Hotel for Dogs (film)

Hotel for Dogs

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Thor Freudenthal
Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner
Ewan Leslie
Jonathan Gordon
Jason Clark
Marina Fabre
Screenplay by Jeff Lowell
Mark McCorkle
Bob Schooley
Based on Hotel for Dogs 
by Lois Duncan
Starring Jake T. Austin
Emma Roberts
Troy Gentile
Kyla Pratt
Johnny Simmons
Lisa Kudrow
Kevin Dillon
Don Cheadle
Music by John Debney
Cinematography Michael Grady
Edited by Sheldon Kahn
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
  • January 16, 2009 (2009-01-16)
Running time
 100 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $75 million
Box office $117 million

Hotel for Dogs is a 2009 American family comedy film based on the 1971 Lois Duncan novel of the same name. The film, directed by Thor Freudenthal and adapted by Jeff Lowell, Bob Schooley, and Mark McCorkle, stars Jake T. Austin, Emma Roberts, Troy Gentile, Kyla Pratt, Johnny Simmons, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon and Don Cheadle. 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 tell them that pets are forbidden at their home. They also take in other dogs to avoid the dogs being taken away by two cold hearted animal pound workers and police officers.

The film is Nickelodeon's second film to be produced by DreamWorks Pictures[1] after Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and the first Nickelodeon film ever to be produced outside of Paramount Pictures, which still distributed the film for DreamWorks. Shooting began in November 2007 and filming took place entirely in the cities of Los Angeles and Universal City, California.[2] 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.[3] The film was released in the United States on January 16, 2009, and grossed approximately $17 million in its opening weekend in 3,271 theaters.

Plot

While in Central City, Louisiana, orphans Andi (Emma Roberts) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin) manage to sell a rock in a box to a pawn shop to buy food for their dog, Friday (played by a dog named Cosmo), a Jack Russell Terrier. However, they are quickly caught and marched off to the police station, where their social worker, Bernie Wilkins (Don Cheadle) picks them up and takes them back to their foster parents, Lois and Carl Scudder (Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon, respectively), who appear not to care for either Andi or Bruce. When the two demand to know where their foster children have been, Bernie covers for them, telling them that it was his fault they were late. Despite his sympathies towards the two siblings, he warns them that they are playing a dangerous game by deliberately getting into trouble in order to escape Carl and Lois, since they could get fostered separately, something that both orphans are desperate to avoid. During Bernie's visit, Friday returns home and Bruce quickly bustles Bernie out of the door, since Friday's presence is to be kept secret.

The next morning, Andi and Bruce are horrified to find that Friday has snuck inside and is dangerously close to Lois discovering him. After a close call, Andi and Bruce rush Friday back to their bedroom, where Friday promptly goes looking for food again, only to be caught by Animal Control. Sick with worry, Andi and Bruce go into a local pet shop to ask if anybody has seen him; there, they meet Dave, (Johnny Simmons) and Heather, (Kyla Pratt) who advise them to check the Pound. Upon learning that Friday is indeed in the Pound but they cannot claim him unless their parents are there, Andi pays for Friday's return instead and suggests to Bruce that they find Friday a new home, since he deserves a real home with a real family. Whilst walking home, they find a gang of youths having stolen a ghetto-blaster radio, only to flee before the police arrive. Andi and Bruce try to outrun the police (the same two who had caught them earlier) and manage to hide in a nearby abandoned hotel formerly known as "Hotel Francis Duke". Whilst looking for Friday, who had curiously begun to explore the hotel, they find a tiny Boston Terrier and an English Mastiff, whom they later name Georgia and Lenny, respectively. Confident that the three dogs are getting along, Andi and Bruce leave Friday at the hotel for the night.

The next morning, Andi and Bruce quickly return to the hotel to feed the dogs and to stop Lenny from getting caught due to howling because of lack of the city's view, with Andi warning her younger brother to not get too attached to the two stray dogs after naming them. Whilst Bruce stays at the hotel to keep the dogs quiet and creates a machine that allows them to play 'Fetch' whenever they like, Andi heads to the pet shop to get some food for the strays, claiming that her parents rescue dogs, prompting Dave to ask her to take in three more dogs - Shep: a Border Collie with herding issues, Romeo: a shy Chinese Crested Dog seeking romance, and Cooper: a British Bulldog with the ability to chew through anything (including a license plate) - who nobody seems to want to adopt since they aren't puppies anymore. Andi begrudgingly agrees. Upon arriving at the hotel, Dave and Heather immediately agree to help the two siblings out. With six dogs to now look after, the friends set about trying to get the hotel in a decent enough state to suit the dogs' needs, including building running machines, automatic feeders, modified lavatories, and a car simulator. Whilst they're working, a local boy named Mark offers his assistance. When Bruce brings in another dog: a Beauceron he found scrounging for food in a junkyard and which he named Henry, the group finally decides to set out and rescue more stray dogs from dog catchers, abusive owners, abandonment, certain death, former poor homes, bad conditions, and other types of bad situations. Soon, more strays begin to occupy the hotel. One of them, a white French Poodle, becomes Romeo's new love interest and is therefore named Juliet afterwards.

Back at the Scudder's household, Bernie eagerly tells them of a couple of new foster parents he's found for Andi and Bruce. However, their new foster parents live 3 hours away so, the two turn the offer down in order to continue looking after the dogs, much to Bernie's bewilderment. Whilst thinking over her decision, Dave invites Andi to a party and she happily accepts; Mark, meanwhile, makes various efforts to gain Heather's attention. Whilst everyone else is at the party, Bruce is caught stealing a hairdryer from Lois and is immediately interrogated by Lois and Carl; meanwhile, Andi bumps into an old acquaintance named Jason, who accidentally notifies everyone that Andi is an orphan living with the Scudders in the same building his grandmother lives in. After an accident with some Punch, Andi leaves in shame and embarrassment and Dave follows her. Bruce manages to escape his house, only to find the hotel in a bad state due to an automatic feeder malfunction and a dogfight over a bone, then, Andi arrives; Lois and Carl follow him and the police are called - the dogs are quickly caught and sent to the Pound, while Bruce and Andi are taken away by officers Mike and Jeff. When Lois and Carl refuse to take Andi and Bruce back, Bernie has no choice but to send them to separate foster homes.

With all of the dogs to be put down the next day, Friday manages to escape his captivity and rushes over to find Dave, Heather, and Mark, who in turn find Andi. They all hurry over to find Bruce. Meanwhile, Bernie decides to look around the hotel, where he finds a Beagle named Harley who managed to avoid capture and marvels at the creations Bruce made, thus, begins to see why the kids loved doing what they did so much. Andi and Bruce manage to break into the Pound and release the dogs, where Bruce entices the horde of dogs to follow Dave's van through the city with sausages to a city limit where they can't be harmed while Mark stays behind to fight and hold off one of the dog catchers, who was trying to take Heather away to jail when he spotted her helping the siblings with their plan to rescue the dogs. The strange event attracts the attention of everyone in the city, including the police, who follow the dogs to the hotel after Friday leads them back when they realize that the hotel is their true home, where Bernie is waiting. With a large crowd gathered outside and before the cops try to take away the kids and the dog catchers try to capture the dogs again, Bernie shows up and tells the crowd a heartfelt speech about how Bruce, Andi, and everyone else managed to create a family of dogs and lists the names of the dogs and their former backstories (before being rescued) written in the hotel's old reception book by Bruce, who live at the hotel; winning the public's hearts, including the cops as well. The dog catchers are then called off, the pound is supposedly shut down, and the police, who always kept a close eye on the kids, allow to keep the dogs together.

As people eagerly explore the hotel and after Andi and Dave share a kiss, Bernie reveals to an overjoyed Andi and Bruce that despite not being able to find new foster parents, he and his wife Carol have decided to adopt them. Mark, having returned to the hotel, finally wins Heather's affections as he gratefully receives a kiss on the cheek by her as part of a baby step. A few months later, the hotel re-opens as a grand "Hotel For Dogs", where people can either adopt strays or board their dogs. Dave is made the new hotel manager while Heather is the new hotel guide. Lenny and Georgia (having supposedly pursued a romantic relationship with Henry) are a few of the dogs working as porters while Cooper works in the recycle bin as he chews off everything recyclable. The hotel also includes a nursery and care center, an adoption center, a beauty salon, and a spa. Although Lois and Carl are invited to provide the entertainment for the "Hound Lounge", the dogs quickly grow bored with their act and the two are supposedly sent offstage in disgrace. Meanwhile, Andi, Bruce, and Friday begin to happily settle into their new family as they have a barbecue lunch with their new foster parents on the hotel's terrace.

Cast

Production

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[13]

The film rights to Lois Duncan's novel were acquired by DreamWorks in June 2005.[14] 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. 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.[15] Freudenthal was attracted to the "urban fairytale aspect" of the film, noting in an interview:

"It’s basically these unwanted children, these unwanted animals coming together and making their own place in their own home. That’s what I liked. It wasn’t the fact that it was Fox Terriers and things like that. So that sort of made me sign on and be ready for it."[15]

A producer of the film, Lauren Shuler Donner, 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"[13] 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."[13]

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."[13]

Filmmakers conducted a nationwide search for an actor to play Bruce, Andi's whimsical and inventive younger brother. Jake T. Austin auditioned late, after nearly 80 other boys had tried out for the part. Jason Clark, 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."[13]

The rest of the roles were cast in the following months. Don Cheadle, who plays Andi and Bruce's protective social worker, joined the film in September 2007. Lisa Kudrow was cast as the siblings' foster mother in October, and Johnny Simmons was cast that same month as Dave. Kyla Pratt was chosen to play Heather soon after.[13]

The dogs were carefully cast as well. Filmmakers wanted a variety of breeds with different colors and facial structures "so that their look suggested their personality."[13] 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 novella Of Mice And Men. 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.[13]

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 dogs sit in replicas of cars surrounded by fans that simulate driving on a highway with the wind blowing.

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."[13] 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."[13] 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 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.

"The first was a simple spring-loaded device that throws a ball and spoon down hallways, while the second device was a bit more sophisticated. 'This fetching machine uses a bicycle and a hand from a mannequin. It is timed so that the wheels turn, and the ball is magnetic so it sticks in the hand, which comes round and launches the object so the dog can chase it,' explains Lantieri. 'Things can seem simple when you read them, but making it work on screen has to do with timing, the weight of the ball and how the ball stays in the hand until you want it to move.'"[13]

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 filled with shoes and other chew toys, a room filled with doors whose doorbells 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 13-year-old boy.

Release

Box office

Hotel for Dogs was released in Puerto Rico 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,[16] 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.[17] It is estimated to have earned $22,500,000 total over the four day weekend.

Moviefone called the opening, "pretty good for a fairly anonymous little family film opening against a higher-profile family film."[18] 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.[16]

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. According to Rotten Tomatoes, a website which aggregates film reviews, 45% of critics gave Hotel for Dogs a positive review; the site's consensus further stated: "Hotel for Dogs may appeal to children and dog lovers, but it's ultimately contrived, predictable and simplistic".[19] Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5 out of 4 stars and summed up his review by saying, "What I thought instead was, Marley has a lot he could learn from these dogs". Kent Turner, writing for School Library Journal, stated that while the book is "utterly realistic", the film is "fantastic" and thus fundamentally different.[20] Stephen Holden, writing for The New York Times, wrote that the film "is loaded with enough stupid pet and human tricks to satisfy David Letterman for years to come".[21]

It tied with Up for Best Feature Film at the 24th Genesis Awards.

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.[22] This does not include Blu-ray sales.

Other media

A game for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and PC was released around the same time as the film.

Soundtrack

The score to Hotel for Dogs was composed by John Debney, who recorded his score at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Brothers.[23] Promo trailers for "Hotel For Dogs" contain songs such as "Run" by Nat & Alex Wolff, "(Let's Get Movin') Into Action" by Tim Armstrong featuring Skye Sweetnam and You've Been Spiked by Chris Joss.

Hotel for Dogs: music from the motion picture is on Razor & Tie Records and the songs are:

References

  1. ↑ Franklin, Garth (ed.) (2009-01-16). "Hotel for Dogs". Dark Horizons. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  2. ↑ "Filming locations for Hotel for Dogs". IMDb. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  3. ↑ "Trivia for Hotel for Dogs". IMDb. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  4. ↑ "Julia Roberts' niece Emma to star in "Hotel for Dogs"". China. Xinhua News Agency. August 16, 2007. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  5. ↑ Bentley, Rick (January 15, 2009). "Emma Roberts checks into Hotel for Dogs". The Star (Malaysia). Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  6. ↑ "TheStarScoop.com: Interview With Kyla Pratt". TheStarScoop.com. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  7. ↑ "Cheadle to star in 'Hotel for Dogs'". UPI. September 11, 2007. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  8. ↑ Wilson Morales (January 13, 2009). "An Interview with Don Cheadle". BlackFilm.com. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  9. ↑ "Kudrow checks in to 'Hotel for Dogs'". TheMoneyTimes.com. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  10. ↑ "Lisa Kudrow Interview". Buzzine. Archived from the original on 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  11. ↑ "Kevin Dillon checks in "Hotel for Dogs"". Monsters and Critics. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  12. ↑ Kevin Dillon. Hotel for Dogs Interview - Kevin Dillon. Trailer Addict. Event occurs at 00:24. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Hotel for dogs film production notes" (.doc). Cinematic Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  14. ↑ "Hotel For Dogs Picked Up By DreamWorks". insomniacmania.com. Archived from the original on 2008-01-13. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  15. 1 2 "Freudenthal Interview, Hotel For Dogs". MoviesOnline. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  16. 1 2 boxofficemojo.com, "Hotel for Dogs". Accessed 14 August 2011.
  17. ↑ "Hotel for Dogs (2009) - Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  18. ↑ Novikov, Eugene (2009-01-20). "Weekend Box Office: 'Mall Cop' Cleans Up". Cinematical. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  19. ↑ "Hotel for Dogs Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  20. ↑ Turner, Kent (2009-01-14). "Hotel for Dogs". School Library Journal. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  21. ↑ Holden, Stephen (2009-01-16). "A Tale of Love and Liberation (Puppy and Otherwise)". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  22. ↑ Hotel for Dogs - DVD Sales - The Numbers
  23. ↑ Dan Goldwasser (2008-09-04). "John Debney scores Hotel for Dogs". ScoringSessions.com. Retrieved 2008-09-16.

External links

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