aileencorcoran
I loved the first Cats and Dogs; the action, the CGI, the story. It was great fun and I still laugh at it even now at the age of 18! I did not expect the sequel to be that good, because it is released around 9 years after the original; all the fans are grown up, and the new generation have moved onto different things. I prefer animations (usually!), and because it was a sequel to a childhood favourite, I decided to give it a go, for nostalgic reasons, and for love of dogs! (I like cats, too hahaha :D).The movie brings back original characters; Lou the beagle (Neil Patrick Harris), Butch the Anatolian Shepherd Dog (Nick Nolte), Shep the Old English Sheepdog (Michael Clark Duncan), Peek the Chinese Crested (can't remember his voice actor), and even a cameo of Mr.Tinkles the Persian cat! (Sean Hayes). Lou, despite the different actor, still sounded somewhat like himself, and even though his character changed A lot, he was still a good supporting character. I was disappointed by his change of character, simply because it disregards his role in the first film almost completely. It does, however, add a certain level of maturity to Lou. Butch's voice actor sounds older that Alec Baldwin, however, this shows his maturity and how the film is clearly set a few years after the first. Diggs (James Mardsen) the German Shepherd/Alsatian, is a great character, and does bring colour and humour to the film, as well as a level of humanity; what I mean is, it shows the dog having problems, which the audience can relate to, much like Butch in the original. Catherine (Christina Applegate) is another great addition, and the chemistry between her and Diggs as characters, no matter how cliché, is believable and humorous. Kitty Galore (a Sphynx Cat) is very well animated, and voiced fantastically by Bette Midler. She is a typical villaness, and is wonderful!The story, in my opinion, is bland. I understand Kitty's turmoil and want of revenge, but to enslave all mankind? C'mon Kitty, everybody has ups and downs, don't ya think you're overracting a bit? Just my two cents. At least Tinkles wanted to obliterate dog kind (in some sense) so cats will become "Top Dog" again. All cats were besmirched in C&D~#1, in Kitty Galore, why could she not seek revenge on that one dog? Or her family? What do you think?The action is plentyful, the CGI brilliant. The puppets were kind of stupid, and removed whatever smoothness one can find within the film. The whole cats and dogs working together is a good message for kids, showing you should overlook your differences etc in the face of adversity, to help one other out and build a bond.The humour, no matter how over done, is funny, especially the cats on 'nip! Some is cringeworthy, though.Finally; Seamus, the pigeon. I did not like him at all. He, in my opinion, added nothing to the story, even though he was meant to, and he annoyed me for the most part.Overall, if you are a die hard fan of the original, don't expect too much. The Brady's are never mentioned, and the only reference is the recurring characters. It is, however, a fun and enjoyable film, but mainly for the kiddies due to the humour in question.5/10.(my first review!!!)
SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain
I kind of enjoyed this. I liked the original 9 years ago, and this kept the same feel and sense of humor. The human actors are just a distraction to the spy like efforts of the cats and dogs, and there are no characters as funny as some of the cats in the original. The CGI, real animals, and puppetry, comes together most of the time, and it doesn't matter when it looks a bit ridiculous. The brief segments of Sean Hayes proves that he was the driving force of the original, and he should have been a main focus here. Like most childish children's films, there are many annoying characters and a lot of lame jokes, which had me groaning and sighing. Probably a bit too long went by between this and the original. Luckily, it allows new viewers to slip right in.
TheLittleSongbird
This is hardly a gem of a sequel, but it is not as bad as I heard people had said. I personally prefer the first, though that also had its problems. The film does look good, with striking location work and skillful-enough photography and the effects don't look cheap either. The soundtrack is a lot of fun too especially at the beginning, and the acting is decent with the human characters likable enough and Sean Hayes and Bette Midler standing out in the voice cast. The direction is at least okay. The film is too rushed though, particularly at the end, perhaps with a longer length it would have felt more steady. The script does have its clever and witty moments, but also one too many moments of stupidity, and the film is not that long I feel the story was too thin to properly sustain the running time. Overall, a decent sequel but could have been more. 5/10 Bethany Cox
