A joint venture between Nickoledeon and Dreamworks, this paean to our furry friends combines the gross-out factor the company responsible for You Can't Do That On Television and Good Burger with the Spielberg-esque feel-good implausibility that Dreamworks specializes in — and it's to mostly good effect, as long as you like dogs.

Hotel for Dogs centres on a presumably orphaned brother/sister pair whose quick transitions from one foster home to another are supervised by Don Cheadle's kindly social-services worker. Their latest foster parents are a pair of aspiring rockers (played by Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillion) who unfortunately are given little actual comedy to do, one of the film's main failings. Luckily, the major presence of dogs throughout the film keeps things entertaining, with one ridiculous plot development after another creating opportunities to see them whimper, kiss each other, move their bowels simultaneously and give high fives amongst a wealth of other silliness (including a dog-feeding contraption that seems like an homage to the early scenes of Pee Wee's Big Adventure). Hotel for Dogs over-emphasizes the similarities between the siblings' plight and that of stray, unwanted dogs, and the heartstrings are manipulated forcefully and illogically throughout, but the dog shenanigans and the film's overall "we'll all be OK no matter what" message won me over.

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