Cats and Dogs

The James Bond franchise is currently in limbo.  After decades of defeating bad guys bent on world domination, lack of studio fund is what finally brought agent 007 down.  So who’s going to fill the gap for a super spy movie with high tech gadgets and unusual villains?  How about a dog named Diggs?

“Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” is a follow-up to the 2001 movie, “Cats and Dogs”.  The original movie was about an ongoing war going on between cats and dogs that humans were unaware of.  The main villain of that movie was Mr. Tinkles (Sean Hayes) who looked very similar to Blofeld’s white cat from the James Bond movies.

In the new movie, the dogs and cats must put aside their differences in order to stop a common enemy, Kitty Galore (Bette Midler).  Kitty used to be an agent for the cats, but after a freak accident she now has a plot that will not only get all the digs of the world out of the way, but plans to enslave the whole human race as well.  Diggs (James Marsden) is new to the dog agency and is teamed up with a veteran agent Butch (Nick Nolte).  They are joined by Catherine (Christina Applegate), a cat to try to foil Kitty’s plans.

Parents do all sorts of things for their children because they love them, even if it is something they may not enjoy doing.  Taking them to this movie can be included in that list.  Unlike other family films like “Toy Story 3” and “Despicable Me” which can be enjoyed by both children and adults, only the children in the movie theater can enjoy this motion picture.  There are plenty of laughs for the kids as the animals in the movie makes funny faces, jump all around as they have a James Bond like adventure, but parents will hardly be engaged.

There are a few in-jokes for the parents.  They surely recognize the James Bond references throughout the movie.  The dog collars have all sorts of special gizmos inside them and there is even a hench-cat that works for Kitty Galore that will remind Bond fans of one of the most famous James Bond villains of all time.  Another movie, one that children would have not likely to see, is also spoofed when Mr. Tinkles makes a cameo appearance in the movie.

The movie is also being shown in 3D.  The 3D effects are pretty good and if your children really like 3D movies you might as well spend the extra money on this one too.  Talking animals having an adventure is a good concept for a family film, too bad the filmmakers choose only to appeal to those who are ten-years old or younger.  It is rated PG for animal action and humor.