Movie Review: Cats and Dogs

Story: Accompanied by my early morning movie pals GK and daughter, JK (who live with their wonderful bulldog Mazel) we settled into our stadium seats and prepared to have fun - and we did. The story takes forever to reveal itself but basically cats are out to take over the world by making humans allergic to dogs. There's a lot of cartoon-like violence - that I admit made us laugh. The dogs are all multi dimensional, adorable and terrific...Woof! Director Lawrence Guterman, who is obviously a dog person, does not seem to understand the finer points of the feline world and pretty much portrays them as one-dimensional bad guys....Hisssssssss! The cats, are mostly animatronics and those parts of the film did not work for me at all. Yet, I still laughed. There was a lot wrong with this film but if you are an animal person and want a few summer laughs and someone will treat you to the movies (thanks Gail) you should go and have a good time. As Gail said, It was a doggone good film.

Acting: The humans that actually appear in the film are pretty much robotic and silly. But the voices of the dogs and cats spoken by Alec Baldwin, Tobey Maguire, Susan Sarandon, Sean Hayes, John Lovitz, Micheal Clark-Duncan and Joe Pantoliano are all great.

Critters: Needless to day, it would be easier to name the humans. Jeff Goldblum played the human father and was forever in the basement working on scientific experiments. I couldn't help but recall his role in the remake of The Fly and kept thinking he would appear as the fly any moment as he emerged from below.

Food: I do not recall any one eating - man or beast.

Visual Art: I don't recall any of that either.

Blatant Product Placement: Isuzu

Soundtrack: Forgetful.

Opening Titles: Cute.

Theater Audience: 12 adults and two children.

Sappy Factor: 5

Quirky Meter: 1

Predictability Level: Over the Top.

Oscar Worthy: No.

Nit Picking: I had a minor hissy fit over the pro-dog, anti-cat theme. So, to even the score a little I have attached a picture of my two cats, Paloma, the black and white one, age 15, diabetic, requiring two insulin shots a day and busting with attitude and sass and Priscilla, the red and white one, age 9, who is afraid of the usual stuff such as the vacuum cleaner, thunder storms and President Bush.

Big Screen or Rental: Rental. You might want to check out a talking animal weekend festival. Here is a hint: look in the young adult-children's section.

Length: 85 minutes

LOBO HOWLS: 5