Film Review: CATS & DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE (2010)

Director: Brad Peyton
Running time: 79 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): U

Genre: Action/Comedy/Family
UK Release date: 4^th August 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 30^th July 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I saw the prequel to this, Cats & Dogs (2001), a few years ago and, although I didn’t agree with the sentiments expressed in the film, I kind of liked the way it was done. When this one came up on TV I decided to see if they had made any improvements in the intervening years. Well, I suppose technically, the CGI has improved, but the storytelling most certainly hasn’t! Here’s a brief summary before I really rip into it… I mean, give you my considered opinion.

Kitty Galore is a bad cat, so bad that she wants to take over the world… Of course the dogs won’t stand for this. And, so it turns out, neither will the cats. For the dogs, there’s a new recruit, Diggs, a former police dog who has a problem following orders. He is partnered with Butch, a veteran agent who really knows the ropes. In their search for Kitty they find a pigeon, Seamus, who holds the key to catching her. They also find another agent, a cat called Catherine whose boss, Tab Lazenby, agrees to work together with the dogs in order to foil Kitty’s evil plan. As they close in on her she begins to put her plan into effect… Will they get to her on time? I guess that’s all I can say or my cats will probably do something nasty to me.

  First of all, the effects and the CGI were all done pretty well, but, at times, looked a bit too overdone. The voices of the main characters were provided by; James Marsden as Diggs, Nick Nolte as Butch, Christina Applegate as Catherine, Katt Williams as Seamus, Bette Midler as Kitty Galore and Roger Moore as Tab Lazenby. All were competent, but I guess it’s hard to give a stellar performance in a film like this.

It all started so well with James Bond style opening credits and even Shirley Bassey singing the song. Unfortunately, it went downhill from here. I know I’m not really the target audience, but I don’t think even the kids will like this one much. It’s almost like the writers were trying to be too clever, rather than relying on the things that work in a kid’s film… visual gags. I was quite glad it wasn’t a particularly long film and by the end I was glad it was over. Unfortunately, not recommended.

My Score: 3.8/10

IMDb Score: 3.6/10 (4,096 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1287468/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 13/100 (93 reviews counted when this review was written).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cats_and_dogs_the_revenge_of_kitty_galore/

LINKS:
Official Site: http://catsanddogsmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/
Trailer: