Kidzworld has the inside scoop on the canine-crazy film, Hotel for Dogs, starring Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin.
For three years, sixteen year old Andi and her younger brother Bruce have hopped from one foster home to another. And through it all, they’ve secretly taken care of a stray dog named Friday. Now Andy and Bruce live with a rock-and-roll couple in a rundown apartment, where they’re forced to share a tiny bedroom.
The Pound
The evil dogcatchers—a.k.a the Pound—prowl the city streets for innocent stray dogs. Fortunately for Friday, he doesn’t spend his free time wandering the alleys like other strays. Instead, he hides in an abandoned hotel, a place where two other dogs call home.Abandoned Hotel
Friday leads Andi and Bruce into the rundown hotel. There, the kids discover rooms upon rooms of forgotten objects. Examining this perfect hideaway, they create a plan—to build a proper hotel for dogs and rescue every stray they can find. Bruce, a mechanical genius, creates loads of contraptions to help satisfy the dogs’ needs: a ball-tossing machine, a car-ride simulator complete with a TV screen and fans, a fully equipped bathroom, a food-pouring machine that serves dinner using a conveyer belt, and so much more. And with the help of two kids from the local pet store, they have the hotel up and running in no time.
Losing Hope
But good things always come to an end. With upwards of twenty dogs to feed, their machines go awry. The neighbors become suspicious and call in the professionals—the dogcatchers. But it’s not just the dogs who await a terrible fate. The kids’ foster parents refuse to house them any longer, and Andi and Bruce must separate for the first time in their lives. Will the kids be able to save themselves and the dogs before the Pound puts the dogs to sleep?
The Bottom Line
Based on a book by Lois Duncan, Hotel for Dogs will make you laugh and tug at your heartstrings. Emma Roberts (Nancy Drew) and Jake T. Austin (Wizards of Waverly Place) were perfectly cast as the two orphan siblings. They show hope and love for the dogs, even when their own lives become hopeless.
Hotel for Dogs Rating:
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