It was last December when I first saw the trailer for “Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” and I really didn’t want to see the movie when it came out in July. But I did, because it’s my job. I hope you didn’t.
The story, and it’s pretty lame, involves a police dog named Diggs, who loses his job because he doesn’t follow orders, and gets sent to a kennel. But there he gets an offer to join an elite group of K-9 agents whose mission is to prevent the evil (and quite creepy) cat, Kitty Galore, from taking over the world.
Diggs and the other dogs have to work together with some good cats, but there’s also a wisecracking pigeon and a mouse in the cast, and they all talk, with animated mouths.
This is actually a sequel to the first “Cats and Dogs”, which came out in 2001, got a lot of good reviews, and made nearly $100-million dollars.
But there are so many problems with this film: The set-up – animal having to save the world – we’ve seen it all before. Funny? There isn’t a single good laugh in the entire movie. And it looks cheap.
There are some major Hollywood actors in “Cats and Dogs”. Chris O’Donnell plays Diggs’ owner and Bette Midler, James Marsden, Nick Nolte, Christina Applegate and Neil Patrick Harris voice the main animal characters, but it doesn’t matter. The story is awful, the dialogue is awful and at times even the mouths and the voices don’t match-up.
“Cats and Dogs” is rated PG for some very mild action. There were some very young kids, maybe 5 or 6, sitting behind me in the theater and when they weren’t talking, they were laughing a little. This may be the age group that could enjoy this film. For anyone older, don’t bother.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” gets an F. It’s one of the favorites for my Worst Film of the Year award.
The Blu-ray and DVD do include “Coyote Falls”, the new Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote short that was the only good thing about seeing “Cats and Dogs” in the theater. And there’s a “Yogi Bear” preview. If you can watch those, and then skip the movie, go for it.