Movie Review: Cats and Dogs
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What Parents Should Know
The movie features several potty jokes and a great deal of
comic/fantasy violence (no one hurt). Some children may be
upset about an elderly character on life support, especially
when his condition is used for comedy. A boy is sad when his
dog disappears, and is reluctant to make friends with a
replacement. The movie is mildly sexist -Ö although one of
the spy dogs is female, she is not a part of the team, and the
message that goes out to the spy dogs is prefaced with
"gentlemen." A boy's feelings are hurt when he does so badly at
soccer try-outs (off screen) that the coach suggests that he
try out for the girls' team. Although Michael Clarke Duncan (of
"The Green Mile" and "See Spot Run") provides voice talent, the
movie has an all-white Dick and Jane feeling.
Common Sense Media Review
Anyone who has ever lived with a cat or dog already knows
what this movie finally reveals to the rest of the world - they
are the ones who are really in charge. While humans go about
their business, tossing a ball here, scratching behind the ears
there, they never notice that cats and dogs use extensive
technology to conduct all kinds of surveillance and spy
missions - and then to clean up all the mess afterwards, before
the humans get back home.
It turns out that once cats ruled, back in the days of ancient Egypt. But with the help of dogs, humans took over, and cats have been trying to regain their position ever since. As this movie begins, an evil rogue cat named Mr. Tinkles (that name would probably make any cat into an evil rogue) has a plot to foil the development of an injection that would cure allergies to dogs. If he can get the formula, reverse its effects, and expose every human in the world to it, then everyone would become allergic to dogs, and cats could take over. This is the worst affront to dog dignity since those Siamese-if-you-please cats got Lady into such big trouble.
The movie is silly fun, a throwback to the classic Disney days of "The Absent-Minded Professor" and "The Shaggy Dog." It moves along swiftly thanks to a brief running time (less than 90 minutes) and spectacularly seamless special effects work. It also benefits from outstanding voice talents: Tobey Maguire (Lou, the young pup called upon to save the world), Alec Baldwin (Butch, the senior agent, using some of the same world-weary courage and avuncular twinkle that he gave to James Dolittle in "Pearl Harbor"), and Susan Sarandon (kind-hearted canine femme fatale Ivy), as the good guys, and Sean Hayes (from "Will and Grace," enjoying the role of evil villain Mr. Tinkles), and Jon Lovitz (his sidekick) as bad guys. Live action duties are undertaken with good spirits by Elizabeth Perkins, Jeff Goldblum, and Miriam Margolyes, who does a funny twist on her role as the Nurse in the Leonardo DiCaprio version of "Romeo and Juliet."
