Warner Bros.
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Elizabeth Perkins, Alexander Pollock, Tobey Maguire, Sean Hayes
Directed by: Lawrence Guterman
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Lou is a beagle puppy (voiced by Tobey Maguire) adopted by the Brody family. Little does he know that the father, Professor Brody (Jeff Goldblum) is on the brink of finding a cure for man’s allergy to dogs, something which the cat world does not want, particularly one maniacal, power-hungry cat named Mr. Tinkles (voiced by Sean Hayes.) Unbeknownst to humans, a constant war is raging between cats and dogs, and both sides are well-equipped with all of the latest technological advancements.
Cinema Cats: There are a number of cats featured in this film, which when you break it down is pretty much a dog propaganda movie (since all of the dogs are good and all of the cats are bad.) The effects were actually achieved with a combined use of live action animal actors, CGI effects and complex robotic puppetry (created by Jim Henson Creatures Shop of Muppets fame.) For cat lovers the story seems hopelessly skewed, although to be fair the cats often have the upper hand on the dogs.
Bad Kitties: The villain, Mr. Tinkles, is a white Persian and the character is probably one of the most famous cat characters in cinema history, although he is mostly a comedic villain since things rarely seem to go his way. As with most villains he has a clueless sidekick named Calico (who isn’t actually a calico.)
Also notable is “The Russian” which is an adorable Russian Blue kitten who, in reality, is a ruthlessly trained agent. While the film was quite successful, spawning a sequel, it does include some things which could be considered in poor taste (the scenes involving Mr. Tinkles’ comatose owner are particularly disturbing.)
Final Mewsings: Cats don’t have to fight to take over the world; they already own it.
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