Cats & Dogs
This movie portrays dogs as the good guys and cats as evil, so I think you’ll know whether or not you’d like to see it. This movie reminds me of Men In Black and Austin Powers. All the techno stuff and the “red button” thing, as well as a hardened veteran (voiced by Alec Baldwin in this) to coach the kid around, remind of Men in Black. The Austin Powers influence is more in Mr. Tinkles. A lot of his lines reminded of me of Dr. Evil saying, “One million dollars,” and then being corrected by his staff. If there is a sequel (and there’s definitely room for one), Mr. Tinkles should say to his cats, “Come on, people, throw me a fish here. I have a son, and we shall call him, Mini-Tink.” That would crack me up, even though they used it in Kangaroo Jack. This movie’s full of star power, like Tobey Maguire (Spider Man, Seabiscuit), Alec Baldwin (The Cat in the Hat, Final Fantasy), Joe Pantoliano (Daredevil, The Matrix) and Michael Clarke Duncan (Daredevil, The Scorpion King). Surprisingly, even though it’s a bunch of sci-fi movies put in a blender and served on top of Stuart Little-style talking animals, it’s a great movie. Even adults, especially ones who saw Austin Powers, will like it. The basic plot isn’t too difficult to believe, until the end, but that was Mr. Tinkles’ idea, and Dr. Evil’s ideas were never exactly possible anyway. So, here’s the deal.
A scientist (Jeff Goldblum) is working on a chemical to counteract allergies to dogs. This formula is imperative to the dogs, who have been fighting since the days of Ancient Egypt for the position of “man’s best friend.” When the dog that protects the scientist’s family from cat infiltration is catnapped, the dogs send five trained puppies to the animal farm to be selected by the scientist’s wife. Unfortunately, one beagle (Tobey Maguire) manages to catch her eye, and this untrained pup is going home with her.
This makes life harder for the neighborhood dogs, who will have to teach him a lot more than planned. He, with the help of Butch (Alec Baldwin) protect the scientist’s labratory from cats (a Russian blue and Siamese ninjas) who are agents of Mr. Tinkles (voice of Sean Hayes), a delightful cat intent upon world domination. His scheming is not maid any easier by the maid, who insists on dressing him in cute, but mortifying outfits. One of these provokes Mr. Tinkles to yell, “Evil does NOT wear a bonnet!” Hilarious. Also noteworthy are the video he sends the dogs, and the phone call he makes. Unfortunately, Tinkles does not realize that the formula hasn’t been completed. This isn’t even addressed in the movie, which begs the question: Why is he sending his men into the field when he has no proof the formula is complete?
This minor beef is soon set aside, because the scientist does complete the formula thanks to Lou (Tobey Maguire). Unfortunately, the scientist and his family are soon held hostage by Mr. Tinkles, who demands the formula as ransom. When Mr. Tinkles doesn’t stick to his end of the deal, the dogs infiltrate his base and learn his diabolical scheme… so diabolical that it prompts one dog to curse, “Son of my mom.” Not completely successful, but still slightly funny.
This movie copies from several movies other than those mentioned. One is the Matrix. There is even a bullet-time sequence. Another movie it copies is James Bond, with its techno gadgets and a Russian blue saying, “From Russia with love.” Mr. Tinkles is a caricature of Dr. Evil, who is basically a funny version of Blofeld from Bond… Some may groan at all the references to other movies, but the kids will lap it up. If they aren’t too busy with Spy Kids (or Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), they’ll love it. Heck, they’ll love it anyway. Unless they despise dogs and love cats. Then watch something else.