brian Bird as "sort of a male version of the film 'Waiting to Exhale'") ends up being pretty entertaining.
The misadventures of a lovable Labrador retriever frame this sweet, surprisingly moving chronicle of a young couples
struggle to simultaneously build a family, advance their careers and maintain their sanity. Owen Wilson plays journalist
John Grogan, whose popular 2005 memoir spawned this film, and Jennifer Aniston plays Jenny, his wife. Dog lovers will
laugh delightedly for the first hour and spend the second hour weeping openly.
This is a tall tale of a man aging in reverse while bobbing serenely on lifes unpredictable seas. The colorful supporting
characters spill their guts to the wonder of nature played by Brad Pitt, as he begins his life a very old man, ages into
late-middle age, ripens into well, Brad Pitt, then embarks on the big fade into childhood, infancy and Check-out time.
This film spends 105 minutes grappling at the edge of camp, Cheap laughs and cliches. Yet the way it is handled by
director Darren Aronofsky and especially by Mickey Rourke, who really should get an Oscar for his portrayal of Randy The Ram
Robinson, a steroid-addled sweetie in tights, it stays honest and keeps on fighting.
Valkyrie, a plot to assassinate Hitler, stars Tom Cruise as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, a cultured aesthete who turned
against his supreme commander. Cruise is not bad, but he cannot suggest the aristocratic hauteur or the steely authority
needed in this role. Going into this film, you know how things are going to come out. Still, with actors as good as Tom
Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Thomas Kretschmann and Kenneth Branagh in key supporting roles, this ensemble piece avoids the
usual action-movie triumphalism.
Adam Sandler plays Skeeter, a hotel handyman under the thumb of the owner (Richard Griffiths) and manager (Guy Pearce). Skeeter and his sister (Courteney Cox) grew up in a motel bungalow court, and Skeeter longs for a crack at running the hotel that's built on the site. While Sis is away, Skeeter must baby-sit for his niece and nephew, and the adventure stories he spins become fantasy vignettes that somehow manage to improve his disappointing life. It's an adequate idea, dutifully delivered.
Kate Winslet stars in the film version of the Bernhard Schlink novel about a 15-year-old West German boy who, in 1958,
embarks on an affair with a 36-year-old trolley conductor with more on her mind, and in her past, than she admits.
The novel was hugely popular as well as controversial worldwide
Jim Carrey plays a loan officer who cannot get out of his self-pitying rut three years after a breakup. Then he encounters a self-help guru (Terence Stamp, in his first genuinely funny screen appearance) who challenges
his followers to say yes to every single thing that comes their way.
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Will Smith plays an IRS agent who has committed a terrible deed and appears to be investigating the cases of a carefully selected group of people, including a seriously ill heart patient (Rosario Dawson) and a blind pianist (Woody Harrelson).
This earnest, emotional film is a mixed but pretty interesting bag, though its G rating may mislead some parents into taking 4 or 5 year-olds to it, which could lead to some freakouts. Much of the movie, based on a Newbery Medal-winning book, has a grim narrative.
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Hotel for Dogsstarring Emma Roberts & Jake T. Austin Movie Review | Michael Phillips Reviews Hotel for Dogs Hotel for Dogs Movie Review & Movie Trailer
Hotel for Dogs stars Emma Roberts & Jake T. Austin.
Hotel for Dogsin Theaters this weekend Hotel for Dogs Movie review and movie trailer
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