HOTEL FOR DOGS
HEADLINE: ** Comical Canine Caper for Kids and Their Kinfolk **
TITLE: HOTEL FOR DOGS
Quality: * * * * Acceptability: +1
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: None
Violence: V
Sex: None
Nudity: None
RATING: G
RELEASE: January 16, 2009
TIME: 100 minutes
STARRING: Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, Kyla Pratt, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon, Don Cheadle, Johnny Simmons, and Troy Gentile
DIRECTOR: Thor Freudenthal
PRODUCERS: Lauren Shuler Donner, Jonathan Gordon, Ewan Leslie, and Jason Clark
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Ivan Reitman, Tom Pollock and Jeffrey Clifford
WRITERS: Jeff Lowell, Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle
BASED ON THE BOOK BY: Lois Duncan
DISTRIBUTOR: DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures
CONTENT: (BB, V, MM) Strong moral worldview promoting family but marred a bit by orphaned children challenging authority, stealing and conning people, which is not fully punished or rebuked; no foul language, but some scatological humor regarding housebreaking dogs; some relatively light comical and slapstick violence such as big dog chases little dog (which may scare younger children), dog catchers capture and imprison dogs and pratfalls; no sex; no nudity; no alcohol; no smoking; and, stealing, breaking laws and conning people out of money is not rebuked completely.
GENRE: Comedy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older children to adults
Please address your comments to:
Sumner Redstone, Chairman/CEO, Viacom
Brad Grey, Chairman/CEO, Paramount Pictures
5555 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3197
Phone: (323) 956-5000
Website: www.paramount.com
SUMMARY: HOTEL FOR DOGS stars Emma Roberts of NANCY DREW, as a 16-year-old girl with foster parents who, with her clever younger brother, transforms an abandoned hotel into a place where their own pet and stray dogs can stay. HOTEL FOR DOGS is a delightful, playful and funny family movie, but some scary, sad moments, scatological humor and other elements require caution and media wisdom for younger children.
IN BRIEF:
HOTEL FOR DOGS stars Emma Roberts of NANCY DREW, as a 16-year-old girl named Andi who, with her younger brother, Bruce, is placed in a foster home with a no pets policy. Andi has to find a home for their dog, Friday. She and Bruce discover an abandoned hotel with some dogs living there. In no time at all, Andi and Bruce transform the hotel into the perfect home for Friday, and all the other strays in the city. The ritzy Hotel for Dogs attracts the attention, however, of the neighbors and the suddenly out-of-work dogcatchers, who want to know, Who let the dogs in?
HOTEL FOR DOGS is a delightful, playful and funny family movie. It also ends on a positive note that promotes family. The child characters, however, sometimes do things like challenge authority, con people and steal to help stray dogs. They suffer the consequences, but there is no real repentance. The movie has no foul language, though there is some mild scatological humor regarding the animals. All in all, HOTEL FOR DOGS is charming family entertainment, but some scary, sad moments require caution for younger children.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
