Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

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.

The children will really like this film, but the adults won't. So I advice you to go to the movie theaters as a family and your 4-12 years old go watch this film and you and our spouse or partner watch a more grown up film like Inception or if you have already seen Inception, then go watch Salt. However this isn't the worst film ever, or the worst film of Summer 2010, there are actually some funny and enjoyable moments in this film, however there aren't many of them at all. If it was consistently funny, I'd recommend it to the whole family or anyone looking for a good time.

This film is actually better than Marmaduke, but its still very dull and really not funny. It won't be a horrible experience watching this film, but it will be boring.

4/10

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.

Mary wanted to see it-- her rule is, if it's got a cat in it, she wants to see it. Quick summary: the trailer shows all the good scenes. The first movie had been mildly cute, although forgettable. The highlight of sequel should have been "more really cute dogs and cats." But they decided to put an average (full grown) German Shepherd in the lead (instead of the cute puppy from the first movie), and focused too much on the pigeon (who, admittedly, did get most of the good lines). The supporting cat was good, but had too little screen time. Most of the plot was quotes from other movies, with cats and dogs playing the parts (in particular, the opening title scene was a very well done version of the old James Bond movie title sequences). Except for where it was a direct parody of other movies, the plot was mostly perfunctory, and the denouement was a long and mostly incomprehensible action scene. The 3- D was both irrelevant, and also badly done. See it in 2D. If you see it, do stick through the credits for the final scene.

This belated sequel to the 2001 box-office hit Cats & Dogs is better than I expected. That's not to say it's great, it's not, but there have been far inferior kiddie films I've sat through this year with my four year old (not naming any names... Alvin and Shrek). There's free-flowing action that will entertain the younglings and the animals themselves are cute and/or funny enough to please all audience members, though the plot has more than its fair share of eye-rolling moments and the CGI is poorer than it should be considering the movie's $85m budget.

The gags are hit or miss, however the few that stick are quite amusing. A riff on Silence of the Lambs is hilarious and provides the sole laugh-out-loud scene whilst the Head of M.E.O.W (the feline secret service agency) Tab Lazenby – cheekily voiced by Roger Moore – offers plenty of 007 parodied humour. Elsewhere the talented voice cast do their best to inject energy into the frequently lack-lustre and cheesy script. Marsden is likable as lead mutt Diggs, Nolte is gruff as ever as Alec Baldwin's replacement for the hardened Butch, Applegate brings the sass as Catherine and Midler is clearly having a blast as the malevolent Kitty. Chris O'Donnell fares a lot worse as live-action character Shane, Diggs' loving ex-cop partner, his unabashed mugging an absolute low in his career.

Decent enough viewing with the nippers on a wet weekend.

2.5 out of 5 (1 - Rubbish, 2 - Ordinary, 3 - Good, 4 - Excellent, 5 - Classic)