Hotel for Dogs (film)
Encyclopedia
Hotel for Dogs is a 2009 American children's
Children's film
A children's film is a film aimed for children as its audience. As opposed to a family film, no special effort is made to make the film attractive for other audiences. The film may or may not be about children. In Unshrinking the Kids: Children's Cinema and the Family Film which is a chapter in In...

 comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 film based on the 1971 Lois Duncan
Lois Duncan
Duncan is best known for her novels of suspense for teenagers. Some of her works have been adapted for the screen, the most famous example being the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer, adapted from her novel of the same title...

 novel of the same name
Hotel for Dogs
Hotel for Dogs is a novel by Lois Duncan. It was adapted into a film of the same name by Nickelodeon Movies for DreamWorks Pictures, released on January 16, 2009. When the book was originally released in 1971, Andi's name was Liz, and Friday's name was Sadie. The book was re-released December 1,...

. The film, directed by Thor Freudenthal
Thor Freudenthal
Thor Freudenthal is a German director and screenwriter who generally works in film.Freudenthal was born and raised in West Berlin, West Germany. He attended the Berlin Academy of Arts, and later moved to Southern California as an exchange student at CalArts. He started out as an animation director...

 and adapted by Jeff Lowell, Bob Schooley
Bob Schooley
Robert "Bob" Schooley is an American screenwriter, television writer and television producer. He and Mark McCorkle are the creators of the animated television series Kim Possible, which aired on Disney Channel. He was also an executive producer of the series, as well as having written scripts for...

, and Mark McCorkle
Mark McCorkle
Mark McCorkle is an American screenwriter, television writer and television producer. Among others, he is creator of the popular Disney cartoon Kim Possible. He frequently collaborates with fellow writer Bob Schooley...

, stars Johnny Simmons
Johnny Simmons
Johnny Simmons is an American actor.Simmons was born in Montgomery, Alabama and was raised in Dallas, Texas, where he attended Nathan Adams Elementary and T. C. Marsh Middle School. He is a 2005 graduate of W. T. White High School...

, Emma Roberts
Emma Roberts
Emma Rose Roberts is an American actress, model and singer. She is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and niece of Julia Roberts. Roberts became known for her role as Addie Singer in the Nickelodeon television series Unfabulous. She released her debut album, which also served as the show's...

, Jake T. Austin
Jake T. Austin
Jake T. Austin is an American actor and voice actor. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of seven, Austin is a five-time Young Artist Award nominee, best known for his role as Max Russo, the youngest of three wizards on the Disney Channel original series Wizards of Waverly Place, and as...

, Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...

, Kevin Dillon
Kevin Dillon
Kevin Dillon is an American actor.Kevin Dillon is also the name of:*Kevin Dillon , character from Rodman Philbrick's young adult novel Freak the Mighty and the film based on it, The Mighty...

, Kyla Pratt
Kyla Pratt
Kyla Alissa Pratt is an American actress and singer.-Early life:Pratt was born in Los Angeles, the oldest of five children of Kecia Pratt-McCullar, a schoolteacher, and Johnny McCullar, a semi-professional basketball player....

, and Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...

. It tells the story of two orphans, Andi and Bruce (played by Roberts and Austin), who attempt to hide their dog at an abandoned hotel after their strict new guardians
Legal guardian
A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...

 tell them that pets are forbidden at their home.

The film is Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon Movies
Nickelodeon Movies is the motion picture production arm of children's cable channel Nickelodeon, originally launched in 1995. Its first film was Harriet the Spy. It has produced films based on Nickelodeon programs, as well as other adaptations and original projects...

's second film to be produced by DreamWorks Pictures
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...

 after Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 black comedy film directed by Brad Silberling. It is an adaptation of the The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window, being the first three books in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket...

and the first Nickelodeon film ever to not be produced by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

. Shooting began in November 2007 and filming took place entirely in the cities of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 and Universal City
Universal City, California
Universal City is a community in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, that encompasses the 415 acre property of Universal Studios...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The dogs in the film were trained for several months before shooting. Nearly 80 boys auditioned for the role of Bruce before Austin was ultimately selected.

The film was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 on January 16, 2009, and grossed approximately $17 million in its opening weekend in 3,271 theaters. It eventually went on to gross $117 million worldwide. Reception to the film was mixed. Reviewers both criticized and praised the film's strong appeal to children and, in the opinion of some, its lack of appeal to older audiences. According to the film review
Film criticism
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films, individually and collectively. In general, this can be divided into journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, and other popular, mass-media outlets and academic criticism by film scholars that is informed by film theory and...

 aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, 46% of critics gave Hotel a positive review.

Plot

The movie begins in Central City. Siblings Andi (Emma Roberts
Emma Roberts
Emma Rose Roberts is an American actress, model and singer. She is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and niece of Julia Roberts. Roberts became known for her role as Addie Singer in the Nickelodeon television series Unfabulous. She released her debut album, which also served as the show's...

) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin
Jake T. Austin
Jake T. Austin is an American actor and voice actor. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of seven, Austin is a five-time Young Artist Award nominee, best known for his role as Max Russo, the youngest of three wizards on the Disney Channel original series Wizards of Waverly Place, and as...

) are shown defrauding a pawn shop owner to raise money to feed their dog, Friday. Soon afterwards, the pawn shop owner approaches them with a police officer, pointing Andi out as the culprit. As she tries to talk her way out of trouble, Bruce's backpack falls and its contents spill out, revealing his scamming supplies. They are arrested and taken to the local police station, where their social worker, Bernie, meets them. He scolds them and says that because they have changed foster homes so many times, they may be separated the next time they do so. Bernie then takes them home to their foster parents, aspiring rock stars Lois and Carl Scudder. The two are angry that the children have missed dinner (and delayed band practice) and Bernie takes responsibility. Andi and Bruce are sent to their room for the night, where they have hidden Friday from their guardians.

In the morning, Friday wanders out of the room into the apartment and is almost seen by Lois. The kids attempt to get him back into their room, trying to hide what they are doing, and eventually do so without Lois realizing what is going on. Once back in the room, however, Friday uses a homemade elevator, designed and built by Bruce, to leave the apartment through the window and is picked up by animal control. Andi and Bruce are desperate to find Friday and scour the area looking for him. They enter a pet store and ask the manager, Dave, and employee Heather, whether they have seen Friday. Neither of them has, but they suggest visiting the local pound to see if he is there. At the pound, Andi and Bruce discover Friday is indeed there, but must bribe one of the officers to get him released. On the way home, they encounter a burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...

 in progress at a store and as the police arrive they flee to a nearby abandoned hotel to avoid being fingered as the culprits. Friday again gets away from them and they search the building to find him. As they do, they hear strange noises – which they discover to be two dogs that have taken up shelter. With them is Friday, and Andi and Bruce decide to leave him in the hotel for the night and return home.

The next day, the two kids steal from the refrigerator to take to the hungry dogs. At the hotel, they find that one of the dogs howling because the shades had been drawn. The kids return to the pet store to get more food, and lie to Dave, claiming that their parents are dog rescuers. Heather follows them back to the hotel and announces that she wants to help. They are later joined by another kid, Mark, who has a huge crush on Heather. Bruce builds a number of contraptions to keep the dogs fed and entertained while they are alone in the hotel. They decide to take in all the stray dogs they can find. Bruce begins to name all of the dogs and keep track of them in an old hotel guest registry.

Andi is invited to a party. She sneaks out of the apartment and shows up. However, she is recognized by Dave's best friend, Jason who tells Dave and Heather that she is actually a foster child. Upset, she runs from the party to the hotel, where the dogs are running wild. The police come to the hotel, arrest the kids and get the dogs. Bernie and his wife, Carol, tell them that there is nothing more they can do. The dogs are scheduled to be euthanized and Andi and Bruce are sent to separate foster homes. Meanwhile, in the animal control station, Friday escapes from his leash just like he did in the beginning of the film, and runs to Dave. They pick up Andi and Bruce, sneak into the pound, and release the dogs, which all of them follow the truck with some sausages, but the dogs go to the hotel which Bruce realizes is because its their home. As they pass the hotel, however, the dogs run inside and a standoff ensues with the police and an animal control member tells the police to arrest Andi, Bruce, Dave, and Heather. Bernie gives an emotional speech about the dogs' never-losing hope after their negligence from their human owners which causes the media and some of the police to look at what the kids have done to the hotel to see about the dogs staying there. Exasperated with no dog-catching action, the animal control workers run off outside. Bernie and Carol end up adopting Andi and Bruce themselves and love dogs so have no problem with the kids keeping Friday. In the meantime, Andi and Dave apparently start dating after they were brave enough to kiss at the end of the film and Mark finally impresses Heather and she kisses him on the cheek. Pressured by the media at the scene, the police are persuaded to allow the dogs to remain at the hotel, which is eventually restored as a community-funded full-fledged canine retreat where the kids and even some of the dogs work. The new hotel is like a real hotel with some restaurant, entertainment, salon, adoption, bellboy, rooms, massage and more. Andi and Bruce's former foster parents, Carl and Lois, are part of the entertainment, but are so terrible, that even the dogs get bored of them.

Cast

  • Johnny Simmons
    Johnny Simmons
    Johnny Simmons is an American actor.Simmons was born in Montgomery, Alabama and was raised in Dallas, Texas, where he attended Nathan Adams Elementary and T. C. Marsh Middle School. He is a 2005 graduate of W. T. White High School...

     as Dave: The young manager of a local pet store who helps Andi and Bruce rescue stray dog
    Feral
    A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...

    s and care for them at the hotel. Later he and Andi even develop a romantic bond after they meet. He is usually seen wearing a leather jacket with the collar up.
  • Jake T. Austin
    Jake T. Austin
    Jake T. Austin is an American actor and voice actor. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of seven, Austin is a five-time Young Artist Award nominee, best known for his role as Max Russo, the youngest of three wizards on the Disney Channel original series Wizards of Waverly Place, and as...

     as Bruce: Andi’s 11-year old brother who has a knack for mechanics. His inventions help keep the stray dogs living at the hotel fed and entertained while he and his sister are away. Nearly 80 boys tried out for the part before Austin was cast as Bruce. Austin was impressed by the rest of the cast and said in an interview: "Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon and Johnny Simmons are three of my favorite actors of all time. I particularly enjoyed Danny’s role in Severance
    Severance (film)
    Severance is a British comedy horror film, written by James Moran, directed by Christopher Smith, and starring Danny Dyer and Laura Harris. In 2009, media interest in the film was revived following the alleged copycat murder of a UK teenager.-Plot:...

    ."
  • Emma Roberts
    Emma Roberts
    Emma Rose Roberts is an American actress, model and singer. She is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and niece of Julia Roberts. Roberts became known for her role as Addie Singer in the Nickelodeon television series Unfabulous. She released her debut album, which also served as the show's...

     as Andi: A 16-year old orphan who, along with her brother Bruce, has lived with a number of foster parents before ending up with Lois and Carl Scudder. Roberts was cast in late 2007
    2007 in film
    This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...

     and "knew as soon as soon as she started reading the script for Hotel for Dogs, she wanted to be part of the movie."
  • Don Cheadle
    Don Cheadle
    Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...

     as Bernie Wilkins: A straight-shooting, sympathetic social worker who tries his best to find a home for Andi and Bruce and to prevent them from being placed with separate foster families. Cheadle joined the cast in September 2007. He described the film as "an opportunity to do a film that my kids can see" and praised both Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin as being "really professional. They showed up to do the work and were serious and took it seriously and had acting coaches and everything."
  • Robinne Lee
    Robinne Lee
    Robinne Lee is an American actress. She appeared in Hotel for Dogs with Don Cheadle and Emma Roberts and with Will Smith in Seven Pounds.-Life and career:...

     as Carol Wilkins: Bernie's wife who initially tells her husband not to get too emotionally involved with the children he works with
  • Troy Gentile
    Troy Gentile
    Troy Gentile is an American teen actor.Gentile was born in Boca Raton, Florida, the son of Debbie Gentile, who once worked at the advertising department of the Boca Raton News, and Albert Farshi, from Iran...

     as Mark: A young kid who lives near Andi and Bruce and is eager to help with the dogs at the hotel.
  • Kyla Pratt
    Kyla Pratt
    Kyla Alissa Pratt is an American actress and singer.-Early life:Pratt was born in Los Angeles, the oldest of five children of Kecia Pratt-McCullar, a schoolteacher, and Johnny McCullar, a semi-professional basketball player....

     as Heather: An employee at the pet store who also wants to help rescue stray dogs. Pratt joined the film after she learned that Don Cheadle was also working on the project. She said in an interview that, "They were telling me about all the different people who were gonna be in it, and I saw Danny Dyer's name, and I'm like, oh, absolutely." She also said of her co-star Emma Roberts that, "Emma is so much fun to be around and she's hilarious. Emma's great because I wasn't sure how everything was going to be, because I was older than the other actors in the movie".
  • Lisa Kudrow
    Lisa Kudrow
    Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...

     as Lois Scudder: The controlling, wannabe rock star foster mother of Andi and Bruce. Kudrow signed up for the film in October 2007. It was her first time working with dogs in a film. She said that her co-star Emma Roberts "was one of the draws for me to do this." She called the police
    Police
    The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

     to arrest Bruce after Bruce came to criminal.
  • Kevin Dillon
    Kevin Dillon
    Kevin Dillon is an American actor.Kevin Dillon is also the name of:*Kevin Dillon , character from Rodman Philbrick's young adult novel Freak the Mighty and the film based on it, The Mighty...

     as Carl Scudder: Andi's and Bruce's foster father and an aging rocker who refuses to give up on his dreams of becoming a star. Dillon was cast in November 2007. Dillon said in an interview that singing and playing guitar during the band practice scenes was "one of the things that was the most fun" while filming.

Breed and Name of Dogs

  • Jack Russell Terrier
    Jack Russell Terrier
    The Jack Russell terrier is a small terrier that has its origins in fox hunting. It is principally white-bodied smooth, rough or broken-coated which is commonly confused with the Parson Russell terrier and the Russell terrier with the term "Jack Russell" commonly misapplied to other small white...

     - Friday, played by Cosmo
    Cosmo (dog)
    Cosmo is a canine actor. He is a Jack Russell Terrier that is best known for his roles in the movies Hotel for Dogs and Beginners. He was adopted from a breed rescue society by animal trainer Mathilda DeCagny.-Early life and career:...

  • Boston Terrier
    Boston Terrier
    The Boston Terrier is a breed of dog originating in the United States of America. This "American Gentleman" was accepted in 1893 by the American Kennel Club as a non-sporting breed. Color and markings are important when distinguishing this breed to the AKC standard. They should be either black,...

     - Georgia
  • English Mastiff
    English Mastiff
    The English Mastiff, referred to by virtually all Kennel Clubs simply as the Mastiff, is a breed of large dog perhaps descended from the ancient Alaunt through the Pugnaces Britanniae. Distinguishable by enormous size, massive head, and a limited range of colors, but always displaying a black mask,...

     - Lenny
  • English Bulldog
    Bulldog
    Bulldog is the name for a breed of dog commonly referred to as the English Bulldog. Other Bulldog breeds include the American Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge and the French Bulldog. The Bulldog is a muscular heavy dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose...

     - Cooper
  • Border Collie
    Border Collie
    The Border Collie is a herding dog breed developed in the Anglo-Scottish border region for herding livestock, especially sheep. It is the most widespread of the collie breeds....

     - Shep
  • Chinese Crested
    Chinese Crested Dog
    The Chinese crested dog is a smaller hairless breed of dog. Like most hairless dog breeds, the Chinese crested comes in two varieties, both with and without fur, which are born in the same litter: the Hairless and the Powderpuff....

     - Romeo
  • Beauceron
    Beauceron
    The Beauceron is a guard dog and herding dog breed falling into the working dog category whose origins lie in the plains of Northern France. The Beauceron is also known as Berger de Beauce or Bas Rouge .-Appearance:This breed stands 61 to 70 cm in height and weighs 30 to 45 kg The...

     - Henry
  • Mini Poodle
    Poodle
    The Poodle is a breed of dog. The poodle breed is found officially in toy, miniature, and standard sizes, with many coat colors. Originally bred as a type of water dog, the poodle is highly intelligent and skillful in many dog sports, including agility, obedience, tracking, and even herding...

     - Juliet
  • Dachshund
    Dachshund
    The dachshund is a short-legged, long-bodied dog breed belonging to the hound family. The standard size dachshund was bred to scent, chase, and flush out badgers and other burrow-dwelling animals, while the miniature dachshund was developed to hunt smaller prey such as rabbits...

     - Viola and Sebastian
  • Bullmastiff
    Bullmastiff
    The Bullmastiff is a large breed of domestic dog. It has a solid build and a short muzzle. The Bullmastiff shares the characteristics of Molosser dogs, and was originally developed by 19th-century gamekeepers in England to guard estates and immobilize poachers. The breed's bloodlines are drawn from...

     - Rocky
  • American Pit Bull Terrier
    American Pit Bull Terrier
    The American Pit Bull Terrier is a medium-sized, solidly built, short haired dog whose early ancestors came from England and Ireland...

     - Chelsea
  • Wirehaired Pointing Griffon
    Wirehaired Pointing Griffon
    The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is a breed of dog used in hunting as a gundog. It is sometimes considered to be Dutch in ancestry, due to the breed founder, Eduard Korthals, nationality...

     - Coco
  • Beagle
    Beagle
    The Beagle is a breed of small to medium-sized dog. A member of the Hound Group, it is similar in appearance to the Foxhound, but smaller, with shorter legs and longer, softer ears. Beagles are scent hounds, developed primarily for tracking hare, rabbit, and other game...

     - Harley
  • Pug
    Pug
    The pug is a "toy" breed of dog with a wrinkly, short-muzzled face, and curled tail. The breed has a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, and a compact square body with well-developed muscle. They have been described as multum in parvo , referring to the pug's personality and...

     - Fric and Frac


Other breeds of dogs in the film:
  • German Shepherd
    German Shepherd Dog
    The German Shepherd Dog , also known as an Alsatian or just the German Shepherd, is a breed of large-sized dog that originated in Germany. The German Shepherd is a relatively new breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899. As part of the Herding Group, the German Shepherd is a working dog...

  • Bloodhound
    Bloodhound
    The Bloodhound is a large breed of dog which, while originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, was later bred specifically to track human beings. It is a scenthound, tracking by smell, as opposed to a sighthound, which tracks using vision. It is famed for its ability to discern human odors even...

  • Chihuahua
    Chihuahua (dog)
    The ' is the smallest breed of dog and is so named for the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. Chihuahuas come in a wide variety of sizes, head shapes, colors and coat lengths.-History:...

  • Bearded Collie
    Bearded Collie
    The Bearded Collie, or Beardie, is a herding breed of dog once used primarily by Scottish shepherds, but now mostly a popular family companion....

  • Great Dane
    Great Dane
    The Great Dane , also known as German Mastiff or Danish Hound , is a breed of domestic dog known for its giant size...

  • Labrador Retriever
    Labrador Retriever
    The Labrador Retriever is one of several kinds of retriever, a type of gun dog. A breed characteristic is webbed paws for swimming, useful for the breed's original purpose of retrieving fishing nets. The Labrador is the most popular breed of dog by registered ownership in Canada, the United...

  • German Shorthaired Pointer
    German Shorthaired Pointer
    The German shorthaired pointer is a breed of dog developed in the 19th century in Germany for hunting.The breed is streamlined yet powerful with strong legs that make it able to move rapidly and turn quickly. It has moderately long floppy ears set high on the head. Its muzzle is long, broad, and...

  • American Foxhound
    American Foxhound
    The American Foxhound is a breed of dog that is cousin to the English Foxhound. They are scent hounds, bred to hunt foxes by scent.-History:...

  • Briard
    Briard
    The Briard is a large breed of dog, one of many herding breeds. The Briard has been known for some centuries. Charlemagne, Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson, and Lafayette all owned Briards. This ancient sheep guard and herder has also been used by the French Army as a sentry, messenger, and to search for...

  • Golden Retriever
    Golden Retriever
    The Golden Retriever is a medium-sized breed of dog. They were historically developed as gundogs to retrieve shot waterfowl such as ducks and upland game birds during hunting and shooting parties. As such, they were bred to have a soft mouth to retrieve game undamaged and have an instinctive love...

  • Yorkshire Terrier
    Yorkshire Terrier
    The Yorkshire Terrier is a small dog breed of terrier type, developed in the 19th century in the county of Yorkshire, England to catch rats in clothing mills. The defining features of the breed are its size, to , and its silky blue and tan coat...

  • American Bulldog
    American Bulldog
    The American Bulldog is a breed of working dog that was developed in the United States. There are generally considered to be three types of American bulldog: the Bully or Classic type , the Standard or Performance type , and the Hybrid type...

  • Australian Shepherd
    Australian Shepherd
    The Australian shepherd is a breed of herding dog that was developed on ranches in the Western United States. Despite its name, the breed, commonly known as an Aussie, did not originate in Australia They acquired their name because some of the Australian sheepdogs arrived in the United States with...

  • Siberian Husky
    Siberian Husky
    The Siberian Husky is a medium-size, dense-coat working dog breed that originated in north-eastern Siberia. The breed belongs to the Spitz genetic family...

  • Pomeranian
    Pomeranian (dog)
    The Pomeranian is a breed of dog of the Spitz type, named for the Pomerania region in Central Europe . Classed as a toy dog breed because of its small size, the Pomeranian is descended from the larger Spitz type dogs, specifically the German Spitz...

  • Toy and Standard Poodle
    Poodle
    The Poodle is a breed of dog. The poodle breed is found officially in toy, miniature, and standard sizes, with many coat colors. Originally bred as a type of water dog, the poodle is highly intelligent and skillful in many dog sports, including agility, obedience, tracking, and even herding...

  • Alaskan Malamute
    Alaskan Malamute
    The Alaskan Malamute is a generally large breed of domestic dog originally bred for use as a utilitarian dog and later an Alaskan sled dog. They are sometimes mistaken for a Siberian Husky, but in fact are quite different in many ways...

  • Afghan Hound
    Afghan Hound
    The Afghan Hound is one of the oldest sighthound dog breeds. Distinguished by its thick, fine, silky coat and its tail with a ring curl at the end, the breed acquired its unique features in the cold mountains of Afghanistan, where it was originally used to hunt hares and gazelles by coursing them....

  • Kuvasz
    Kuvasz
    The Kuvasz is a dog breed of ancient Hungarian origin. Mention of the breed can be found in old Hungarian texts. It has historically been used to guard livestock, but has been increasingly found in homes as a pet over the last seventy years....

  • Otterhound
    Otterhound
    The Otterhound is an old British dog breed, with Bloodhound ancestors, and one of the ancestors of the Airedale Terrier.-Appearance:The Otterhound is a large, rough-coated hound with an imposing head. Originally bred for hunting, it has great strength and a strong body with long striding steps....

  • Rhodesian Ridgeback
    Rhodesian Ridgeback
    The Rhodesian Ridgeback is a dog breed developed in Southern Africa, where it was used to hunt Lions. This is most likely why this dog is known for its bravery...

  • St. Bernard
    St. Bernard (dog)
    The St. Bernard is a breed of very large working dog from the Italian and Swiss Alps, originally bred for rescue. The breed has become famous through tales of alpine rescues, as well as for its large size.-Appearance:The St. Bernard is a large dog...

  • Doberman
  • Cairn Terrier
    Cairn Terrier
    The Cairn Terrier is the oldest of the terrier breeds, originating in the Scottish Highlands and recognized as one of Scotland's earliest working dogs...

  • Bull Terrier
    Bull Terrier
    The Bull Terrier or English Bull Terrier is a breed of dog in the terrier family. They are known for their large, egg-shaped head, small triangular eyes, and "jaunty gait." Their temperament has been described as generally fun-loving, active and clownish...

  • Mixed-breed dog
    Mixed-breed dog
    A mixed-breed dog, also known as a mutt or mongrel, is a dog whose ancestry is generally unknown and that has characteristics of two or more types of breeds. A mixed-breed may be a cross-breed dog, a random-bred dog, or a descendant of feral or pariah dog populations...

  • Australian Cattle Dog
    Australian Cattle Dog
    The Australian Cattle Dog is a breed of herding dog originally developed in Australia for droving cattle over long distances across rough terrain. In the 19th century, New South Wales cattle farmer Thomas Hall crossed the dogs used by drovers in his parents' home county, Northumberland, with...

  • Shiba Inu
    Shiba Inu
    The is the smallest of the six original and distinct breeds of dog from Japan.A small, agile dog that copes very well with mountainous terrain, the Shiba Inu was originally bred for hunting. It is similar in appearance to the Akita, though much smaller in stature...

  • Greyhound
    Greyhound
    The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...

  • Puggle
    Puggle
    Puggle can refer to:*Puggle , a crossbreed between a Pug and a Beagle*A baby echidna*A member of the Awana organization in the two-to-three-year old age group-See also:*The Puggle Tales, a series of books by A. A. Barber of The Lost Forests...


Development

"It draws an interesting parallel between the kids and the dogs. Although I was aware that it was a risk to jump into directing my first feature working with both kids and animals, I recognized the importance and relevance of the story and thought it was worth it"
—Thor Freudenthal

The film rights to Lois Duncan's novel were acquired by DreamWorks
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...

 in June 2005. According to Thor Freudenthal, DreamWorks first approached him about working on the film after a short film which he had worked on played at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

. Freudenthal said that DreamWorks "really embraced and responded to" the film and sent him an early version of the script. He was initially hesitant to sign onto the project, balking at the seemingly shallow title. However, he stated that after reading the script that he "realized you don’t think much about the logistics involved" and saw deeper messages and more complex aspects of the film. Freudenthal was attracted to the "urban fairytale aspect" of the film, noting in an interview:
A producer of the film, Lauren Shuler Donner
Lauren Shuler Donner
Lauren Shuler Donner is an American film producer who specializes in mainstream youth and family-oriented entertainment.-Early life and career:...

, is also an activist and dog lover, and was convinced that the book's message about the importance of family "made the novel an ideal property to bring to the big screen" Shuler Donner insisted that the movie "stand out from other family movies visually" and it was Freudenthal's background in animation that gave him an edge over other directors. According to her, "It was the way he framed shots, the way he moved the camera, the use of color, the use of light. He’s very visually savvy and very specific."

Casting

Emma Roberts was cast in August 2007 to play teenage older sister Andi. Freudenthal began his search for a young actress "who could carry a whole movie" and settled on then-16 year old Roberts. Ewan Leslie, a producer of the film, said in an interview of Roberts that she "is one of those young actors whose face just lights up the screen and she has the ability to play a wide range of emotions without any dialogue."

Filmmakers conducted a nationwide search
Casting (performing arts)
In the performing arts, casting is a pre-production process for selecting a cast of actors, dancers, singers, models and other talent for a live or recorded performance.-Casting process:...

 for an actor to play Bruce, Andi's whimsical and inventive younger brother. Jake T. Austin
Jake T. Austin
Jake T. Austin is an American actor and voice actor. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of seven, Austin is a five-time Young Artist Award nominee, best known for his role as Max Russo, the youngest of three wizards on the Disney Channel original series Wizards of Waverly Place, and as...

 auditioned late, after nearly 80 other boys had tried out for the part. Jason Clark
Jason Clark
Jason Clark is an London-Scottish darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. He is not a full-time professional, he manages his own flooring supply and fitting company. Despite being born and raised in London, he represents Scotland as his family are entirely Scottish...

, another producer of the film, stated that Austin "was amazing on every level. He played the emotional beats very well, felt the role and also understood timing."

The rest of the roles were cast in the following months. Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...

, who plays Andi and Bruce's protective social worker, joined the film in September 2007. Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...

 was cast as the siblings' foster mother in October, and Danny Dyer
Danny Dyer
Danny Dyer is an English actor, media personality, and chairman of Greenwich Borough, a non-League football team.-Biography:Daniel John Dyer was born in Custom House, an area of East London, to Antony and Christine Dyer...

 was cast that same month as Dave. Kyla Pratt
Kyla Pratt
Kyla Alissa Pratt is an American actress and singer.-Early life:Pratt was born in Los Angeles, the oldest of five children of Kecia Pratt-McCullar, a schoolteacher, and Johnny McCullar, a semi-professional basketball player....

 was chosen to play Heather soon after.

The dogs were carefully cast as well. Filmmakers wanted a variety of breed
Dog breed
Dog breeds are groups of closely related and visibly similar domestic dogs, which are all of the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris, having characteristic traits that are selected and maintained by humans, bred from a known foundation stock....

s with different colors and facial structures "so that their look suggested their personality." Freudenthal said that he deliberately chose both very small and very large dogs to create a contrast similar to the characters of Lenny and George in the John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...

 novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

 Of Mice And Men
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California, USA....

. The majority of the dogs cast were rescues. The lead dog, who plays Friday, was rescued about six months before shooting began. Crew members also helped to find adoptive homes for the abandoned dogs and several adopted dogs themselves.

Filming

A Hollywood animal trainer, Mark Forbes, was hired to prepare the dogs before shooting began. Forbes and his team began working with the dogs about four months before shooting. Those dogs with no prior training were first taught basic commands, such as "sit" and "roll over." They were then trained to respond to more complex commands and learned to retrieve objects and to wave. The next phase of training involved using the dogs' body language to express emotions: sadness, for example, was conveyed when a dog tucked its tail between its legs. Finally, the dogs were taken to public places to review the commands that they had learned. The purpose of this was to ensure that the dogs would perform in any location. According to Forbes, "You want the dogs to sense that everything is fine and they’ll still get their treat regardless of the location. The set becomes just another place for them to go." The trainers worked with the human actors as well to "familiarize them with how the dogs behave and create a comfort level between the human and the dog actors." The dogs were also trained to interact with the various gadgets in the film with early prototypes built by the special effects team.
Special effects supervisor Michael Lantieri
Michael Lantieri
Michael Lantieri is a special effects supervisor on films and also was the director of Komodo. He has worked on numerous films with Steven Spielberg. One of his most famous movies was "Mars Attacks!" where he had the job of creating the very much life-like animations.He was also part of destruction...

 enlisted to create the various contraptions invented by Bruce throughout the film to keep the dogs fed. One such gadget is a device which can be operated by the dogs to throw a ball to be fetched.
Other devices built for the film include a feeding machine that drops food into each of the dogs' bowls on a timed schedule, a vending machine
Vending machine
A vending machine is a machine which dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, consumer products and even gold and gems to customers automatically, after the customer inserts currency or credit into the machine....

 filled with shoes and other chew toy
Chew toy
A chew toy is a toy designed to be chewed by animals for purposes of stimulation and relief from boredom . There are several different types of chew toys, including rawhide, wood, paper and mineral. Chew toys are commonly associated with puppies and dogs, though they are also used for birds,...

s, a room filled with doors whose doorbell
Doorbell
A doorbell is a signaling device typically placed near a door. Most doorbells emit a ringing sound to alert the occupant of the building to a visitor's presence, when the visitor presses a button. Many modern doorbells are electric — they are actuated by an electric switch...

s go off on their own, and another containing a replica of a car surrounded by fans which simulates for the dogs the experience of placing their heads through an open car window while driving.

All of the contraptions were created using objects that might actually be found in an abandoned hotel, and in such a way that they looked like they had been created by a gifted 11 year old boy.

Release

Hotel for Dogs was released in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 on January 15, 2009, and in the United States on January 16, 2009, to 3,271 theaters. It earned $17,012,212 in its opening weekend, the 5th-highest grossing film of that weekend behind Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Gran Torino, and others. It remained in release for 19 weeks and earned a total of $116,983,275 worldwide.

Critical

The film received mixed reviews from critics. According to Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, a website which aggregates film reviews, 46% of critics gave Hotel a positive review. Noted film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 gave the film a 2.5 out of 4 stars and summed up his review by saying, "What I thought instead was, Marley
Marley & Me
Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog is a New York Times bestselling autobiographical book by journalist John Grogan, published in 2005, about the thirteen years he and his family shared their life, home, and heart with Marley, a possibly neurotic, and certified "untrainable",...

 has a lot he could learn from these dogs." Kent Turner, writing for School Library Journal
School Library Journal
The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...

, stated that while the book is "utterly realistic", the film is "fantastic" and thus fundamentally different. Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...

, writing for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, wrote that the film "is loaded with enough stupid pet and human tricks to satisfy David Letterman for years to come."

Box office

The film opened at #5 for the January 16–19 weekend with $17,012,212 and is estimated to have earned $22,500,000 total over the four day weekend. Moviefone
Moviefone
Moviefone is an American-based movie listing and information service. Moviegoers can obtain local showtimes, theatre information, film reviews, or advance tickets...

 called the opening, "pretty good for a fairly anonymous little family film opening against a higher-profile family film." As of August 2011, the film has a reported box office gross of $73,034,460 for the United States and $43,965,738 internationally, for a total of $117,000,198.

Home Media

The film was released to DVD on April 28, 2009. It sold 773,000 units in the first week, bringing in $13,584,527 in revenue. As per the latest figures, 1,778,736 DVD units have been sold, translating to more than $30 million in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray sales.

Soundtrack

The score to Hotel for Dogs was composed by John Debney
John Debney
John C. Debney is an American film composer. He received an Academy Award nomination for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ...

, who recorded his score at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Brothers. Promo trailers for "Hotel For Dogs" contain songs such as "Run" by Nat & Alex Wolff
Nat & Alex Wolff
Nat & Alex Wolff are an American rock-music duo from New York, New York, consisting of brothers Nat and Alex Wolff. The siblings are known for their work on the Nickelodeon television series The Naked Brothers Band, which was created and produced by their mother, actress Polly Draper...

 and "(Let's Get Movin') Into Action" by Tim Armstrong
Tim Armstrong
Timothy Lockwood Armstrong is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work with punk rock bands Rancid, Operation Ivy, Downfall, and the Transplants. He is also the owner and operator of Hellcat Records.-Personal life:Armstrong was born November 25, 1965 and was...

 featuring Skye Sweetnam
Skye Sweetnam
Skye Alexandra Sweetnam is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actress, and music video director. Skye first entered the mainstream in 2003 with the release of her debut single "Billy S." Over a year later, her debut album, Noise from the Basement, was released including the singles "Tangled Up in Me"...

.

Game

A game for the Nintendo Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

 and Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

was released around the same time as the film.
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