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Fido and feline join forces, save the day in 'Cats & Dogs' sequel

It's the dog days of summer. And the cat days. And talking pigeon days, too. In Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, a belated and entirely uncalled-for sequel to the 2001 kid comedy, canines and felines (or their animatronic or CG doubles) move their mouths while Christina Applegate, James Marsden, Bette Midler, and Nick Nolte deliver juvenile James Bond parody babble. Parents in a masochistic mood can compound the headache-inducing experience by paying extra for the 3-D version.

"Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore."
"Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore."Read more

It's the dog days of summer. And the cat days. And talking pigeon days, too.

In Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, a belated and entirely uncalled-for sequel to the 2001 kid comedy, canines and felines (or their animatronic or CG doubles) move their mouths while Christina Applegate, James Marsden, Bette Midler, and Nick Nolte deliver juvenile James Bond parody babble. Parents in a masochistic mood can compound the headache-inducing experience by paying extra for the 3-D version.

It should be noted that in Salt, Angelina Jolie goes out of her way to ensure the safety of her wee shaggy terrier before running off to deal with the CIA, the Russians, and the threat of global nuclear annihilation. But Cats & Dogs: etcetera would have us believe that it's the pooches and pusses who are the real spies of the world - engaged in high-tech skulduggery, deploying rocket packs and Google search engines, to keep mankind safe.

Or to destroy mankind, if you're the titular villainess. Kitty Galore (a campy-voiced Midler) is a wrinkly, hairless cat with a harebrained scheme to rule the world by hijacking a satellite and unleashing a high-pitched frequency that will drive dogs mad and make them turn on their owners. To thwart her plans, an uneasy alliance between MEOWS, the feline spy org, and DOG, its canine counterpart, is formed. (If these are real acronyms, I missed 'em.) Catherine (Applegate) is the head cat. Butch (Nolte) and Diggs (Marsden) are the two shepherds - Anatolian and German - assigned to the case. But Diggs has a bad case of low self-esteem. As Cats & Dogs: and so on opens, he's been cut from the San Francisco Police Department for botching a hostage rescue. His human partner, played by Chris O'Donnell (yes, the one-time Robin opposite George Clooney's Batman), reluctantly sends Diggs to the kennel. And so, for Diggs, the movie is about redemption.

What Hollywood sequel isn't?

And then there are Seamus, the yappy pigeon (comedian Katt Williams) and Scrumptious (Elizabeth Daily), a verbose mouse held captive by Galore. In Cats & Dogs: ya-da-ya-da, interspecies interaction is through the roof!

With its giant computer-equipped control centers, motorcycles, secret weapon dog collars, and pet carrier tanks, Cats & Dogs boasts hardware and gadgetry that would serve Agent 007 well - if he was a Jack Russell, and he was doing the slapped-together shtick of a Spy Kids knockoff.

If there are moments that aspire to the smart satire of the Austin Powers franchise, they're fleeting. It's hard to read nuance and irony in the mug of a beagle, or a fluffy white kitty, no matter how hard the trained pets, puppeteers, and CG animators try.EndText