Cats and Dogs: A bizarre, fuzzy spy thriller

Is it worth the time?

Honestly, it depends on how much you enjoy watching animatronics that look just a little bit too stiff. If you’re a kid, or a grown-up who still thinks talking pets are peak comedy, you'll probably get a kick out of this. If you’re looking for something with actual stakes or a plot that doesn't feel like a Saturday morning cartoon fever dream, you’re going to hate every second of this. 🐕

The whole premise is that our pets are running a shadow government right under our noses. It’s funny for the first ten minutes. Then, you realize they are actually going to commit to this bit for the entire runtime.

Some Thoughts

The CGI has aged about as well as a gallon of milk in the sun. There’s a specific sequence involving a Persian cat in a high-tech chair that felt like it lasted for forty-five minutes. My eyes started to glaze over.

I found myself staring at the background extras more than the main characters. In one scene, a dog is supposed to be performing a complex mission, but he just kind of stands there looking at a piece of scenery. It’s genuinely distracting.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Cats and Dogs (1932) through its definitive frames.

• The gadgets are actually kind of neat, in a clunky, early-2000s sort of way.
• The cat villain is significantly more interesting than the heroes.
• I’m pretty sure I saw a boom mic reflected in a window at one point, but I might have just been hallucinating from the sheer absurdity of it all.

This movie feels like a weird cousin to things like Alice the Fire Fighter, though with way more fur and way less charm. It’s not trying to win any awards, that’s for sure.

One moment a dog is wearing a tactical vest, and the next, he's chasing a mailman. The movie can't decide if it wants to be a gritty spy flick or a goofy home video. It lands somewhere in the middle, which is usually the most boring place to be.

I kept waiting for someone to just stop the mission and go take a nap in a sunbeam. That would have been a better ending. 🐈

Anyway, if you’re bored on a Tuesday, I guess you could do worse. It’s not exactly The Deep Purple, but it’s definitely something you can watch while doing laundry. Just don't expect to think about it again once the credits roll.