BEFORE: Still working my way through the talking-pet genre. This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to watch a lot of commercials during the day that also featured talking animals in them. I suppose it's only natural to want to humanize animals, to think that they can think like us, but it's a seductive and incorrect line of reasoning. I've spent enough time with cats to know that most of the time there's not a lot going on upstairs - we've got a cat who's fascinated with running water lately.
THE PLOT: A look at the top-secret, high-tech espionage war going on between cats and dogs, which their human owners are blissfully unaware of.
AFTER: This is a high-concept piece, and the buy-in is pretty high. I'll agree that the relationship between man and dogs has been around for thousands of years, but this movie also states that cats once enslaved humans, and made them build the Pyramids. Right...
Plus, cats and dogs can talk, and humans can hear and understand them, only they're careful not to talk when humans can see them. Right... And I suppose the toys get up and move around when the kids aren't in the room.
On top of all that, the dogs have a spy-like headquarters, where they train field agents to fight the cats, and vice versa. I suppose the cats are more like the villains in this scenario - imagine that white cat that Blofeld's always petting in the James Bond films, only the CAT is the mastermind, with unlimited resources and an evil plan.
It seems that a scientist is close to a cure for pet allergies, and the dogs want to make sure he succeeds. The cats, however, want to reverse the cure, and make all humans allergic to dogs, so they can take over. Or something like that, the details are fuzzier than the cats themselves.
My basement cat, who sometimes watches films with me, gave this one high marks. He seemed very interested in the lifelike cats, and the barking of the dogs. But I don't think he was really judging the film on the merits of the plot.
As usual, too much slapstick for my taste, but this did come off more like a legitimate action film than a high-concept comedy.
Starring Jeff Goldblum (last seen in "The Fly"), Elizabeth Perkins (last seen in "Miracle on 34th St."), and the voices of Tobey Maguire (last seen in "The Cider House Rules"), Alec Baldwin (last seen in "It's Complicated"), Joe Pantoliano (last seen in "Bad Boys"), Michael Clarke Duncan (last seen in "The Slammin' Salmon"), Sean Hayes (last seen in "Soul Men"), Jon Lovitz (last seen in "My Stepmother Is an Alien"), and Charlton Heston (last seen in "Soylent Green").
RATING: 4 out of 10 ninjas
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