Conventional wisdom has it that cats and dogs do not get along. Cats and dogs hate each other, and that’s all there is to it. Well, many of us know that this is not true. Cats and dogs can actually be best buddies. But still the cats vs. dogs theme continues, right along with another theme: Dogs are good, and cats are evil. Dogs are man’s best friend, and cats are evil. Dogs are heroic, and cats are evil.
Which brings me to the 2001 film, Cats & Dogs, directed by Lawrence Guterman.
Your pets are really spies
In the world of Cats
& Dogs, pets are not just pets. Dogs (some of them, anyway) are secret
agents, and one of their missions is to protect the Brody household as
Professor Brody (Jeff Goldblum) works on his secret formula. This formula will
cure humans’ allergies to dogs, making it possible for even more dogs to live
with even more humans. Cats do not want this to happen. A fluffy white cat
named Mr. Tinkles (evil, obviously; voiced by Sean Hayes) plans to derail Brody’s
efforts by stealing the formula and making all humans allergic to dogs. Then he
can take over the world.
The movie opens with a rollicking good chase scene as cats
sent by Mr. Tinkles abduct the Brodys’ dog, who was the key agent protecting
them from the horrors of the cat conspiracy. His disappearance opens the door
for a new agent, and a beagle puppy named Lou (Tobey Maguire), who has
absolutely no training as a secret agent, moves in.
Lou now has to guard the house while Mr. Tinkles’ minions
attempt to break in and steal the anti-allergy formula. He also has to try to
be a friend to young Scotty Brody, who basically wants nothing to do with him. There
is a little family drama too, with Professor Brody so caught up in working on
his formula, he just can’t find time for poor Scotty. Also, Scotty sucks at
soccer.
Okay, so we thought it was funny…
Yes, I started out by complaining about the whole “dogs
good, cats evil” theme—and for the record, that still annoys me—but we still
had a pretty good time watching this movie. A bunch of cats driving a limo and
impurrsonating (sorry!) a human? Come on, that’s funny.
This movie has some basic flaws that we think hold it back
from being a true cat classic. We wish the story had been a little different,
to show cats and dogs working together to protect humans. We wish they could
have fit at least one female in among the secret agents. (Okay, yes, there is
one, but she’s there mainly to be pretty and be the love interest for one of
the male dogs. Yeesh. Hello, 21st century?)
Still and all, Cats & Dogs is basically what you get if you transmogrify Mission: Impossible into a madcap family comedy starring pets. Judged on those terms, it’s not half bad. Just don’t try to take it seriously.
Oh, and ...
Cats rule!
Cats rule!
A
note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up.
One paw is for a good movie; two paws is for a great movie. She never gives
three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss
C does not do that!
The
link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the movie through this
link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!
I remember watching that movie not long after it was released! It was a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteThat is a cute movie. I liked it when the cat brings up a furball then opened something wit a dog poop to get the puppy in trouble. :)
ReplyDeleteI've seen the movie a couple times and it was funny both times. The chase scene is epic ... especially the end when the cat is licking its paw on the patio and the dog charges, only to find the glass patio door is closed. When I saw it, I never thought about the negative stereotype of cats ... but now that you mention it, it bothers me. At the time, I just thought it was cute ... and I admit thinking that cats ARE devious. Evil? No. Devious in an endearing way? Yes. For non-cat people, they might not get the lovable aspect and just believe cats are evil - which is truly a disservice.
ReplyDelete