Dogs on Film

Recently I watched Hotel for Dogs. Don't ask me why; it's time I'm never getting back. And for the sake of complete honesty, I didn't watch all of it. Does that mean I'm unqualified to give a review of it? Probably, but I'll be doing you a favour if after reading this you decide not to watch it/let your kid, sibling or friend watch it.

The basic premise of Hotel for Dogs is two teens living in New York City in the foster care system who hide their pet dog from various "parents" and social workers. They eventually set up a doogy sanctuary for all the cities strays, get adopted and a lovely happy ever-after. Excuse while I find a bucket. For starters, no one in this film ever gets bitten, scratched or anything other than love from what are essentially wild animals! Also, I thought some of the humour was cruel, rather than actually funny and it's not exactly going to encourage anyone to take part in foster caring!
This was honestly one of the worst and most unrealisticly plotted films I've ever seen (most of). Poor Emma Roberts. In my eyes she's removed all possibility of  ever being taken seriously, which is a shame as I really thought she had potential, at least as a teen actress in Wild Child, Aquamarine and Nancy Drew.
I just thought it was ridiculous, the characters were stereotyped and you could drive a bus through the plot holes. I'm well aware that I'm not any where near the target market but if you want a "heart-warming" animal/kid movie I can think of a lot of much better alternatives. Here are a few, by no means definitive, suggestions for you:

1. Annie. The original plucky little orphan movie, also starring Sandy, one of the cutest on-screen canines ever. If this film wasn't a huge part of your childhood you must have been under a rock or something. Seriously, watch it.

2. The Wizard Of Oz. Another adorable dog, Toto and Judy Garland make this classic musical into a real family film. It's also genuinely scary in places for little ones, which I kind of think is a good thing as it means the film is really believable.

3. There's also Lassie, which I've not watched but I know is meant to be a classic for dog lovers. Along these lines there's a whole host of dog-name films including Old Yeller and Beethoven.

4. Marley and Me. If you want a dog version of The Notebook then I think this is your go-to movie. Slushy, funny, weepy, Jennifer Aniston-y, its all there.

5. Finally if you want a cartoon then you have, as well as the pretty much unbeatable Scooby-Doo, a bunch of Disney classics including Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmations, The Fox and The Hound and Oliver and Company. You also have the more recent Bolt and Up, which did have talking dogs in as well as the more exotic animals.

6. Finally although I don't think it was ever made into a film and Hobbes is actually a tiger not a dog, there's the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips which are really funny and cool if you like cartoon animal things.

Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think of my dog movie line up! Have I missed out anything, either really obvious or obscure but needing a mention?

Jessica x

All pictures sourced from Google search. (I really need to remember to do this disclaimer thing.)