ALL THAT PUSSY AND NO ACTION (Cats & Dogs (DVD))

Member Name: Gingaro

Product:	Cats & Dogs (DVD)
Date:	09/01/03 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cute Animation, Great One Liners, Entertaining

Disadvantages: Weak Plot, Poor Acting

I've owned Cats & Dogs for well over twelve months and never ever tire of watching it even though the film suffers from a wafer thin plot that revolves around the age old struggle between good and evil.

Good being mankind and our canine friends whilst evil has taken the form of cute cuddly cats!

An evil cat called Mr Tinkles (voiced by Sean Hayes) wants to take over the world and put cats firmly where they belong, in control of humans. However, a secret organisation of dogs are hell bent upon stopping his fiendish masterplan.

The story is based in suburban USA Where Professor Brody (played by Jeff Goldblum) has been developing a serum to protect people against dog allergies. The secret dog organisation, knowing the importance of this research to their kind send their top agents Butch (voiced by Alec Baldwin), Sam (voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan) and Peek (voiced by Joe Pantoliano) to protect the professor, his family and his research against the evil cats.

Without going into too much detail and spoiling the film, one of the agents currently in the house with the family is abducted at the start of the film and replaced (by accident) with Lou (voiced by Toby Maguire), a young, inexperienced puppy.

We then follow the story of how the cats try to destroy the lab using various methods including my favourites, The Russian and Ninja Cats.

The results are laughs and giggles all the way.

As it's quite tricky under normal circumstances to get cats and dogs to talk. Getting them to do it in front of camera and getting them to remember their lines must be a nightmare, therefore the director Lawrence Guterman chose to use large amounts of CGI throughout the film.

This was done to great effect to animate the cats and dogs as they speak making them as lifelike as possible. Although there are a few glitches with the voice overs, there aren't that many to spoil the effect of the film.

Tak

ing into account the large amount of dialogue between both the dogs and the cats, the special effects can't be knocked and I can't therefore be too overly critical. In some scenes (especially the ninja cats) the special effects are breathtaking.

Where I am going to be overly critical is the performance of the human actors. They were shallow, lacked depth, characterisation, and did not do anything to bond with the viewer. In one scene the family are in mortal danger and I was kinda hoping they would actually die! Wooden would be a little harsh, but it's a close description of how they come across. Whilst Jeff Goldblum is his usual bumbling self, the spouse (played by Elizabeth Perkins) and son (played by Alexander Pollock) couldn't act their way out of a paper bag in my opinion.

Overall, I'd rate this film four stars. It's basically a film aimed at a younger audience, and those who wouldn't notice the flaws/bad points without looking for them.

Although it has faults it was actually very entertaining and I have watched it more than once. In fact, if my diseased mind is correct, I've seen this six times over the past twelve months. It's very rare that a film will make me come back and watch it time and time again.

Some scenes are cute, some are just damn funny with one liners that had me in stitches at times. I've found that my sister (2) loves to watch this, as do I (24) and even my dad (46) enjoyed it.

If you are willing to let yourself be entertained without thinking too much about the plot and acting this is a film you'll love. Just let yourself go, sit back and enjoy.

If the film alone doesn't sound like it's enough to convince you to purchase the DVD then take a look at the extra's available. They are brilliant and in my opinion make this one of the best DVD's in my collection (and it's a big collection).

As you play the DVD you hav
e the
choice of selecting either Cats or Dogs. Each option takes you off to a different menus, but basically, the extra's are:

Directors Commentary

Rather dull to be honest. The worst of the features. I find these dull on all films that aren't based upon true stories though. 3/10.

HBO Documentaries x 2

2 behind the scenes documentaries that are very informative. They each show how the animals used were trained and how the CGI was generated and added to make the final film. 8/10.

Trailer

Cinema trailer. 6/10.

Casting Couch

Mr Tinkles takes on the guise of several famous people and does impressions. Very amusing and a different feature I've never seen on a DVD before. 10/10 (for originality)

Cast List

Surprisingly, a list of the cast and crew. It's detailed and a dream for someone writing a review! 9/10.

Scene Selection

Standard scene selection. 7/10.

Storyboard

A very useful feature. It shows how the concept of the film grew from a few drawings to the finished article. 10/10.

RECOMMENDED TO ALL WHO CAN SIT DOWN AND WATCH A FILM WITHOUT THINKING TOO MUCH!!!

Cats & Dogs can be purchased online at Play.com and SplashDVD.com. As my copy was a gift for Christmas 2001 I'm unsure of the price however I have seen it for 9.99 GBP in Music Zone.

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