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Hotel for Dogs
Metascore
51 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 25 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 25
  3. Negative: 2 out of 25
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  1. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    75
    A lively, funny, imaginative film that should appeal to kids and their pet-loving parents.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    75
    Kids will be as enthralled by this film as you were by the live-action Disney movies of the '70s. It doesn't get any sweeter than a roomful of mattresses with kids and dogs jumping on them.
  3. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Walter Addiego
    75
    It's no great shakes as a film, but its combination of mild comedy, slapstick, pathos, many photogenic canines and a positive message will make it irresistible to families.
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Betsy Sharkey
    70
    What it is packed with is lots of sneaking around, very cool gadgets, excellent stunts and some clever kids.
  5. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Andrea Gronvall
    70
    A bright, funny family movie that gets everything right, from story to production design to cast (both human and canine).
  6. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Paula Nechak
    67
    The movie's political and moral points -- and theme about creating family however you can find it -- elevate it above the average kids movie.
  7. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    63
    A sweet, innocent family movie about stray dogs that seem as well-trained as Olympic champions. Friday, the Jack Russell terrier who's the leader of the pack, does more acting than most of the humans, and doesn't even get billing.
  8. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    63
    Not bad, not great, a little less pushy and grating than the usual.
  9. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    60
    Even the youngest viewers, not to mention their parents, will appreciate the buffoonish villainy of the dogcatchers (still useful villains more than half a century after "Lady and the Tramp"), and the movie's nice anti-kill shelter message is as it should be.
  10. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Rory L. Aronsky
    60
    What's most surprising in Hotel for Dogs, is Don Cheadle co-starring as Bernie.
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    60
    Ultimately warm and furry, with a wet nose buried in gross receipts.
  12. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    60
    On the upside, the movie could do something really positive for the cause of homeless pets: If audiences respond the way they should, dog shelters could be emptied in a week.
  13. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    58
    What does a film called Hotel For Dogs need in order to avoid being a watch-checker for grown-ups? Whatever it is, Hotel For Dogs doesn't have it.
  14. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    50
    It's a pretty lazy film in the creativity department save for the dogs.
  15. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    50
    At its best, the movie is a catalog of doggy stunts.
  16. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    50
    Between the dogged efforts of the kids to save strays and the antics of the dogs, it's hard to resist this lively, though predictable, family movie.
  17. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    50
    Hotel for Dogs is agreeable Saturday afternoon multiplex piffle - friendly, formulaic, completely harmless.
  18. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    50
    Hotel for Dogs is a decent family film, sure to please animal-loving kids and their parents alike. Well-acted, the movie also looks good and is stocked with lots of goofy gadgetry.
  19. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    50
    Although you wouldn't want an entire movie devoted to such shenanigans, Hotel for Dogs isn't half as zany as it might have been.
  20. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    50
    It's sad to see a promising fantasy turn into yet another industrial-scale fantasy-delivery system that beats up on its audience with mindless intensity and undercuts its own humanity -- and caninity -- in the process.
  21. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Adam Markovitz
    42
    There are still cuddly pups and piddle jokes aplenty.
  22. Empire
    Reviewed by: Anna Smith
    40
    Inventive and endearing in places but ultimately an unsatisfying mix of slow plotting and superficial characterisation.
  23. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    40
    Slobbery wet kiss of a family movie.
  24. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    38
    Look, I love dogs. But this film tried my patience almost beyond endurance.
  25. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Stephen Cole
    25
    It's like flipping through five years of dog calendars.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
4.2 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 33 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 3 out of 10
  1. heyitsmegrif4
    2
    Cliche, boring and only entertaining to kids. Hotel for Dogs falls in the cattagory for one of the worst film ever made. I give this movie 17%. Yeah it is that bad.… Full Review »
  2. TBDOPEY22
    10
    Good over all movie. Granted there are alot of morals being broken in the movie. But if you have raised your kids right and they know the difference between right and wrong. This is a good MOVIE.… Full Review »
  3. JayH
    6
    Granted, it isn't anything great and the story is very predictable, but it does manage to entertain throughout. The cast is fine, it9;s a sweet little family film.You can't go wrong with cute dogs in films!… Full Review »
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