Cat and Dog

This movie is the very definition of a one-time watch. "Chien & Chat" offers a light comedy aimed at a young family audience, but does little to stand out. The story is paper-thin, relying heavily on clichés and slapstick humor that mostly falls flat. The two titular animals are brought to life with very average CGI, which might distract early on but becomes less noticeable as the film progresses.

The chemistry between the cast is serviceable, and some gags do elicit a smile, but they're few and far between. The police officer character tries to carry a good chunk of the humor, but ends up being more annoying than funny in many scenes. The film doesn't really take any risks, doesn't explore anything fresh, and ultimately feels like it's just going through the motions.

If you're looking for a mindless way to pass the time or entertain a child for 90 minutes, it might work, but don't expect to remember anything about it the next day.

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POSITIVE : A light and harmless family film / Some jokes may work for younger kids / Simple enough for background entertainment

NEGATIVE : Weak CGI / Recycled story with no originality / Humor often cringy or forced / Bland direction and forgettable overall

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I thought this might fit into the "Family Movie" genre, you know - some stuff for the kids, but the adults can be entertained too? The first few minutes were kind of humorous, as we watch what appears to be a burglar escape a cop on his trail. Then the animals showed up. The dog is wildly unconvincing GCI off the bat, and then the cat worse so. Then the pets started talking to each other, and that's when the movie fully jumped the shark. I should have done more research before pressing "start". Or at least watched a trailer.

There's not much else to say; the female lead was pretty, so there's that. Nothing else was memorable. In another 72 hours, I will completely forget that I watched this movie.

In this film Frank Dubosc plays Jack, a jewel thief who's priceless ruby gets swallowed by a stray dog and now he has no option but to adopt this dog and wait until it poos out his ruby. And shortly after adopting the dog he gets chased by police officer, Brandt (Philippe Lacheau) to a crowded airport where he meets a famous cat called Diva (voiced by Ines Reg) who gets glammed by her owner (Reem Kharki) so she can post videos and pictures of her on Instagram. Unfortunately after Jack and Diva's owner board a plane to New York, Diva and Jack's dog fall out of their cages. And Jack and Diva's owner try to catch them but Diva and Jack's dog think that their owners have flown to New York so they try to make their own way there.

And at first I was enjoying this comedy but a 1/3 of the way into the film some of the jokes aren't funny at all for example I thought it was weird when the dog thought his name was poo poo because his owner kept telling him to poo. And this is followed by some really bad acting. And also by the end the really bad CGI cat and dog annoyed me.

But during the last 2/3s of the movie there are some bits of the film that made me chuckle slightly for example there is this part at the end where Jack and Diva's owner are in a van and Brandt tries to pull Jack out but he ends up getting dragged along and hit in the balls by a pole.

But overall I was only kept mildly entertained throughout the film and I probably won't watch it again or even recommend it to a kid because there's better kids films on Netflix.

Cat and dog is straightforward in it's description and how it plays out, but it's very odd. The main two animals in this chichi a dog, and diva a cat are CGI. They also talk and though it's a comedy I just find the way they are animated to be very offitting. Don't get me wrong though I still thought they worked well and their scenes were good. A jewel theif ends up with divas mother on a plane and both have to save their pets after they end up getting blown away. I liked the chemistry between the main stars and there were some fun parts and overall this was an overall warming movie with strange but enjoyable plot.

... because it is really an odd combination of genres so you are probably going to either love it or hate it. It is like a wedding of Home Alone with its hapless criminal duo and Homeward Bound with its animals - a dog and cat - who basically do not like each other, on the road to find home. And yet this is not a children's film nor really a film for adults either because it is so inane. The probably largely forgotten film "Batteries Not Included" from 1988 comes to mind as having a similar problem. I liked it, but then you put a cat - real or bad CGI as is the case here - as a major character in a film and I'll watch it and probably like it, so I do make that disclaimer.

While I'm mentioning CGI - it's very badly done here. Neither the cat nor the dog look the least bit real. I thought the CGI in 2020's updated version of Call of the Wild was pretty bad, but this makes that film look like a CGI masterpiece. Then there is the dubbing - It is very badly done from the original French Canadian.

So my suspiciously high rating is mainly for people who like cats - even badly rendered ones - and the people who love them.