The Dog Hotel

The Dog Hotel
Hundhotellet
Directed by Per Åhlin
Produced by Lars Jönsson
Written by Screenplay:
Per Åhlin
Hans Åke Gabrielsson
Starring Hans Alfredson
Margreth Weivers
Jan Mybrand
Rolf Skoglund
Tomas von Brömssen
Music by Magnus Jarlbo
Edited by Olle Tannergård
Distributed by Sandrew Metronome
Release dates
2000
Running time
68 minutes
Country Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Language Swedish

Hundhotellet – En mystisk historia is a Swedish animated detective mystery/surreal film from 2000, directed by Per Åhlin who also wrote the script together with Hans Åke Gabrielsson. The film is traditionally animated by hand, the last film in Sweden to be produced in that style.[1]

Plot

An antropomorphic dog named Sture is talked into taking a trip to Paris by his friend Picasso. After a series of misfortunes they end up in Scotland instead, staying at a mysterious hotel. Picasso remains ignorant and believes they are in Paris. Sture befriends the novelist Miss Mops and gets to meet several mysterious characters living in the hotel as strange events revolving around an Egyptian artifact start to take place.

Style

The film was done completely with traditional, hand colored cells. Although playing out as an detective mystery the film is also very surreal. Sture wonders several times if it is all a dream or actually happening. At one point Sture has an out-of-body experience, Chinese magic plays an important part of the plot and there are several references to ancient Egyptian religion, including Ka and Theodore M. Davis is mentioned. Sture never fully understands what is actually going on but tries to helps Miss Mops as much as he can. The first scene contains several hints at the future events in the film; Sture's flat contains an miniature Eiffel tower, a postcard featuring of the pyramids (the same postcard appears later in the film) as well as a painting of the hotel of the title. The film opens with the sinister Waiters appearing out of the painting to steal an Egyptian letterpress which reappears throughout the film and Sture identifies them as the same. The soundtrack is almost only Jazz. The ending is a homage to the ending of Stanley Kubrick's production of "The Shining".

Voice cast

Response

The film received a very positive response from critics.

References

External links

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