Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Oliver Thatcher Watson This film is, in my opinion, good for the most part. It's nothing great, but it's actually a pretty good sequel to the 1st film. This film is heavily flawed, I will agree. One example is that the story is extremely and painfully generic, as pretty much everything you would expect from a movie with a villain and hero happens. Hero wins, villain loses. Blah, blah, blah. End. Most people, such as myself, have seen this far too many times for this films story to be in any way shape or form, fresh. Another example is that this films voice cast, while they did great in this film, is obviously different from the first film and that alone can be very off putting. Besides all that, the great CGI, mostly passable story, and great voice acting make this film enjoyable enough to be watchable. I'm not sure I can recommend this film to anyone as, again, the story is very dull and unoriginal. But I think it's a decent sequel that's watchable for the most part. And that's alright with me.

Bruce Cook Saw this movie today for the first time (on Hub, a DISH channel) and I was amazed at the great FX, slick set designs, and witty dialog. I'm puzzled by all the negative IMDb reviews and message board comments. The action is great, the dialog is often very funny, and the acting of the dogs and cats (both the trained animals and their CGI-counterparts) was consistently good.Teaming up a cat, two dogs, and bird-brained fast-talking pigeon with a busted wing was a fine idea. It generated clever dialog and heroic deeds, like an aqua-phobic cat rescuing her dog partner by diving into a tank of water.The villains are great, too. Kitty Galore (the voice of Bette Midler) is a hairless cat like Dr. Evil's pet in "Austin Powers" -- with her own pet, a tiny terrified mouse. I also enjoyed the hulking henchmen-cat with steel teeth called "Paws" (with kind regards to Richard Kiel).* * * * * * Spoiler Alert * * * * * * Paws had a trick up his sleeve I did not see coming. In the climax he ripped off his fur to reveal himself to be a robot-cat -- and delivered a line in Arnold's voice!The music is terrific -- rich, rousing, and very much in the grand tradition of James Bond movies. Composer Christopher Lennertz did a bang-up job. And he got in his fair share of musical jokes as well, such as the subtle Superman-like music when the pigeon shows up in time to fling off the cast on his busted wing and shout, "It's a bird! It's plane! Actually, you had it right the first time."I think the reason some folks didn't like this movie is because it delivers the clever dialog and the great action at such a fast pace that some of the good stuff goes whipping past the audience before they know it. I had to run a few scenes back to catch it all, like when the hero falls down a chute and shouts, "Oh . . . my . . . Dog!" Subtle but clever.Listen for an announcement on the PA in the super-spy secret headquarters. "Today's seminar: Harassment in the work place. Remember, Doberman -- do not pincher." This movie is obviously the work of talented, hard-working people who invested time and money in an effort to make a very enjoyable family movie. Seems a shame their reward was the loss of over $40,000,000. That doesn't exactly encourage Hollywood to green light imaginative, big-budget productions.

Charlie Burns Alright, I will try my best to not rant and rave (especially since I already have done a much more detailed review of this on my blog, so read it there if you are curious), but this movie is without a shadow of a doubt one of the worst films of all time. Yes, worse than crap like Batman and Robin, Troll 2, or even Battlefield Earth, especially when you throw in the small fact that at least those films are interesting in how bad they are. This film is not interesting, not in the least. From the absurd amount of cat and dog puns that are more forced than the drama on American Idol, to the just not funny jokes coming either from the main dog (who I am certain is probably missing his brain) to the pigeon that supposedly works for the big "bad" of this movie (and no, I do not really care why a bird works for a cat, but it is really stupid, that is for sure.) I wish I could say maybe the CGI is good, but no, it looks like the same half-hearted attempts they use in Asylum films, and worst of all it couldn't be less convincing that the animals are talking unless you just made them ALL CGI, instead of using real cats and dogs. Sure, I know people try and use the stupid excuse, "But its for kids, can't you let it just be that?" No, I can't, because while there are still being great, incredible kid films being made and released (just think Lion King or How to Train Your Dragon) that not only are really, really enjoyable for children, but just so for adults, then I cannot stand while crap like this is being made. No, this film has nothing redeeming about it, from the story that has no point except to make puns and make my brain scream, or to the "jokes" that couldn't be funny if George Carlin told them, nothing works in this film. And those adults who do claim that they went and saw this and actually enjoyed it, I do pity you all, and hope one day you meet a good movie (like Robocop or Terminator 2) and just...grow up.

Jackson Booth-Millard When I heard that there was a sequel to atrocious Cats & Dogs I was thinking to myself why do they bother making follow ups to films that are clearly awful, but I heard it had some positive opinions, so I gave it a chance. Basically in the world where cats and dogs are enemies, most (not all) cats wanting to take over the world, and many dogs as the secret agents defeating them. One particular German Shepherd police dog Diggs (Enchanted's James Marsden), owned by his cop master Shane (Chris O'Donnell), is recruited by dog Butch (Nick Nolte) to help defeat a new threat to the world. Furless cat Kitty Galore (Bette Midler) is planning to take over the world, and after meeting feline secret agent Catherine (Anchorman's Christina Applegate) who works for MEOWS (Mousers Enforcing Our World Safety), it looks like the good cats and dogs will have to work together. Kitty, once known as Ivonna Clawyou used to work for the cat organisation as an agent, but went rogue after losing her fur and being rejected by her original owners, and she has a plan to brainwash all the dogs in the world to attack without though or reason. With a little help from the first film's super villain Mr. Tinkles (Sean Hayes) locked up in the secret cell in Alcatraz, they find out that Kitty is going to use a satellite in order to do this, but the mission is to find out where from. Eventually they find out that a fairground ride is where the satellite will be activated, and in the end the hero cats and dogs save the day, only to see the next mission coming up with the escape of Mr. Tinkles. Also starring Katt Williams as Seamus, Neil Patrick Harris as Lou, Michael Clarke Duncan as Sam, Joe Pantoliano as Peek, Sir Roger Moore as Tab Lazenby, Wallace Shawn as Calico, Rat Race's Paul Rodriguez as Crazy Carlito, Rugrats' Elizabeth Daily as Scrumptious / Patches / Catherine's Niece, Futurama's Phil LaMarr as Paws / Cat Spy Analyst, Scream's Roger Jackson as Inmate Fat Cat and Spirder-Man's J.K. Simmons as Gruff K-9. The voice casting works very well, Marsden making a likable dog hero, and Midler indeed nearly stealing the show as the devilishly raspy voiced villain cat, and the computer animation is certainly improved. I think besides these two attributes, what has improved is the story, taking a lot of ideas from James Bond, and of course spoofing the films, casting Moore as the feline M was a great idea, and there are also some actually really funny spoofs of The Silence of the Lambs, The Fly, The Terminator and Batman, so a much better part-animated comedy fantasy sequel. Worth watching!