Hotel for Dogs

The dogs are never quite as entertaining as they should be for the kids in the audience, and the hypercutesiness and speechifying at the end will lead to much tightening of adult sphincters.

The schmaltz is laid on thick, but kids love this sort of stuff and, refreshingly, the dog bits are done the old-fashioned, fun way: with animal trainers rather than CGI.

Are you under 11, love dogs and think the only thing funnier than someone stepping in poo is someone stepping in it again? Boy, you've hit the jackpot!

Inventive and endearing in places but ultimately an unsatisfying mix of slow plotting and superficial characterisation.

True, there's only the merest suggestion of an education system for these juveniles, but credibility's secondary when you've got lots of dogs doing cute stuff.

It needs something quite special to save this film from toxic splurges of sentiment. Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon duly oblige as a pair of fabulously awful foster parents.

That this doesn't turn into a dog is credit to an engaging young cast, especially the dependable Roberts...

Plays it very safe and sticks to a tried-and-true children's movie formula.

Feels a lot like a retro family film similar in tone to 70's Disney flicks.

Naturally, the dogs are the star of the show here, and some of their feats (unaided by computer effects) must be seen to be believed.