Movie Scene
'Cats & Dogs' is superficial saga of warring pets

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

CATS & DOGS (Rated PG for action violence) Two Stars (Fair) The fur flies in this latest talking-animals enterprise, a fast-paced but charmless saga about how much canines and felines hate each other. Jeff Goldblum heads the human cast, Tobey Maguire and Alec Baldwin are the chief pet voices. Lawrence Guterman directs, without much imagination. Warner Bros., 87 mins.

For openers, of course, the animals can talk (though they hide that fact from humans).

And both camps have elaborate wartime organizational structures, employ high-tech communications and espionage systems, and possess more weaponry that most Third World counties.

"Cats & Dogs" has none of the intriguing charm of the "Babe" films – it fails to establish animal characters we can care about. With few exceptions, the pets are nothing more than furry pawns in a superficial saga of warring animals.

The exceptions are at the two extremes of the conflict – and overly obvious: Lou, the oh-so-cute Beagle puppy who becomes the hero, and Mr. Tinkles, the vicious, power-obsessed Persian cat who wants to lead the felines to world domination.

The battleground is the Brody household, where the human father (Jeff Goldblum) is a nerdy basement scientist. His obsession is the creation of a serum that will eliminate dog allergies from humans, giving canines a paw up in the competition for human attention.

Brody's wife (Elizabeth Perkins) tries without much luck to get her husband to dote more on their moody son, Scott (Alexander Pollock). The latest addition to the household is the puppy, Lou.

The amiable animal finds himself at ground zero in the battle between the good dogs and the bad cats.

"Cats & Dogs" director Lawrence Guterman and his writers are clearly dog-lovers. There are no good cats in the film – and the dogs truly are man's best friends. That alone will alienate a good portion of the film's potential audience.

"Cats & Dogs" also is encumbered with far too much James Bond and "Mission Impossible" paraphernalia and parody, which a lot of the younger children won't understand, anyway.

A smaller-scale battle between better-defined and more appealing pets would have made for a more memorable film. Think, for example, of the skirmish created by Disney between the Siamese cats and Lady the dog in the original "Lady and the Tramp." Nothing here touches that.

"Cats & Dogs" offers almost no female protagonists or antagonists. Of the dozen animals you get to know, none of the cats are female. And the only female dog (voiced by Susan Sarandon) is a stray with a shady reputation.)

Most of the film's voice work is nondescript – Tobey Maguire does Lou with the likable, low-key approach Michael J. Fox has brought to similar assignments, and Alec Baldwin makes his stern commandeer dog a variation of his Jimmy Doolittle in the current "Pearl Harbor."

So, don't think "Babe" when you consider this film for your family. Think, "102 Dalmatians," at best.

Rated PG, with action violence.

Jack Garner is chief film reviewer for the Gannett News Service.