Director: Brad Peyton
Starring: James Marsden, Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, Christina Applegate
Released: 4/08/2010
Rating: U
In 2001, Cats and Dogs saw an age old battle reach the big screen, as an elite canine team had to save the world from the evil cat Mr Tinkles. Now, almost a decade later the team is back, with an even bigger threat: former feline agent turned diabolical super genius Kitty Galore. The dogs alone can’t stop her, so it’s time to do the unthinkable to save the world: an alliance with cats.
The first film was, in a word: rubbish, but it was enjoyable rubbish. For a talking animal movie it certainly had its moments, and I’ll admit I actually own the DVD.
But this sequel lacks even the lovable charm of the original. Churned out in 3D the studio clearly hoped the effects would distract anyone watching from the frankly complete lack of a plot, and almost ridiculously bad script. One can only wonder: why did they bother? 9 years on we’d all forgotten about the original – no one was exactly calling for a sequel – so why force out this completely pointless piece of mediocrity?
The best that can be said for it is that it has a particularly impressive Bond-style titles sequence, which actually was pretty cool, but beyond that: any vaguely funny bits made it into the trailer, and beyond that it is just completely and utterly pants. There is nothing driving it, and literally no reason for it’s existence whatsoever. And of course: there’s going to be a third one. God help us all.
The one possible reason to see this actually comes before the movie. Warner Brothers have finally picked up on Pixar’s example, and have attached the first of 3 short films featuring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner from the Looney Tunes – and they’re in 3D. This few minutes is better than anything you’ll see in the main feature (although it’s still not worth paying to see, just wait and catch the other two before the substantially better looking Legend of the Guardians and Yogi Bear films later this year).
In the meantime, for all your talking animal needs, just go rent the original this weekend, and give this a miss.
James Gordon
Tags: animation, cats and dogs
Nice review James although I have still got to go and see this despite the review, I’m kind of OCD when seeing film series unless I loathed the original or got fed up of multiple instalments (see Land Before Time!). Very interested to see the Looney Toons shorts though and especially seeing Road Runner in 3D! MEEP MEEP!!