Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Release Date:
July 30, 2010
On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 96/190 |
Max Braden |
Sure, it's silly, but it's the kind of silly I can use as background entertainment. |
| 121/123 |
David Mumpower |
If you're out of diapers, you've already outgrown this movie. |
On July 4, 2001, a seemingly obscure family movie was released into theaters. While box office observers continued to obsess upon the major titles already in release including A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Fast and the Furious, Shrek and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, it slipped into cineplexes almost unnoticed. It wasn’t even considered to be the biggest debut of that day. The honor was supposed to go to Scary Movie 2, the sequel to a $277.0 million earner worldwide. But that title had its thunder stolen after a single day of reported box office. It managed only a second place finish while an unheralded Warner Bros. release finished in first place. Once Cats and Dogs made $9 million on its first day, people figured out what it was.
Telling the story of an epic conflict between, well, cats and dogs, the movie took the incorrect point of view that dogs are the superior pet. Please forgive this transgression for the duration of our discussion. What matters is that Cats & Dogs chose to make heroes out of puppies, particularly a beagle named Lou (voiced by Spider-Man himself, Tobey Maguire) who has a secret life. In addition to being the loving friend of the Brody family, he is also a secret agent for an elite canine organization named the World Dog Council. They seek to protect humanity from an evil feline army led by the sinister Mr. Tinkles. The malevolent white cat has stamped a ginormous DO NOT WANT! stamp on civilization, and he has unleashed an armada of ninja cats upon society. Their undefined but readily apparent goal is to haz all the world’s cheezburger. Clearly, Mr. Tinkles is the Basement Cat. In the end, Lou and his associates overcome Mr. Tinkles, ripping the LOL right out of that cat.
Cats & Dogs is a silly, juvenile story that is intended to be harmless family fun. Critics were on the fence about the childish fare. 54% of Rotten Tomatoes evaluators generously gave it a thumbs up, meaning it’s technically rotten but more people than not liked it. The only important number from the studio’s perspective is that Cats & Dogs earned $93.4 million domestically and $200.7 million worldwide against a budget of only $60 million. (David Mumpower/BOP)
Vital statistics for Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore |
| Main Cast |
Christina Applegate, Michael Clarke Duncan, Neil Patrick Harris |
| Supporting Cast |
Sean Hayes, James Marsden, Bette Midler, Nick Nolte, Joe Pantoliano, Katt Williams, Chris O'Donnell, Jack McBrayer, Fred Armisen, Paul Rodriguez |
| Director |
Brad Peyton |
| Screenwriter |
Ron J. Friedman, Steve Bencich |
| Distributor |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Official Site |
http://catsanddogsmovie.warnerbros.com/ |
| Rating |
PG |
|
Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture |
|
|
|
|
|
