Follow @screenit

"CATS & DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE" (2010) (voices of James Marsden, Nick Nolte) (PG) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild Minor Heavy Moderate Moderate Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Heavy Mild Heavy Minor None Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Minor None Moderate Moderate Moderate QUICK TAKE: Comedy/Action: Dog spies team up with a feline secret agent to thwart an evil cat from emitting a worldwide signal that will drive canines mad. PLOT: Diggs (voice of JAMES MARSDEN) is the hotshot canine partner of Shane (CHRIS O'DONNELL), a San Francisco cop. When Diggs' undisciplined heroics result in a car dealership being blown up, Shane is forced to put Diggs in a kennel where he is recruited by an elite secret society of dog spies and partnered with the gruff Butch (voice of NICK NOLTE). Their mission is to stop the evil Kitty Galore (voice of BETTE MIDLER), who has threatened to use the Earth's satellites to relay a signal around the world that will drive dogs mad and attack their owners. With mankind turned against man's best friend, cats will once again rule the Earth. Eventually, the dogs form an uneasy alliance with a competing spy organization consisting entirely of cats led by Tab Lazenby (voice of ROGER MOORE) and Catherine (CHRISTINA APPLEGATE). Together, they team with a wisecracking pigeon (voice of Katt Williams); try to pick the brain of the jailed criminal mastermind, Mr. Tinkles (voice of SEAN HAYES); and finally do battle with Kitty Galore, who is hiding as the feline sidekick of Chuck (JACK McBRAYER), a carnival magician. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Absolutely. Kids, especially those under 12, will be drawn to the spy hijinks featuring real and CGI cats and dogs. Older teens who were young children when the first movie came out in 2001 may have interest for nostalgic reasons. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG For animal action and humor. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: CHRIS O'DONNELL plays a good-hearted San Francisco cop who is genuinely sad when he is forced to send his canine partner back to the kennel when the dog screws up an arrest. DIGGS is the disgraced police dog who takes chances and has a problem with authority and taking orders. He is recruited into a super-secret canine society of spies who are locked in eternal battle with cats. BUTCH is the grizzled, no-nonsense partner who is paired with Diggs to stop an evil cat's plans to take over the world. KITTY GALORE is the villainess who wants to use a super-powerful satellite signal that will cause all dogs worldwide to go mad and attack their owners. Years earlier, she fell into a vat of hair removal cream and lost all of her fur. Repulsed, her owners threw her out into the snow, making her a bitter cat. JACK McBRAYER plays a carnival magician who is the owner of Kitty Galore and tries to incorporate her into his magic act. He is completely unaware that she is highly intelligent and scheming to take over the world. CATHERINE is a secret-agent cat who comes to help Butch and Diggs stop Kitty Galore. She is an efficient agent, but her Achilles heel is her fear of water. SEAMUS is a wisecracking pigeon who has information on Kitty Galore that can help Butch, Diggs, and Catherine stop her. The problem is, he literally has a "bird brain" and is not very smart. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this drama that's been rated PG. There is no profanity, but a number of colorful phrases and putdowns are uttered throughout. Violence is of the cartoonish variety, mostly dogs and cats tussling with one another. One man gets bitten on his clothed buttocks, but there is no blood. The film does contain numerous sequences with animals seemingly in peril. Some of these scenes and moments could be unsettling and/or suspenseful for the youngest viewers. Bad attitudes are present, as is some potentially imitative behavior and various thematic elements. Catnip is referred to as a sort of recreational drug for cats, while a little bit of crude humor is present. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, the film is being shown in 3-D at many theaters nationwide and there are numerous sequences of cats and dogs in flying contraptions and scenes of dogs traveling in a secret subway system built just for them at very high rates of speed that may prove dizzying or otherwise unsettling. The film includes a short Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoon. In it, the Road Runner is innocently eating a pile of seeds laid out for him on a two lane desert road. Above him is a bridge on which is Wile E. Coyote, who has tied himself to a bungee cord. The Coyote bungee-jumps off the bridge but comes up just short of being able to nab the Road Runner. The cord recoils and the Coyote goes flying back upwards. When he comes back down, he then gets hit by vehicle after vehicle after vehicle (mostly trucks) until he is tied around the bridge. Later, he gives chase to the Road Runner still tied to the cord and it stretches for an absurd distance before snapping him back. It ends with the Coyote being propelled right into the camera, "hitting" the lens. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE One sequence takes place in the house of an elderly woman whose multiple cats are "high" on catnip. The various felines behave like they are '60s-era stoners. Some giggle repeatedly, others marvel at a cat clock on the wall, others lie around and talk very slowly, etc. BLOOD/GORE Diggs feels queasy and says he is going to barf during a super-fast ride down a secret subway-like tunnel with Butch. He doesn't vomit, though. Diggs is briefly shown urinating near some bushes, causing Butch to delay entering a structure where they believe an informant is. Diggs has a splinter in his paw. There's no blood, but you do see the splinter and you do see Catherine pull it out. To hide their intelligence from a human boy, Butch and Diggs twice sniff each other's behinds. Catherine takes notice and scoffs, "Why is butt-sniffing always your fallback position?" Diggs, in turn, marvels, "All that butt-sniffing has paid off!" Mr. Tinkles briefly chokes on a hairball. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Kitty Galore locks a goodhearted man who believed she was a stray puppy out in the cold and takes pictures of some satellite blueprints in his office. A disgruntled man threatens to blow up a car dealership if his demands are not met. A police commander refers to the obviously disturbed man as both a "nutcase" and a "wacko." Other police dogs laugh at Diggs and briefly make fun of him for botching his assignment at the dealership. When Diggs fails at his job as a police dog, his commander orders him caged in a kennel and banned from future police work. One dog looks at another dog and says, "Looks like someone's been playing fetch with the ugly stick." When told he is assigned to go catch a bird who is one of Kitty Galore's crew, Diggs asks for "some bread, a net, and a hammer," implying he will kill the bird. Diggs calls Butch's backpack a "girlie fanny pack." Before becoming allies, Diggs use a water bottle to squirt the face of Catherine to try and get information. In a sense, he's water-torturing her. Diggs, Nathan, Catherine, and Seamus break into a house. To get information, Catherine threatens a cat that she will have Butch and Diggs "rip you apart" if the cat doesn't talk. To carry out her dastardly plan -- to use the Earth's satellites to relay a signal around the world that will drive dogs mad and attack their owners -- it is mentioned that Kitty Galore has stolen technology directly from NASA and Bill Gates. Catherine puts sunglasses on a sleeping, elderly man so Butch or Diggs can masquerade as his seeing eye dog. Seamus says a cat should be "smacked around." Kitty Galore's henchcat tries to eat her pet mouse. Catherine and Diggs dress up and masquerade as a human (they fashion a sort of life-size human dummy on a motorcycle) with limited movement. As such, they can only throw change at a carnival attendant when he asks for admission money. An ugly cat is told that not even his mother could love his face. Catherine and Diggs are captured by Kitty Galore, tied up, hung over a tank of water, and threatened with drowning. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence" may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. Some kids may be a little freaked out at an opening sequence (that is shown in the trailer and some commercials) of a puppy who unzips her fur to reveal that she is really the villainess cat, Kitty Galore. Kitty Galore bears her claws at several points in the film for dramatic effect. Some kids might be a bit scared when she does so. People's lives are threatened when a disgruntled man threatens to blow up a car dealership if his demands are not met. Diggs, Butch, Catherine, and Seamus become trapped in a laundry room that has been rigged to fill with cat litter and suffocate them. An elderly lady eventually opens the door, freeing the trapped animals. Catherine is afraid of water and has to eventually overcome that phobia. It's played for comic effect, but some little ones may be a bit scared by Mr. Tinkles in Hannibal Lecter-like restraints and a mask. They may also be scared when Butch, Diggs, Catherine, and Seamus walk down the dingy prison hallway (also a nod to "Silence of the Lambs") and see the other inmates. There's one tough cat with a Dog Killah tattoo, another in heavy chains, and so forth. Diggs hangs precariously over the edge of a boat in motion. Diggs and Catherine are threatened with drowning, but Catherine manages to free them. A mean cat jumps suddenly into view during the climactic fight atop a carnival swing ride that is doubling as Kitty Galore's satellite dish. He then transforms into a robot cat that attacks Diggs and Catherine. Chuck hangs high over a carnival from a swing ride. GUNS/WEAPONS Chuck uses swords as part of a new trick he wants to incorporate into his magic act. He tells Kitty Galore that he will put her in a box and stick the long knives through it, but she will be unharmed. He demonstrates first on a stuffed animal. When he opens the box, though, the swords have gone through the plush toy. Two Scottish assassin cats are armed with everything from laser guns to grenade-like explosives that resemble balls of twine. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "We got a first-class nutcase," "That wacko," "Do you think I'm stupid?" "Close your mouth," "This is freakin' me out," "Who are you going to find dumb enough to do that?" "Looks like someone's been playing fetch with the ugly stick," "Word up, dog," "Jeez!" "That makes the hair on my butt stand up," "All that butt-sniffing has paid off," "Why is butt-sniffing your fallback position?" "Those drool-bag dogs," "What's with the girlie fanny pack?" "I'd rather have worms," "Fleabag," "Agent Licks-a-Lot," "Go play in traffic!" "Who's your daddy?" "You fools!" "Kick him in the bagpipes," "Not even a mother can love that face," "Big baby," "You're a grade-A doofus," "I am no longer the dumbest animal in the room," "Scratch that disc, and I'll scratch you!" and "Let's lick some tail!" Some kids may try and pretend they are the dogs and/or cats of this film and imitate such animal behavior as sniffing behinds, licking hands/paws, etc. and/or the action that also occurs. Throughout the movie, Kitty Galore keeps a live mouse as a pet. She treats the rodent as her own personal plaything, throwing him up in the air repeatedly; squeezing him; and, at one point, pounding on his head thinking that he is a computer mouse. Friedrich lies to his boss over the phone. Shane drives up to a crime scene at an excessive high rate of speed, screeching his tires. Shane and Diggs are both shown chewing toothpicks. A dog is shown riding his skateboard through the canine spy agency's headquarters. Other dog employees are also shown goofing off. Before becoming allies, Diggs use a water bottle to squirt the face of Catherine to try and get information. In a sense, he's water-torturing her. Diggs, Nathan, Catherine, and Seamus break into a house. A feline cohort of Kitty Galore's locks Butch, Seamus, Diggs, and Catherine in a laundry room that is rigged to fill with cat litter and suffocate them. An imprisoned cat has a "Dog Killah" tattoo. Catherine puts sunglasses on a sleeping, elderly man so Butch or Diggs can masquerade as his seeing eye dog. Seamus says a cat should be "smacked around." During a fight with a Scottish assassin cat, Seamus implores Butch or Diggs to "kick him in the bagpipes." Diggs and Catherine sneak into a carnival in disguise (although they do pay the admission fee). Diggs and Catherine scale a very tall carnival ride via grappling hook and rope to try and stop Kitty Galore, who is on top. JUMP SCENES A mean cat jumps suddenly into view during the climactic fight atop a carnival swing ride that is doubling as Kitty Galore's satellite dish. He then transforms into a robot that attacks Diggs and Catherine, but both escape. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A heavy amount of tense, overplayed, action-oriented music occurs throughout the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) A snippet of George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" plays when Shane and Diggs are first seen in the movie. Pink's "Get the Party Started" plays over the Bond-style open credits (but the word "ass" - usually heard in the song -- is omitted in this version). PROFANITY None. SEX/NUDITY In a laundry room, a pair of women's underpants falls on Diggs' head. During a fight with a Scottish assassin cat, Seamus implores Butch or Diggs to "kick him in the bagpipes." SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES Shane is dissuaded from adopting Diggs as a pet because of his newborn baby. He is forced to put him in a kennel, but swears he will do whatever he can to eventually get him out. Diggs recalls being dropped off by his original owner at a kennel when he was puppy. The owner told him he would come back for him, but he never did. After Kitty Galore has her accident and is rendered hairless, her family is repulsed and throws her out in the cold on Christmas. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Pet adoption and the plight of unwanted animals. The effects of catnip. Are you a cat person or a dog person? Animal intelligence -- i.e. what's real, what's pretend? Fear of water. VIOLENCE Diggs bites down on the clothed buttocks of a man (no blood is drawn) who has threatened to blow up a car dealership, causing the detonator to fly up in the air. Diggs catches it in mid-air, but inadvertently actives the explosives. No one is killed, though. Throughout the movie, Kitty Galore keeps a live mouse as a pet. She treats the rodent as her own personal plaything, throwing him up in the air repeatedly; squeezing him; and, at one point, pounding on his head thinking that he is a computer mouse. Catherine claws "I Love Cats" into Diggs' fur. Butch and Diggs vie with Catherine in their own respective flying contraptions to chase Seamus across the skies of San Francisco, crashing into billboards and eventually a public park -- Seamus crashes hard into a street sign -- as each tries to capture the bird for their respective organizations. Before becoming allies, Diggs use a water bottle to squirt the face of Catherine to try and get information. In a sense, he's water-torturing her. A flashback sequence shows Kitty Galore's origins. It's similar to the Joker's in Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" in that she falls hard into a vat of hair removal cream. One hairless paw emerges from the goo to form a fist. To get information, Catherine threatens a cat that she will have Butch and Diggs "rip you apart" if the cat doesn't talk. A feline cohort of Kitty Galore's locks Butch, Seamus, Diggs, and Catherine in a laundry room that is rigged to fill with cat litter and suffocate them. Just as the four are about to die, an elderly woman opens the door and the cat litter explodes out sending her flying several feet backwards and landing hard (but unscathed) on a hallway floor. Chuck uses swords as part of a new trick he wants to incorporate into his magic act. He tells Kitty Galore that he will put her in a box and stick the long knives through it, but she will be unharmed. He demonstrates first on a stuffed animal. When he opens the box, though, the swords have gone through the plush toy. Seamus says a cat should be "smacked around." When Kitty Galore's main henchcat tries to eat her pet mouse, Kitty pounces on the cat, jumps on his stomach, and forces him to spit the still-alive rodent out. Two Scottish assassin cats attack Diggs, Butch, Seamus, and Catherine on a ferry boat back from Alcatraz, using everything from a laser gun to a grenade-like explosive that resembles a ball of twine. Both start by firing guns that have grappling hooks on ropes, aiming for Catherine. Butch and Diggs block her, but get ensnared in the hooks that drag them across the boat's floor. They eventually get free. Catherine, meanwhile, uses a sleeping man's belt to ward off one of the assassins, who fights back with a belt-like weapon that has a squeak toy tied to the end of it. There is lots of tussling between the animals. At one point, a life raft inflates, hitting one of the cats. Another cat gets jettisoned high in the air and lands squarely on the life raft with the other cat. Diggs hits a man in a bear suit on the head with a two-by-four, knocking him out. A hologram shows a dog turning on his master after hearing Kitty Galore's satellite signal. Catherine and Diggs are captured by Kitty Galore, tied up, hung over a tank of water, and threatened with drowning. A mean cat jumps suddenly into view during the climactic fight atop a carnival swing ride that is doubling as Kitty Galore's satellite dish. He then transforms into a robot that attacks Diggs and Catherine, but both escape. Kitty Galore's pet mouse turns on her and propels the evil feline high into the air, off the top of the swing ride that had been doubling as a super-powerful satellite dish, where she lands in a cotton-candy machine that wraps her up in cotton candy. Chuck also comes flying off the ride, lands safely next to her, and proclaims it was all part of his act. Reviewed July 24, 2010 / Posted July 30, 2010

Other new and recent reviews include:

Privacy Statement and Terms of Use and Disclaimer
By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions.

All Rights Reserved,
©1996-2016 Screen It, Inc.