Great for kids, and great for dog-lovers.  Everyone else can probably stay home.  That's my quick review of Hotel For Dogs. 

Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.  

Siblings Andi and Bruce (Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin) are in the foster system, having lost their parents.  Their current set of foster parents (Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon) are not too nice.  Clearly only in it for the money, not for any love of kids.  Worst of all, the kids are not allowed to keep their dog, Friday.  So, they do what any dog-loving kids would do.  They keep Friday outdoors, in secret.  Luckily, Bruce is a mechanical genius.  He rigs up all kinds of cool devices that help automate Friday's care.  For his part, Friday seems OK with this situation, until those evil dog-snatchers grab him.  That's when the kids realize that this arrangement won't work anymore.

When Friday runs off, and enters an abandoned hotel, the kids embark on an idea.  "Save All The Strays".  Thus begins their quest to rescue all the stray dogs in the city, and house them in the hotel.  With help from a few of their friends, and a lot of creativity from Bruce, the entire operation is mechanized.  There are automatic feeders, ball-tossers, and even doggie-toilets.   

Life's great for these dogs that had no homes before.  Until the authorities find out.   The dogs are rounded up, and sent to the pound.  The kids know what happens to unclaimed dogs after 72 hours.  Thus they set out on a mission to help the dogs escape. 

Dog-lovers will absolutely love this movie.  After all there are 50 or so adorable dogs in this movie, several with leading roles.  Some do some very cute tricks, but I was most impressed with how all of the dogs got along with each other.  Considering how many of them there were, I was happy that they formed fast friendships, and supported each other throughout the film  (Well, except for one instance where a little doggie steals a big bone and the big doggie isn't too happy about that fact).

Kids will love this movie, too.  With few exceptions, nothing is particularly scary in this movie.  There's never a huge sense of danger, except for the brief time when the dogs are at the pound.  Kids won't know that the end of the movie is about as predictable as can be.  Nor will they care how completely unrealistic the movie is.   They'll just enjoy the doggie-antics and the fun kids.

The acting was pretty good.  And I'm not just talking about the dogs.  The kids were all terrific in their roles.  So was Don Cheadle as their social worker. 

However, the movie does paint foster parents in a negative light, at least these particular foster parents.  While the parents are never physically abusive to the kids, they're just plain mean.  This concept might be upsetting for some kids.  Also, Andi is shown to be embarrassed about her living situation, lying to her new friends about her family and home.  This, too, might be upsetting for some kids.  Furthermore, the siblings are constantly afraid of having to split up, should they have to move on to a different family.  Another concept that could certainly upset some kids.  Finally, the kids actually steal in order to get money to feed their dogs.  They steal from the foster parents, and they scam some strangers.  While their intentions may be good, I wish the movie had left out the thievery part.  Not exactly a great role model for the kiddies.

As for non-dog-lover adults, you won't like this movie too much.  There's really not a whole lot to this movie, other than the dogs.  You'll correctly guess the ending five minutes in.  And, you'll probably be annoyed at how utterly unrealistic this movie is, in terms of the contraptions that are designed by this kid.  Not to mention what running such an operation would cost!  I, personally, wondered who was paying the utility bill for the abandoned hotel. 

So, kids and dog-lovers should definitely see this one.  I'm a dog-lover and a kid at heart, so I give it four paws out of five.

Recommended: Yes