Hotel for dogs (Emma Roberts)

(Amazon UK link)

About eighteen months ago, when we bought some extra DVD shelving (used), we were offered a selection of children’s DVDs. Some of them are of no interest to me, although visiting children sometimes like them. But I thought that the 2009 film ‘Hotel for dogs’ sounded quite interesting, based on the blurb. So last night we decided to watch it.

Andi (Emma Roberts) is sixteen, and very close to her ten-year-old brother Bruce (Jake T Austin). They were orphaned three years earlier - we don’t learn why - and are living in foster care. It’s clearly not working well for them; their foster parents, Lois and Karl, provide a lot of the comedy in the film as they are so dreadful, and clearly unsuited to the role. She makes extremely unappetising food, and the two of them spend most of their time trying to record bad quality music.

Andi and Bruce have a dog called Friday, whom they adore. But no dogs are allowed in their foster home, so they have to sneak him in at night-time. And since they have no money, they try to ‘earn’ enough to feed Friday, through very dubious scams. Their social worker Bernie (Don Cheadle) is excellent; he clearly cares about them, and regularly gets them out of trouble. Although he knows their foster parents are neglectful, there are very few foster families willing to take on siblings of their age. And they are desperate to stay together.

In their neighbourhood there is a van that goes around collecting stray dogs, and unfortunately they come across Friday and impound him. And while they manage to release him, they’re shocked to see that there are many other delightful dogs, and that they’re only allowed to be there, uncollected, for 72 hours…

It’s quite poignant at first, contrasting the young people’s love of dogs, and concern for strays with the rigidity of the dog police. Andi and Bruce discover an abandoned hotel where some of the dogs have made themselves at home. And they decide to take it over, with the help from some friends they gradually acquire. Bruce is a technological genius, and makes some impressive devices from items left behind in the old hotel, and also things he has taken from his foster home…

There’s a lot of humour in this film, which we thought was beautifully made. The dogs are wonderful, more and more of them appearing and being adopted by Annie and Bruce. There are scenes showing the dog police wondering where all the stray dogs have gone. And we loved the way Bruce gradually manages to automate not just the dogs’ feeding time, but their exercise, toilet needs, and other preferences. It’s quite surreal, of course, but while we were watching, we felt quite drawn into the film, rooting for the teenagers and the dogs.

Naturally enough, things can’t continue this way forever, and there’s some tension and an exciting race towards the end. Bernie makes a heartfelt speech which makes for a happy ending - this is, after all, a children’s film - and an even more surreal conclusion, which we thought very amusing.

The acting is excellent, and the dogs are amazing. We watched some of the ‘extras’ on the DVD, which included a section about the dog training, which was impressive. And there was a heartfelt comment from the actor who plays Bruce, saying that there were times when he did everything correctly, but the dog with him didn’t. So they had to do seventeen takes. 

It was clear both from the film and from the ‘making of’ extra that the cast loved dogs - and the crew, too. Some of the dogs used were themselves strays, who were then adopted by cast or crew members. I am not, in general, a dog person. But I thought that, as well as being a well-made and amusing film, it gave a very important message about the responsibility that comes with having a dog. 

Overall, I would recommend it to adults as well as teens and children who want something light-hearted, so long as you don’t mind a bizarre storyline that’s a bit like a 21st century fairy-tale. Apparently this was loosely based on a book of the same name. The teenage actors - or those portraying teenagers - are excellent, carrying the film entirely. Other than Bernie, most of the adult characters are either caricatures, or in some way against the teens' efforts. 

The rating is U, which reflects the lack of anything ‘adult’. There are one or two very minor uses of bad language, and the film might, perhaps, be disturbing to a child who had problems in foster care, or who had lost a dog. I think I would probably rate it PG, suggesting that parents should take responsibility for deciding whether or not their children would be likely to find it upsetting, or funny.

Review copyright 2025 Sue's DVD Reviews

The Good Place (Series 1-4, complete)

(Amazon UK link)

We had never heard of ‘The good place’, but our son and his wife thoroughly enjoyed watching it last year.. So they sent us blu-rays of the complete series for Christmas, and we started watching on 10th January after finishing the similarly titled (but VERY different!) box series of ‘The Good life’.

We watched three episodes of series one the first evening, with no idea what to expect. We first meet Eleanor (Kristen Bell), who is in an office talking to an older, pleasant-looking man called Michael (Ted Danson), who says he is the ‘architect’ of the neighbourhood. He tells her that she died in a supermarket car park accident, and that she’s now in ‘The Good Place’.  Most people, he explains, are in the ‘bad place’. He says all religions are about ten per cent correct in their beliefs in what happens in the afterlife.

Eleanor is taken to a small, quirky house in her new neighbourhood, though she’s a bit miffed to see that others around have enormous mansions. And she’s told that she has a soul mate - Chidi (William Jackson Harper) - who is a likeable, if somewhat wordy academic. There are introductions to the ‘good place’ made by Michael, and Eleanor gets to know her neighbour, a rather condescending and glamorous tall woman called Tahani (Jameela Jamil) with a slightly fake-sounding upper-class British accent.

However, Eleanor does not think she should be in the good place. We get regular flashbacks to her life, where it’s clear that she was extremely selfish and somewhat manipulative. But Chidi hopes to make her nicer, and a tentative friendship begins with Tahani and her rather flaky soulmate Jason (Manny Jacinto), supposedly a buddhist monk with a vow of silence. 

The neighbourhood is enhanced by Janet (D'Arcy Carden), a humanoid computer who knows everything, and appears when anyone asks her to. She is able to advise, and to keep secrets, and when ‘killed’ will reboot to a more advanced version. We were very impressed with the actress who plays Janet. She not only plays herself, in different iterations but other very different Janets from other neighbourhoods. 

We continued watching two or three episodes each week; at first we were slightly bemused by the strange ethos, and the somewhat exaggerated acting. But it became oddly compulsive, and we were more and more intrigued as to what was going to happen. 

Strange things start to happen in the neighbourhood - sometimes very bizarre things at times. While Michael says he’s going to take the blame, Eleanor starts to take responsibility for her own actions. There are discussions about whether she should be sent to the ‘bad place’... and then a surprising twist at the end of series one. 

Series Two includes the same characters, now ‘rebooted’. That means they have forgotten everything that happened in Series One, and are starting over. With a few changes that are obvious to the viewer. And, again, it’s quickly compulsive viewing. We realised what a good actor Michael is, too; he is able to portray, with facial expressions and voice, different sides of his personality, depending on who he is talking to.  

The action is quite rapid, with some humour and conversation that’s surprisingly thought-provoking. Chidi embarks, once again (and again…) on a course in ethics in the hope of making other characters nicer. The script writers were very creative: after the first couple of episodes in this series we wondered if others were going to be similar, but each one has its own focus, with new adventures, discussions and twists.

During the course of the series these six main characters get to know each other better, and bond quite strongly, even after rebooting. They are courageous and increasingly caring, even when forced to be in the ‘Bad Place’, or - surprisingly - back on earth. We kept wondering what else could happen, only to be pleasantly surprised at yet another unexpected episode.

There are plenty of minor characters, some of them appearing in almost half the episodes, but the main six carry it through with their different and yet complementary personalities and actions. We started to become quite fond of them all. 

There’s some humour, some parts that are quite moving. Then, in the final episode of the fourth series, there’s a bittersweet ending which, once again, was unexpected. But it works well. It’s taken us four and a half months to finish watching the series, and I will miss it!

There’s very little actual bad language, although a lot is implied; in the ‘good place’ planned swear words emerge as innocent words, as, for instance, ‘fork’. There’s also no nudity or scenes of intimacy, although much is implied and there are a lot of references to genitalia in later episodes. It’s not a series for children; the rating is 12 for three series, and 15 for the fourth, and I think that’s about right.

The theology isn’t in line with Christian beliefs about the afterlife - or, indeed, those of any other religion - but the philosophy and discussions are both interesting and thought-provoking. 

Recommended, if you would like something light, amusing and yet oddly moving.

There are no extras on our blu-ray series. 

Review copyright 2025 Sue's DVD Reviews