Warner Bros. presents a film directed by Lawrence Guterman. Written by John Reua and Glenn Ficarra. Running time: 87 minutes. PG (for animal action and humor).
Cats and Dogs has managed to pit cat-loving critics against dog-loving ones. Many are not reviewing the movie so much as reviewing the animals. Cats and Dogs, while it is a diverting, often clever piece of summer entertainment, writes A.O. Scott in the New York Times, is also a work of unabashed pro-canine propaganda in which those slobbery, servile Frisbee catchers are idealized as noble and selfless champions of all that is decent, while the proud tribe of the tiger is slandered as a gang of duplicitous would-be dictators bent on world domination. Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News observes: Cats and Dogs equates dogs with truth, justice and the American way. Cats climb trees, so they can look down on you. They slink around at night when your eyes are closed. They beg for food, then walk away as if you were trying to poison them. They wait for you to leave your best jacket unattended, then shed on it and grind it in. Jonathan Foreman in the New York Post calls the film disappointingly flat, but adds: Perhaps the film's only saving grace is that its heart is in the right place: Appropriately, given their species' long history of loyalty to man, the dogs are the good guys in Cats & Dogs. On the other hand, Rita Kempley shows her claws: The premise is tragically flawed and politically incorrect. In fact, it is blatantly cat-ist. Kempley apparently has a lot of company. In conjunction with the opening of the movie, USA Today conducted a reader poll to determine which pet is more popular and found cats leading by a whisker. (Final vote: Cats 196; Dogs 187.)