Hotel For Dogs (2008/DreamWorks/Nickelodeon/Paramount Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B     Extras: C-     Film: C-

 

 

Less sappy and condescending than the obnoxious Marley & Me, Thor Freudenthal’s Hotel For Dogs (2008) plays on the illicit appeal to pity that it would be nice to save animals (dogs in this case) from abuse, abandonment and worse if they just had a place to go do.  Nice fantasy and definitely an idea for comedy, but this is handled far too much like a TV movie and the results are harmlessly forgettable.

 

You have a fine cast of well-manicured, well trained dogs and they are nicely chosen, but one could watch a dog show on TV or buy a calendar or visit a kennel for the same effect.  Emma Roberts is the female lead, positioned to be the next child star, though that has not happened yet.  She is trying though.  The film wants to be at least a slight throwback to 1930s Hollywood, but does this so passively that it never works.  For young children only.

 

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is weaker than expected, looking like it was shot in older HD for cable TV, but the picture is not a total loss, yet the motion blur and detail issues (along with some background noise) is annoying throughout and never improves.  The Dolby True HD 5.1 mix is better than the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, but both are from the same unimpressive dialogue-based audio mix and nothing to write home about.  Extras include an adoption drive, deleted scenes, four featurettes and audio commentary by Freudenthal and the co-stars.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo