Hotel for Dogs [Blu-ray]

Don Cheadle Director: Thor Freudenthal, Jonathan Gordon, Lauren Shuler Donner, Ewan Leslie Thor Freudenthal

Overview

Adapted from author Lois Duncan's 1971 children's book of the same name, director Thor Freudenthal's Hotel for Dogs follows two mischievous orphans as they attempt to hide dozens of stray dogs in an abandoned hotel. Disheartened by their new guardians' announcement that pets are strictly forbidden, 16-year-old Andi (Emma Roberts) and her younger brother, Bruce (Jake T. Austin), race to find a home for their loyal dog Friday. Fortunately for Friday, there's an abandoned hotel just around the corner, and Bruce possesses just the kind of mechanical smarts needed to transform the rundown inn into a four-star retreat for canines. For a while, Friday and his friends have it made, but when the neighbors start to get suspicious, Andi and Bruce resort to every trick in the book in order to prevent their secret from being discovered. Don Cheadle, Emma Roberts, and Lisa Kudrow star in a family-friendly film penned by screenwriter Jeff Lowell.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/29/2017
UPC:	0032429257185
Original Release:	2009
Rating:	PG
Source:	PARAMOUNT
Language:	English
Time:	1:39:00
Sales rank:	21,855

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Don Cheadle	Bernie
Emma Roberts	Andi
Jake T. Austin	Bruce
Kyla Pratt	Heather
Kevin Dillon	Carl Scudder
Johnny Simmons	Dave
Lisa Kudrow	Lois Scudder
Troy Gentile	Mark
Ajay Naidu	ACO Jake
Eric Edelstein	ACO Max
Robinne Lee	Carol
Yvette Nicole Brown	Ms. Camwell
Andre Ware	Jeff
Kenny Vibert	Actor
Maximiliano Hernández	Officer Mike
Jonathan Klein	Evan
Ruben Garfias	Department Store Employee
Tiya Sircar	Marianne
Mariah Buzolin	Beth
Stephen Liska	Desk Sergeant
Jeremy Howard	Hot Dog Man
Jim Doughan	Male Reporter
Gina St. John	Female Reporter
Britney Christian	Girl in TV Room
Catherine McCord	Mathilda Frohmann
Sarah Halley Finn	Actor
Randi Hiller	Actor
Carina Oakland	Passerby
John Debney	Composer
Jeff Lowell	Composer

Technical Credits

Jeff Lowell

Robert Schooley

Mark McCorkle

Thor Freudenthal	Director
Jason Clark	Producer
Lauren Shuler Donner	Producer,Director
Jeff Lowell	Screenwriter
Jonathan Gordon	Producer,Director
Ewan Leslie	Producer,Director
Jeffrey Clifford	Executive Producer
Ivan Reitman	Executive Producer
Robert Schooley	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Mark McCorkle	Screenwriter
Marc Haimes	Producer
Jonathan Block-Verk	Special Effects
Panos Asimenios	Sound Effects
Bruce Barris	Sound Effects
Beau Borders	Sound Effects
Frank Bradley	Sound Effects
Paul Buscemi	Sound Effects
Randi Hiller	Casting
Tom Pollock	Executive Producer
Sarah Finn	Casting

Editorial Reviews

Strays of both the kiddie and canine varieties long for a place to call home as Lois Duncan's Scholastic paperback is adapted for the big screen courtesy of director Thor Freudenthal. Dog lovers will quickly warm to the story of two orphaned siblings who put the needs of their beloved pooch, Friday, before their own -- even when it means incurring the wrath of their selfish foster parents -- and kids will get a kick out of watching the visually inventive story unfold as the four-legged guests file in and the brother-sister duo crafts a series of Rube Goldberg contraptions to ensure that their furry friends are well cared for. Andi (Emma Roberts) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin) may not have much, but they've still got each other, and their loyal dog, Friday, is always happy to see them. Unfortunately, Andi and Bruce's aging, wannabe rock star foster parents (Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon), aren't too keen on pets, a complication that poses a rather weighty problem for the two young dog lovers. They see Friday as a member of their diminished family, and they aren't willing to give him up just to live in a place where they're barely tolerated anyway. The kids are already on the verge of getting kicked out when they're busted for running a small scam in order to earn a little extra spending money. Thankfully, Andi and Bruce have a friend in dedicated social worker Bernie (Don Cheadle), who helps to sweep their latest misdeed under the rug. One night, while taking Friday for a walk, Andi and Bruce are nearly trampled by thieves bolting out from a darkened alley. When the police roll up, cherries flashing and sirens blaring, the kids duck into an abandoned hotel for fear of being blamed for a crime they didn't commit. Happening across a pair of dogs who have made the hotel their makeshift home, the quick-thinking duo decides that this would be the perfect place for Friday to live as well. It isn't long before every stray in the city has booked a room, though with each additional guest their secret becomes increasingly difficult to keep. With more than a little help from animal-loving pet-store employees Dave (Johnny Simmons) and Heather (Kyla Pratt), not to mention fearless neighborhood kid Mark (Troy Gentile), Andi and Bruce transform the disheveled hotel into a fully automated resort that any pup would be proud to call home. Stealthily averting more serious questions about why the kids are on their own as the story is set up, screenwriters Jeff Lowell, Robert Schooley, and Mark McCorkle instead focus on the philosophy that sometimes we have to make our own families in life, and that it pays to think creatively while attempting to solve problems. While those messages may be obvious to the adult viewer, they're conveyed with just the right amount of subtlety to prevent them from seeming heavy-handed for the target audience and, with the occasional exception, director Freudenthal and editor Sheldon Kahn keep the action moving quickly enough to give the proceedings a spirited pace. Likewise, there's plenty of imaginative eye candy thanks to photographer Michael Grady's acrobatic lens, a component that helps breathe playful life into the functional contraptions dreamt up by budding young inventor Bruce. It's nice to see Cheadle take a break from heavy-lifting cinema in order to have a little fun on the big screen, while Kudrow and Dillon are obviously having a blast in their own roles as the musically challenged foster parents who would rather rehearse than raise kids. It all adds up to an agreeable family flick that, while never really breaking any new ground cinematically or story-wise, manages to deliver some positive messages -- and plenty of adorable dogs -- in an energetic and perfectly enjoyable 100 minutes.