July 4, 2001 | The most extraordinary thing about Cats & Dogs is how ordinary it seems.
Don’t misunderstand: I’m not saying this raucously anthropomorphic comedy isn’t funny. Quite the contrary. Grown-ups and children alike will find much to laugh about as the filmmakers vividly and inventively imagine a world in which, while humans remain blissfully oblivious, canines and felines are mortal combatants in a secret, centuries-old battle for global supremacy.
For some of us – i.e., cat owners who have never quite trusted the allegedly “dumb animals” in our care – the movie is a cheeky confirmation of worst suspicions. (The cats are the power-hungry villains of the piece; dogs seek only to serve and protect mankind.) And for those predisposed to favoring man’s best friend, Cats & Dogs promises comforting corroboration of prejudices as well as a jolly good time.
The thing is, Cats & Dogs is a live-action feature, not a feature-length cartoon, so first-time director Lawrence Guterman had to rely on armies of special-effects technicians to transform the fanciful script by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra into something like reality on screen. Real animals have been enhanced with f/x magic or doubled with puppets, so that their mouths move as they talk, and their body language is amusingly purposeful. (When two heroic dogs ride a subterranean rocket-sled to a super-secret rendezvous, one canine sticks his head out the window, just like a family pet on a road trip.) Much of this stuff is pretty impressive. And yet, oddly enough, it’s on the level of high-tech trickery that the movie is something far short of astonishing.
Within the space of just eight or so years, we’ve been exposed to so many innovative amalgamations of human activity, pliable puppetry and computer-generated imagery – everything from Jurassic Park to Monkeybone – that it’s no longer a novelty to encounter such comminglings on screen. To put it bluntly, we’ve been spoiled. The f/x wizards have become so adept at sustaining illusions of the fantastical that those illusions have become par for the course. I mean, talking animals? Kung-fu cats? Rocket-sled riding dogs? Ho-hum. How quaint.
Indeed, it’s gotten to the point that we stand up and take notice only when the seams are visible in the crazy-quilt, when the magic doesn’t completely suspend disbelief. Just as, given the advancements in photographic technology, it’s exceeding rare these days to come across an exceptionally cruddy-looking movie.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few moments in Cats & Dogs when grown-ups, and even many sharp-eyed youngsters, can easily see through the affectation of the effects.
Mr. Tinkles, egomaniacal leader of the cat contingent, is a crafty Persian with a snide manner and an abiding hatred for humanity. Voiced by Sean Hayes of TV’s Will and Grace, this feline fiend is frequently hilarious. Just as frequently, however, it’s glaringly obvious that an animatronic puppet, not a flesh-and-fur animal, is doing the dirty work.
At other points in the picture – most conspicuously, whenever Peek, the tech-savvy Chinese Crested makes an appearance – the spell is broken by similarly jarring, equally obvious fakery. Mind you, you may be too busy laughing to pay much notice, or even to care. But it’s highly unlikely that you’ll experience the same sense of wonderment here that most moviegoers did during their first exposure to the far less technically sophisticated but much more emotionally arresting Babe.
Cats & Dogs is a briskly paced and broadly comical extravaganza filled with wink-wink, nudge-nudge allusions to 007 misadventures and the Mission: Impossible franchise. (Mr. Tinkles is a dead ringer for the kitty caressed by bad guy Ernst Blofeld in James Bond movies of the ‘60s and ‘70s.) There are humans in mix: Professor Brody (Jeff Goldblum), an eccentric scientist who tinkers in his at-home laboratory; Mrs. Brody (Elizabeth Perkins), his sweetly supportive wife; and Scott (Alexander Pollock), their young son. But the generic two-legged characters are constantly overshadowed – and outclassed – by the four-legged leads.
Lou, an eager Beagle puppy winningly voiced by Tobey Maguire, is pressed into service as an agent in place as Professor Brody nears completion of a serum that will cure all human allergies to dogs. Mr. Tinkles, controlling a vast network of feline agents, wants to seize the professor’s formula in order to reverse its effects, thereby making all humans subject to sniffles whenever dogs are near. Fortunately, crack canine agents, led by Butch (Alec Baldwin), an Anatolian shepherd and grizzled field operative, are on the alert. Their dogged determination is such that nothing, not even a bomb-wielding Russian Blue (portrayed by a British Shorthair) or an army of ninja-like Devon Rexes, will slip past their defense network. It’s only when Lou gets a little too personally involved with his adopted family of humans that real trouble arises.
As often is the case when well-known actors are cast as vocal talents, the off-screen contributors are the real stars here. In addition to Maguire, Baldwin and Hayes, stand-outs include Michael Clarke Duncan as Sam, a clumsily heroic sheepdog; Jon Levitz as Calico, Mr. Tinkles’ less-than-ruthless lieutenant; Charlton Heston as Mastiff, supreme leader of Dog Command; and Susan Sarandon as a stray Saluki hound who’s still doggone crazy for Butch, her ex-sweetie.
Predictably, there are jokey references to animal equivalents of human endeavors. (Dogs receive up-to-date info from Canine News Network and its star reporter – yes, you guessed it! – Wolf Blitzer.) In sharp contrast, the humans in the cast give overstated performances that suggest someone forgot to tell them that they’re supposed to be playing “real” people, and that Cats & Dogs isn’t a cartoon.
