कैट्स और डॉग्स

This was a pretty clever film mixing live characters and human voices for the dogs and cats. The dubbing is extremely well-done, and so is the humor. It's a funny story, although it displays the typical whacked-out father, which is another political correctness feminist agenda (mother = good; father = bad). Other than that, it is a very entertaining film even with a bunch of silliness.

Check the cast out. How often to you see Susan Sarandon and Charleton Heston in the same movie. Now THERE is diversity, even if it's only their voices!

People here complain the film is too much for kids, and not adults. Well, isn't that terrible? Imagine the nerve of these filmmakers, doing something just for children!

I thought this movie had an interesting premise to work off of- the enmity between cats and dogs. However, one problem I had with it (besides its general low quality) was the fact that the cast the cats as the criminal buffoons. (Bear with me please - I'm at least half serious). I mean, dogs as the smart ones? Come on. Cats taking over the world is believable, but casting most of them as the not-so-smart, criminal stooges was going a bit far. Cats are smarter and more, hmm, elegant than dogs. Face it, in a showdown between cats and dogs that wasn't purely reliant on mass or strength, cats would own the dogs.

Now if they had cast the dogs as the villains of the piece...that would be better. Cats like the position they're in - pampered and very little required of them- why go to the trouble of taking over and running the world when it already serves you? Another thing- dogs are the ones who chase the cats, very rarely the other way around- bit of insecurity or jealousy perhaps? Dogs also often have to actually perform, exercise, do handy things or otherwise. If they would play it as the dogs trying to oust all the freeloading superior cats....that could have been real fun.

Scientist Brody is working on a formula that will wipe out dog allergies, thus making dogs the most popular pets on earth. When the dog agent protecting the house is kidnapped he is accidentally replaced by an untrained puppy Lou. Lou is trained up with the help of Butch, Peeps, Ivy and Sam. However with Mr Tinkles chasing the formula and Lou growing near to his family - can the formula be protected?

This had great potential - a good plot, a really strong cast and a good opportunity for children and adult jokes alike. The plot delivers what it has - a little silly but quite clever in places - but the comedy is seriously lacking for adults. For children there are some fart jokes and plenty of cat and dog slapstick but there are almost no jokes for adults that other films such as Shrek and Toy Story had in spades.

Given the cast this is very surprising - Jon Lovitz is a great voice but is hardly used at all, the character of Mr Tinkles could have been a great Dr Evil character, but even he is wasted. This is a great shame as all good children's films need to have something for adults to enjoy again. The great cast (Maguire, Baldwin, Clarke Duncan, Sarandon, Pantoliano, Charlton Heston, Lovitz) is a good draw for adults but having almost nothing to deliver for them is a big disappointment. The only funny scenes are the ninja cats and a handful of others but mostly it's wasted. The human actors are bland - Goldblum playing a scatty scientist? Surely not! That'll really push his barriers.

Overall a disappointing film that'll please children but needed a lot more work to keep adults entertained.

Why can't people just let a movie be cute instead of analyzing it to death. Sure the plot is a bit much--cats are trying to prevent a Mr. Brody from inventing a vaccine which will cure dog allergies--thus making dogs more popular than cats. With a "Mission Impossible" format dogs and cats battle each other for domination of the world.

The plots gets carried away with itself toward the end, but who cares?

The dog and cat agents are all good (their voices, excuse me). Especially, good is the voice of the persian cat, Mr. Twiggles, whose owner is bedridden. The housekeeper/nurse makes Mr. Twiggles' life a horror by continually dressing him in feminine outfits which he hates.

Another favorite is Lou, the beagle puppy who is adopted by the Brody family and is drafted as a secret agent in the war against cats.

I gave this movie 8 stars.

I personally thought Cats and Dogs was really good. The espionage war between the cats and the dogs was an inspired, if not so original idea, and the fight scenes were hugely amusing - the ninja cats had me in stitches, to say the least. The way Mr. Tinkles suddenly finds a way to make his plan succeed is a little rushed - how did the fainting of his owner suddenly change everything? There are several plot holes in this film, and a little more explanation wouldn't have done harm. But this film didn't try to be intelligent or gripping - it's basically the Cold War with pets for most of the film, but with a climactic finish in which everything is suddenly resolved and all the baddies are ruined. Even if it is not a corkingly intelligent piece of cinema, it sure is an amusing one, and it isn't badly done either. In fact, the climactic finish is brilliantly done and very amusing - machine guns are replaced by spraying machines, and bombs are replaced by spraying machines too (you'll see what I mean). It stays funny throughout, and it is amusing to see how all of the espionage happens behind all the humans' backs. Even if it does make human beings out to be a bunch of idiots who could quite easily be invaded by animals, this is still a great film which will tickle anyone's funnybone (unless you're a cruel, heartless critic of course...) 7/10