PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Cats & Dogs (2001)

Cats & Dogs (2001)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD

Released 19-Mar-2002

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Dolby Digital Trailer-Train
Listing-Cast & Crew
Featurette-HBO First Look Special
Easter Egg-Concept Sketches
Easter Egg-Outtakes
DVD-ROM Extras
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 83:36
RSDL / Flipper RSDL Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Lawrence Guterman
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Jeff Goldblum
Elizabeth Perkins
Alexander Pollock
Case Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI $34.95 Music John Debney


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

   

    Cats & Dogs is a fun family film, and both I and my 3 year old giggled our way though this film. The special effects range from good to average but the target market is not really going to be distracted by this. To give credit, some of what is done is amazing, particularly the parts where the animals talk.

    I am surprised that this was not picketed at the box office by cat lovers from around the world - the cats are definitely the bad guys of this film. In particular, the evil genius is a cat and is very funny, the character being played right over-the-top. We also have evil attack ninja cats. Yes, I am serious!

    As the short documentary that accompanies this film points out, they used live animals, animatronics from Jim Hensen's puppet workshop and CGI. The live animal work is very good, and so is the puppet work, although in some places it does look like puppet work. The CGI modification of the live animals to enable them to speak is done very well. Some of the pure CGI work does stretch credulity sometimes, but this may be because they are portraying animals doing things that are a long way from their normal behaviour. This is of course the trap; when you create an alien creature you have some latitude as not many people have seen a real alien, whereas we interact with cats and dogs on a daily basis. This means we have very clear expectations of how cats and dogs act and move. The fact that they have come so close in this film is really an indication that they have done a very good job. It is possibly a little unfair to say that a cat doing kung-fu is not realistic as I have not personally seen one in training and they may very well look exactly right.

    If you can manage to make the leap and suspend disbelief, there is a lot of fun to be had with this film. It moves at a quick enough pace to keep an active 3 year old in his seat most of the time. Gather your kids around you, fire up the home theatre, relax back and enjoy.

    Our story revolves around the age-old battle between cats and dogs. In this version, the cats are working towards world domination and the only thing standing between the human race and slavery to the cats is man's best friend, the dog. There is a secret network of dog spies that are constantly at war with the cats, preventing them from achieving their aims. An eccentric scientist is working on a cure for humans that are allergic to dogs, and as this means that there will be more pet dogs, the cats do not like this idea at all. They attempt in many and varied ways to prevent the scientist from finishing his research.

    The scientist works from home and the family pet dog is the number one agent on the job protecting the scientist and his family. Unfortunately, he is catnapped and a replacement is sent in. Due to an unfortunate mix-up, a young puppy with no secret agent training at all ends up as the new family pet. The neighbour's dog and a few other dogs around the area are also part of the team protecting the family and they now have to work with the new puppy to block the cats' attempts.

    Our scientist is played by the ever-capable Jeff Goldblum. His wife is played by Elizabeth Perkins, and both have fun with their roles. The voices supplied by Sean Hayes (Will and Grace), Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, Michael Clarke Duncan, Joe Pantolino and Charlton Heston work extremely well, giving each character a very distinctive presence.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    Overall, this is a very nice transfer with only a couple of very minor problems preventing it being a reference quality transfer.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness is excellent throughout. The shadow detail is good and there is no low level noise.

    The colours are excellent with good saturation, accurate skin tones and no chroma noise.

    The only problem I saw with the transfer is a very small amount of pixelization. The scene at 13:37 has a large number of trees and bushes in the background and there is some pixelization on the leaves. The second occurrence that I saw was on the lady's face at 23:32. Both of these are very minor and should not be distracting. There is no aliasing or telecine wobble, though there are a couple of scenes with camera wobble. The film master is very good with no grain and no visible flecks or other problems.

    The English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are pretty accurate to what is being said. The audio descriptions were a little sparse. It is interesting to note that all the special features also have subtitles available.

    This is a dual layered disc and I was not able to locate the layer change, so perhaps it separates the transfer from the extras.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    In keeping with the film, this is a fun soundtrack with the full capabilities of the 5.1 format utilized.

   There is only one soundtrack which an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track.

    There are no problems with the dialogue quality with all characters being easy to understand. Audio sync was correct for the human characters and quite well done for our furry characters.

    The music is in keeping with the film being both a comedy and a spy thriller. While I don't see a rush for the CD of the soundtrack, it does work very well with the on-screen action.

    The surrounds are in use pretty much the entire time both for music and ambience with some very good use made of the discrete rears. Some of the best one-liners come in from the surrounds in the dog headquarters.

    The subwoofer gets a pretty good workout as well. The LFE indicator was jumping at the rocket car launch as well as in many other scenes.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    Not a bad selection of extras - there is something here for the kids as well as the adults.

Menu

    A very clever animated menu that is built around the theme of the movie. The first selection that you must make is whether you support the cats or the dogs. The selection will either take you to a cat-themed menu or a dog-themed menu. The major selection options are the same for the two menus but the hidden features are different. You can switch between the dog and cat menu from the scene selection menu. The menus are accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Cast and Crew

    This is simply two text pages that list the cast and crew.

Featurette: HBO First Look Special

    A short feature on the making of the movie. This runs for 13:55 and has some interesting content at times but overall it is a little lacking. Presented at 1.33:1 and accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Storyboard Comparison

    Presented at 1.33:1 and accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, this is an interesting look at how the storyboard compares to the final film. Two 1.85:1 rectangles are shown on-screen. One contains the storyboard sketches, the other contains the scene from the movie. As the scene plays out, the storyboards change to keep in sync.

Featurette: Teaching A Dog New Tricks

    Running for 6:00 and accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, this feature is presented at 1.33:1 and covers the training of the animals involved in the film. There is some repeat material from the HBO special but I always find animal training fascinating.

Trailer

    Presented at 1.85:1 and 16x9 enhanced the trailer is accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack that has the surround flag set. It only runs for 1:06 but presents the film quite well, though I thought that it revealed a little too much.

Hidden Features

    There are four hidden features, though they are not particularly well hidden. There are two in the dog menu and two in the cat menu, both in the same location on each menu but with different symbols.

Hidden Feature: The Dog Bone Message Cylinder

    This is on the first of the two extras menus on the dog menu. There are two text entries - the cast and the HBO Special. As you step down the menu entries, the third from the top is a message cylinder. When this is highlighted, you press Enter and are taken to 19 concept sketches presented at 1.33:1.

Hidden Feature: Dog Symbol

    On the second extras menu (press Continue from the first extras menu) there are three text entries and then a symbol for the dog secret agency. Step down to the symbol and you are taken to a short series of excerpts from the film that runs for 56 seconds - sort of a mini-trailer. It is presented at 1.85:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced and is accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Hidden Feature: Ninja Death Star

    In the same location as the message cylinder but on the cat menu there is a ninja death star (a spiked ball). Selecting this will take you to a quite humorous series of screen tests that the star cat did before landing the role in this film. They include films such as Apocalypse Meow and others. They are presented at 1.33:1 and are accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Running time is 1:38.

Hidden Feature: Evil Cat Empire Symbol

    In the same location as the Dog symbol, selecting this takes you to a scene from the film but with a very different soundtrack. Our evil cat leader expounds on the quality of films that Hollywood is producing at the moment. Presented at 1.85:1 and not 16x9 enhanced it is accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. This runs for 1:18.

DVD-ROM Content

    This disc uses the Interactual software. If it has not been loaded on your computer by a previous disc then it will be loaded by this disc. The alternate ending is a QuickTime file so if you do not have an interpreter for Apple QuickTime files already loaded then the window that appears when you select this feature will have an link that can download this for you, the only problem being that this is a four megabyte download, probably not something you want to do on a 56k modem.

DVD-ROM: Screen Savers and Wallpaper

    Two of each, one for the cats and one for the dogs.

DVD-ROM: Secret Identity

    If you have a graphic file on your computer of your pet then you can use this feature to place your pet's head onto the body of one of the characters - you have the ability to resize and position the imported graphic. Once loaded and positioned, you can then create an identity tag for your pet with the option of entering text data such as your pet's name. Once completed, you can print and save the graphic to a JPEG file.

DVD-ROM: Picture Gallery

    15 pictures or drawings from the film.

DVD-ROM: Director's Alternate Ending

    This is a QuickTime file that is encoded at 336x224 with colours listed as millions. The audio is stereo encoded at 44.1kHz, 16bits and 4:1 compression. An interesting alternative that implies that at one stage a sequel was in the offing.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

      The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

    The main difference here is the R4's lack of the audio commentary found on the R1 version. Reports from various R1 sites indicate that this is not too bad, giving us a Region 1 winner in this case.

Summary

    The kids will love this film, and a number of parents will also have a good time. The film is rated PG and I can't argue with this rating as there is some low level violence present. They also blow up a cat dummy, certainly not something you would see in a Disney film. In going back and looking for the layer change, I watched a fair portion of the film again and found to my surprise that there were quite a few background and subtle jokes that I had missed on the first viewing meaning that there may well be more replay value here than I at first thought.

    The video transfer is very good.

    The audio is excellent.

    There is a good selection of extras, but it is a pity about the missing commentary.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Terry McCracken (read my bio)
Monday, March 11, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDSkyworth 1050p progressive scan, using RGB output
DisplaySony 1252Q CRT Projector, 254cm custom built 1.0 gain screen. Calibrated with AVIA Guide To Home Theatre. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with AVIA Guide To Home Theatre.
AmplificationSony STR-DB1070
SpeakersB&W DM305 (mains); CC3 (centre); S100 (surrounds); custom Adire Audio Tempest with Redgum plate amp (subwoofer)

Other Reviews
DVD Net - Amy F
region4dvd.net - Darren R (read my bio (fun for the whole family))
The DVD Bits - Dean B
Jeff K's Australian DVD Info Site - Jeff K
DVDAnswers - Pete R
Dark Horizons - Garth F
Web Wombat - James A