Cats & Dogs Blu-Ray Review

By • July 31, 2010

Capitalizing on the sequel release, Cats & Dogs hits on Blu-Ray, and the family-friendly lark looks better than ever… to children of the right ages.

Putting together a fairly form-standard spy adventure, only pitting the secret organizations of cats and dogs against one another, the film’s talking (and otherwise CGI cutesified) animals hooked younger audiences. Helping to kick off a wave of animal-centric CGI entities, Cats & Dogs fuses so many stereotypes of child appeal that it was one of the safest bets Hollywood managed in the last decade.

They’re cunning. They’re stealthy. They’re waging a top-secret, ultra-high-tech struggle for global domination right under our noses. They’re…Cats & Dogs! Witness this epic “tail” of what happens when an eccentric professor (Jeff Goldblum) makes a discovery that could tip the age-old balance of pet power.

Now an inexperienced young beagle pup (voiced by Tobey Maguire) will undertake the ultimate mission impawsible: saving humankind from total catastrophe! Voices of Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, Jon Lovitz, Charlton Heston and Sean Hayes are also featured.

When all is said and done, the cute puppy caught up in a world of animal politics and fiendish plots makes for more fun than most might expect, and solid (somewhat clever) entertainment. though it lacks the scope to truly endear it to older audiences, as has become the industry standard, I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing.

It’s hard to know how to credit the decision-making abilities of such a film, but several of the its treasures are exactly those points that probably stand out as rather stupid to adults. The furious flinging and bounding of cats with huge CGI eyes (and dogs wearing headphones and so forth), while inherently off-putting to the “grown” sensibility, earns its charm and laughs from the younger crowd as a direct result of its stupidity. At some point it is foolish and fruitless to judge when you’re selling smiles.

The Blu-Ray release comes with quite a list of bonuses, and looks wonderful, though one wonders how necessary it is to get the sharpest possible picture here.

You get a commentary track with Director Lawrence Guterman, Producer Chris DeFaria, and Production Designer James Bissell, and while actually a fairly interesting effort, I get the impression it is one of the more wasted commentaries you will find. Personally, I could listen to most anyone talk about creating most any film, but I’m not sure the target market for this film is rushing home to experience anyone’s commentary on it. also of note, as will be witnessed in the featurettes, there is a distinct air of being a little too serious among the film’s creators.

HBO First look: The Making of Cats & Dogs is a feature that is cropping up more and more frequently on DVD releases, and I’m beginning to find it a double-edged sword. The behind-the-scenes looks are usually interesting, and there is usually a good bit of interview, but I’m starting to view it as one less effort at something better, because this easy notch on the bonus belt is so easy to add.

You also get four other featurettes: Teaching a new Dog new Tricks, Mr. Tinkles’ Audition Tape, Dogs Rule, and Mr. Tinkles’ Speech.

They are all pretty much exactly what you expect from the title, with a lot of focus on the difficulties created by the film’s concept. Putting together the live dog’s possibilities with the puppet dog and the CGI dog is an oft-mined talking point. If “mr. Tinkles” is in the title, there is a bit more fun going on.

You also get storyboard comparisons, and concept sketches. Depending on your tastes, these might be among the more interesting bonuses.

Overall, this is an above-average release, and though I still feel it is somewhat worth joking about, the HD experience of the film has its positives. It’s a fun and frantic movie that has clearly proven its appeal to the appropriate demographic, even if I doubt it is anything most parents will sit through (especially more than once).

The bonuses are fine enough in general terms, but I would have liked to see more in the wild and wacky category in order to add some significant value to those who will be watching it.