Comme chiens et chats: La revanche de Kitty Galore

Cats & Dogs [2]: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (1:22, PG-13, 3-D) — other: talking animals; 3rd string; sequel

I created the "talking animals" subcategory after years of frustration trying to figure out whether to slot things like this under SF, fantasy, or elsewhere. Now no agonizing is required: Anything that involves chatty critters (or cars, babies, vegetables, toys, or other entities that aren't actually capable of speech) just gets dumped here.

There's a general sense that these things tend to be kiddie fare with low production values and even lower IQ expectations. But a review of the 74 such movies since 2000 shows that they aren't much different than SF&F movies in general, coming in with an average rating of 4.92 on my scale of 1-9 (compared to a 4.93 average for the other 474 movies in my database). Some of them have been superb (Bolt, Toy Story 2, Up), and others very good (Charlotte's Web, Finding Nemo, The Golden Compass, a couple of Ice Age movies, Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, and Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit).

At the other end of the scale are the movies that give rise to the stereotype: Garfield, Scooby Doo, Space Chimps, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, VeggieTales, Marmaduke, Rugrats, Furry Vengeance, and 2 wretched excrescences called Yu-Gi-Oh and Tamala 2010.

The original Cats & Dogs (2001) was dead average with a 5 rating. It certainly was not the kind of artistic triumph or blockbuster hit that demanded a sequel, but we got one anyway, this one in (all together now: ooooooo) 3-D, as if that alone justifies its existence. Is it a dog or the cat's meow? (Puns intended; please don't hurt me.)

Well, in the tradition of such things, there are bones thrown (ouch) to the adults, including a lot of smirky allusions to the James Bond oeuvre. 007 fans will recognize that "Kitty Galore" is a pun on Bond girl Pussy Galore (itself a smirking pun on something that will never sneak into a PG movie). There are silhouettes and sultry female vocals under the opening credits. And Bond actor (1973-1985) Roger Moore does one of the voices, for "Tab Lazenby", head of Mousers Enforcing Our World's Safety (MEOWS), reminding old farts like me that the immediate successor to Sean Connery was not Moore but the hapless George Lazenby, about whom nothing has been heard since 1969.

Nor do they stop there. I have to give Writers Ron Friedman and Steve Bencich and Director Brad Peyton credit for working really hard at throwing in a lot of code words, images, and background business designed to appeal to adults. Much of it was pretty clever, including allusions to movies made well before the target audience for this film was even born. But the result is schizophrenic. It's like going to see the Jerry Lewis version of Hamlet and discovering Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud playing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

In the final analysis, tho, do we go to see a movie just for the puns?*

No, we don't, and regrettably the ostensible surface plot of the movie, tho crammed with substance, snappy dialog, and a certain cockeyed coherence, is pretty insipid. Once again, dogs and cats are portrayed as mortal enemies enslaved to their basic natures, except that this time they're required to *gasp* work together to foil the evil machinations of criminal mastermind Kitty Galore, who intends to broadcast a worldwide dog-whistle tone (from a CD helpfully Sharpied with the legend "The Call of the Wild") that will turn her canine nemeses into snarling menaces, thus bringing their doom upon them as an alarmed humanity wipes them all out. There are more twists and turns as well (as I said, no lack of filling), but it's all pretty much of the same caliber.

The voice cast features many B-list names for no discernible reason and to no audible benefit (except for Bette Midler as Kitty), and the visual cast is a bunch of animals trained to assume unnatural positions and have matchmove artists do strange CGI things with their jaws. This is only fitfully effective.

I saw the film in 3-D. The good news is that the main feature was preceded by "Coyote Falls", a 3-minute roadrunner cartoon in a passable imitation of the grand cel-animation tradition, and it used 3-D to marvelous advantage with Wile E.'s latest Acme acquisition, a bungee cord. The bad news is that the 3-D imaging in the movie itself was sloppy, with numerous cases of dogs having doubled snouts, or a patch of fur seeming to float above the surface of the cat it was nominally attached to. This is a movie that didn't care enuf to send the very best.

I do appreciate the attempt to give the adults something to care about, tho, and it was accomplished without having to distract the kids from the story they came to see, so the overall effect is to get a gentleman's D+ from me.

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*Besides, for SF&F fans, they're not even nerd puns.

I went to the cinema to watch this movie because my girlfriend really appreciated the first part which I've never seen and she convinced me to come with her. She bought the DVD of the first movie and there was a special gift card in it which allowed her to have a reduction of ten dollars on a ticket for the sequel and so we went to the cinema.

I didn't expect anything from this movie and I wouldn't usually comment on such a movie because it is simply not my kind of genre, but as I see now such horrible votes and the movie entering in the infamous top one hundred bottom list, I thought I'd be better if I might write my opinion, because this movie isn't simply that bad - and I am generally kind of severe on movies! While watching this movie for one and a half hour, I've never taken a look on my watch, I've never felt bored at all and I found this movie very entertaining. There were also a lot of nice laughs, especially the naive but sympathetic pigeon was worth the watch - and let me tell you that it is rather difficult to make me laugh. Beside the pigeon, the little girl which always saw the animals making crazy things while her mother didn't recognize anything was an entertaining running gag, too. Another funny thing was the scene in the animal's Alcatraz which I thought was a nice idea. The collaboration, the prejudices and the growing team spirit between the secret agencies of the cats and the dogs were also some really nice elements in this movie even if they were predictable. And the movie even had something philosophical: Cats and dogs put away their prejudices to save their beloved humans together and fight a common enemy. Well, I know, this is a predictable content, too, but still very touching and even teaching for young kids who are watching this movie. And the idea of adapting the world of James Bond to the world of cats and dogs isn't silly at all, but very funny for the kids, nicely done for the adults who understand some funny allusions and certainly better than most of the boring super agent comedy movie in the key of Austin Powers and other boring stuff.

A part of that, the movie is well animated and has a perfect length. People who really like cats or especially dogs might even give a few stars more, for example for the funny and cute video clips in the end of the movie.

Of course, this movie is just a sequel, it shows nothing innovating and the story is predictable and of course there are no twists in the movie, but you can't expect that from any animation movie a part of the amazing "Wall-E". Some people here say that you should put the children into the cinema to watch this movie and head yourself for the - in my opinion - heavily overrated "Inception" - I mean, you just can't compare those movies and if you take this point as a judgement, it is certain that you may be disappointed.

So, don't listen to some of those really ordinary and exaggerated hate comments and spend some ninety minutes with your kids or younger sister or girlfriend or cat/dog fetish, switch your brain off and enjoy the nice jokes and this very entertaining movie.

5,5 to 6 stars out of 10!

I am 19 and I loved the original when I was younger, and I wanted to check this one out as I thought it would bring back memories, and it did. After seeing such a low score, I didn't expect it to be that great, but I found myself enjoying the film after a very short time.

The movie was actually pretty funny, and I don't normally find kids movies very funny, but this was actually good as a sequel. No, it wasn't amazing or even great, but it definitely wasn't bad and didn't deserve such a low rating. I've seen much worse kids movies get higher ratings than this.

You need to approach it with an open mind and remember that it is a kids movie and you will enjoy this, especially if you love animals or have a younger friend who loves animals to watch it with.

I have been waiting for years for a sequel to the original, and while this one wasn't as great as I remember the original being, it was still an enjoyable movie with many laughs, and familiar characters.

The special effects were definitely not the best I've seen, but there isn't anything wrong with that, the movie wasn't trying to be mind blowing, but the effects got the job done. Its a good sequel full of laughs and fun for the family to enjoy.

If you can approach this movie with an open mind, and remember its not an adult's film, but fun for the family, you will find plenty of enjoyment and laughs for everyone in the family.

I'm 42 and this is the second kid oriented film I've seen in less then two weeks, the first was Beezus And Ramona. I guess maybe in a way I'm a kid at heart. I never saw the first Dogs And Cats so I can't compare. I can say that this is a fun, breezy way to spend 82 minutes. I like how this spoofs James Bond movies right down to the opening credits and the name Kitty Galore. Also, Roger Moore does one of the voices and his character is named Tab Lazenby (for you Bond trivia lovers, George Lazenby played 007 in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service). Don't call me weird but I think that there is a good message for children in this film, let me explain. The dogs and cats join forces to stop this rogue cat Kitty Galore. This teaches kids that you should put aside petty things to band together as a team. Oh, they also do a good job of spoofing Silence Of The Lambs. My only real complaint isn't with the animals its with one of the humans in the film, that goofy magician Kitty was working for. He was so annoying.

Took my sons aged 4 & 6 to this & they loved it. It may not be the most entertaining movie ever for adults, but heck, it passed a morning of the school holidays, & that's good enough for me. Being a Bond fan, I loved the opening credits & liked the fact that they were copying that genre. I confess to intermittent feelings of boredom, but have yet to sit through a kid's movie where this was not the case at some point. It is clearly very very difficult to make a film which genuinely entertains adults and children throughout - if they manage to make both laugh at some point, they are doing well in my humble opinion! I asked my kids whether they had preferred Toy Story 3 (which has a much higher rating on IMDb) or Cats & Dogs, and they said they had liked both just the same. Perhaps IMDb should only allow kids to review kids films! Adults, this film may not be Oscar material, but lets keep things in perspective.