Cats & Dogs (2001) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"Son of my mom!"
Featuring the voice talents of Tobey Maguire, Alec Baldwin, Sean Hayes, Susan Sarandon, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Clarke Duncan, and starring Jeff Goldblum, Elizabeth Perkins, Alexander Pollock and Miriam Margolyes. Directed by Lawrence Guterman. Rated PG.
While other films have had it as a subplot, Cats & Dogs is probably the first film to focus on the eon-old rivalry between the two titular species. You'd think, though, that said rivalry would be domestic in nature, consisting of kitchen hijinks, running up trees and other varied kinds of Tom & Jerry-style ephemera. But, since all American movies must take their subjects to their logical conclusions, the cats and dogs here have their own secret societies, complete with elaborate plans for world domination.
There are human characters as well, namely Professor Brody (Jeff Goldblum), his wife (Elizabeth Perkins) and his pre-teen son Scott (Alexander Pollock). Professor Brody is working on a formula to eliminate dog allergies in humans. This formula is very important to the dog underworld, of course, since their world still revolves around humans despite having technology that's just as advanced. To the cats, led by the nefarious Mr. Tinkles (Sean Hayes), the formula spells (smells?) disaster, and they want to steal it. Meanwhile, in their own labs, they work on a way to reverse the formula to make all humans allergic to dogs.
After the canine agent in charge of protecting the Brody formula is dognapped, headquarters sends in a new agent, a young recruit straight out of the Academy. He never gets there. Instead, the Brodys get a clueless young beagle pup named Lou (Tobey Maguire), who wouldn't know a walkie-talkie if it rammed him on the head. It's up to him, then, with support by a next-door veteran agent (Alec Baldwin) to protect the formula against Russian spy cats, ninja cats and other feline schemes.
Cats & Dogs' script is completely commercial and conventional, likely written and rewritten until an executive thought it was in the best form to please the most people. That the film still works is the result of seamless special effects, solid performances by reliable stars and those flashes of imagination that were still left over. I like the way that the doggie underworld was depicted; it's always good to see a movie that isn't afraid to look a little silly. I like, too, that the film made the cats villains. I've always thought there was something sinister about those creatures and Cats & Dogs confirms my suspicions. Actually, I'm just allergic to them and I'm venting my anger. Don't mind me.
There are some clever one-liners, such as the painfully obvious but still funny exclamation "Son of my mom!" given to one of the lead canines. Others are just painfully obvious, such as a stray dog calling herself "domestically challenged." And Will and Grace's Sean Hayes is consistently a hoot as Mr. Tinkles; I don't know where the hell he came from all of a sudden, but I want to see more of him in big-screen comedy.
What disappointed me most was the film's decision to turn into a sugary (more like lumpy) boy-and-his-dog tale. Since all eyes are on the special effects and the central inter-species rivalry, nobody in the audience cares whether or not little Scott likes his puppy or not, and neither do the filmmakers. The resulting subplot works best if you ignore it.
You get the idea. The movie is hit-and-miss. But the 90 minutes go by fast, and this is adequate family entertainment.
Grade: B-
Up Next: Scary Movie 2
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