These Animals Talk! Marathon: Cats & Dogs (2001)

The most eternal of all eternal struggles must involve Jeff Goldblum, that is a given fact!

Written By: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
Directed By: Lawrence Guterman

Having already seen the sequel to Cats & Dogs, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore, I wasn’t looking forward to the original that much. I’m pleased to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised. Don’t get me wrong, Cats & Dogs is far from a perfect film, but it is a cute film with a higher number of jokes that hit than miss. I’m not sure why things went so terribly wrong with the sequel, but the original is a quality talking animals effort (yes, that is a thing that I am now saying, deal people.)

When going into these movies I look for two things, my daughter’s enjoyments and whether or not I have a good time. I’m happy to report that throughout Cats & Dogs my daughter was laughing and sporting a grin from ear to ear. As for myself, I was laughing at the funny bits and having a good time with the absurdity of the film. It’s not trying for much, but if one looks at Cats & Dogs with an eye out for the absurd I think most people should have fun with the film. The lame jokes, like the obligatory fart joke, are in the minority, surrounded instead by an easily swallowed saccharine family story and absurd humor that is interesting for how willing it is to be absurd.

Cats & Dogs has a lot of faults. The story is, well, the story is the type of story one would expect from a film of this ilk. There isn’t much in the way of acting, direction, or the sort of stuff I usually highlight in my reviews. There is, however, a lot to laugh at, a bunch of cuteness, and an absurdity to the endeavor that is oddly appealing. I would like to advise people to give up after the original and ignore Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore. I would like to tell the people who are reading this to do that, but let’s be honest folks, your kids aren’t going to let you do that. My daughter enjoyed the sequel almost as much as she enjoyed Cats & Dogs, but my enjoyment level went way, way down. Be that as it may, don’t let the terribleness of the sequel discourage you from checking out Cats & Dogs, it’s an absurd romp that will surprise you on more than a few occasions. Or as my wife puts it, “Movie has Beagle ears, love!!!!”

Rating:

***

Cheers,
Bill