No Wonder I Don't Get Out Much

This evening we took Squeaker, Lucky, and The Boss to see the movie Hotel for Dogs. The girls had been wanting to see it so they were happy. I've been avoiding it as long as possible. We were aiming for Inkheart but got there a bit late so we decided to grit our teeth, mask our pain, and give 'em sweet potatoes (for you Zig Ziglar fans out there).

Now I feel a rant coming on.

SPOILER ALERT! If you are planning to see this movie I'm about to blow it for you. Stop reading now.

Not that you won't be able to decipher on your own the non-existent plot twists and painfully predictable characters in the first few minutes of the movie enabling you to jump to the inevitable warm, fuzzy conclusion and reclaim a good hour or so of your life by cutting out after the opening credits.

Okay, that was unkind. My kids liked it. Yours probably will to.

HOWEVER....

If I had known that it was about poor waifs in foster care I would not have bothered. True to form in the world of entertainment, the foster parents were depicted as stereo-typically mean, disgusting, self-serving jerks who take the money, mistreat the kids, and lock up the good stuff and feed the kids vile slop.
I've only ever seen two shows where foster parents were portrayed in a positive light. One was the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Ellen Foster and the other was an episode of Touched by an Angel. Of course, on TBAA everyone thought the foster parents were baddies and it took an angel to show that they were actually caring and loving. Wait a sec, another pops to mind--Angels in the Outfield. The foster mom was a nice lady even though she made the kids sleep in sleeping bags instead of giving them sheets and blankets.

To be fair, in Hotel for Dogs the foster parents were not the only moronic adults. The cops and animal control officers were unsympathetic, snide, bumbling idiots who were dumber than all the kids and dogs combined. Pretty typical fare for child-focused movies.

As Ana commented, "This whole movie is a cliche."

It had some cute moments but they don't serve my rant so I guess you'll have to discover them for yourself. The girls got teary at one point and The Boss laughed out loud at the dog antics although he was bored any time people were on screen. By the time he had accidentally dumped two trays of popcorn and all his candy on the floor he just wanted to go to the lobby and play video games.

At least we went to the discount theater.