Review: 'Cats and Dogs' sequel is for the birds

The closing credits of "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" are both the best and worst part about the movie.

On the plus side, there is grainy home video footage of real life cats and dogs at home and at play, which serves to remind how fun and cute the animals can be when they're not augmented with CGI effects.

On the other hand, you see a long list of human beings who actually spent time making "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore." To quote every dog ever, "woof."

This sequel comes nine years after "Cats & Dogs," a modest hit in 2001. No knowledge of the previous film is required for the sequel. It's a spy movie with talking cats and dogs. "Inception" it ain't.

A cat named Kitty Galore -- voiced by a shrill Bette Midler -- hatches an evil plan to take over the world. That's a bit much for even her fellow felines to handle, and a team of dogs and cats, along with an annoyingly chatty pigeon, put their differences aside and team up to thwart her plan. Lessons of inter-species tolerance ensue, as do jokes about butts.

Director Brad Peyton does a capable job with the film's 3-D effects, but the script -- from animal movie veterans Ron Friedman and Steve Bencich (they penned "Open Season" and "Chicken Little") -- is full of clunky, eye-rolling animal-isms.

"Work with cats? I'd rather have worms," one dog intones. Woof, indeed.

References to "Silence of the Lambs" are as stale as last week's dog food, and are way over the head of the film's target audience. The kitties and puppies are cute to look at, no doubt, but your average cat on YouTube is far more charming than anything in this kitty litter.

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