Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
(G), 160 mins 3/5

If you’re stuck with a few hours up your sleeve these school holidays, then the adventures of the canines, felines and friends in the Cats And Dogs sequel will get you through with more giggles than tears.

I know this because we were surrounded by littlies whose amusement with the talking animals was at an all-time shrieking high.

The Revenge of Kitty Galore is squarely aimed at the kiddy crowd with not a lot to offer the grown-ups except a couple of hours of mindless peace as the antics of a crime-busting quartet get stuck into stopping the evil plan of the star of the show.

Kitty Galore, a slippery sphinx with a magician for a human master, is out to turn all the dogs of this world into “mad dogs” – a plan that would see them all put in dreaded kennels.

With the help of star voices such as Nick Nolte, Christina Applegate, James Marsden and Katt Williams, the unlikely team has just hours to stop her.

Diggs, an unwanted police dog, Butch, the wily veteran, a pigeon called Seamus and a cat called Catherine track down Galore (Bette Midler) by working together and facing their fears.

Adults be warned not to look too far into the storyline – there’s simply no explanation for how the animals take their collars off and then have them on again in the next scene.

Let alone how they manage to find jetpacks to help with their plan.

The plot may be slight but it’s cute as can be and compelling to kids.

And who can ask for more than that in the school holidays?

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The war between felines and canines continues on Blu-ray this November.

Warner Brothers will be bringing the family film ‘Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore‘ starring James Marsden, Nick Nolte, Christina Applegate, Katt Williams, and Bette Midler to high-definition on November 16.

The release will be timed to coincide with Warner’s ‘Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore – 3D‘ available on the same date.

Specs have yet to be revealed, but supplements include: Coyote Falls: new Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoon, Sneak peek of the upcoming Yogi Bear theatrical film, Dog Dishing: Tails from the Bark Side of Hollywood, The Best of the Best Cat vs Dog Animated Showdowns, and Meow-Takes: Outtakes and Gag Reel.

You can find the latest specs for ‘Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore’ linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it’s indexed under November 16.

See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.

Discs mentioned in this article: (Click for specs and reviews)

Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (Blu-ray)

Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore – 3D (Blu-ray)

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LOS ANGELES — James Marsden usually has all the actor’s tools in place for a performance — eyes, body language, facial expression and voice — but for “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,” he was only working with sound. Despite that limitation, Marsden said the process has its strong points.

“You can just sort of roll out of bed,” Marsden said during a press day at Los Angeles’ InterContinental Hotel. “Vanity gets set aside. You really don’t have to worry about going through the works. I mean, I’d be lying to you if I told you that wasn’t a part of it. That’s definitely one of the fun elements of it, is that you get to go and really focus on one tool: your vocal performance. I don’t know, voice work specifically, usually it’s not that big of a time commitment. You can go in for a couple of days or a couple of months here and there and just go in and play. I like being able to go in and just play.”

And that aspect holds a lot of sway with Marsden, 36, who was raised in Oklahoma City and graduated from Putnam City North High School in 1991. To record the lead part of Diggs, a German shepherd who works with a team of high-tech dogs and cats to defeat international arch-villain Kitty Galore, Marsden was able to do multiple takes and improvise lines with director Brad Peyton, finding just the right delivery before sending it on to the animators on the 3-D adventure.

“You don’t get that sort of safety net a lot of the time when you’re working on a film set,” Marsden said. “It’s about, ‘We need the shot before lunch. We need this. The lighting setup’s got to be this.’ It’s all you when you go in and give a vocal performance. And there’s a playful element to that that I like and would love to continue doing voice work.”

Because so much was being tailored to Marsden’s vocal performance, much of the actual work was like working blind. There were not always visual cues on the screen, so he relied on descriptions of the scene as he recorded his parts.

And in that environment, Peyton was Marsden’s seeing-eye dog.

“For this type of movie, you’re in a dark room with a microphone sitting in front of you and not a lot of imagery to go along,” he said. “We just had Brad, the director, saying, ‘Say that again, but remember that what you’re yelling at — that you can’t see right now — is actually 50 meters ahead of you, so you need to be a little louder.’ You put a lot of trust into Brad, and he is the guide. It was unlike any experience I’ve ever … experienced before, and it was very gratifying to see the final picture of all these puzzle pieces coming together. It’s great. You don’t always have that luxury on film sets to be able to play and go here and there. You’re not burning film. You’re just burning time in the studio, I guess.”

Since beginning his professional acting career in 1993, Marsden has amassed a wide range of roles, including his performances as Cyclops in the “X-Men” films, Corny Collins in “Hairspray” and Prince Edward in “Enchanted.” In the next year, Marsden will be seen in “Hop,” an Easter-themed comedy with Russell Brand, as well as the upcoming remake of Sam Peckinpah’s “Straw Dogs.” And Disney has given the go-ahead for an “Enchanted” sequel but has yet to announce the full cast.

While “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” is aimed at a young audience, Marsden said his 9-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter have become used to seeing their father in movies. But when Marsden’s son first saw his father on-screen several years ago, it took some adjustment.

“My son, when he was that age, was sort of freaked out by it,” Marsden said. “When he saw me in ‘X-Men,’ well, first of all he probably shouldn’t have been watching that. I showed him my scenes, and I later realized just the concept of seeing me in person and then seeing me on-screen. Then he grew up and sort of got into it a little bit. Now, he’s sort of over it. It’s like, now I’m sort of this dorky dad in the movies or whatever. But my daughter is getting a kick out of it now. So, it’s one of the reasons why I like doing these types of films, so that I can be a part of something that I can enjoy with my kids.”

Maybe you have pets and wonder what they are saying but you don’t get to speak for them. James Marsden, Bette Midler and Christina Applegate got that chance in the new action adventure Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.

You might have seen the original film Cats and Dogs on video or DVD. It has taken nine years and much more sophisticated computer abilities and advances in puppetry to bring us to that film’s sequel.

We were with the cast of the movie (the real Cats and Dogs) as well as the humans who speak for them recently in Beverly Hills and asked the human actors the scoop on doing voice work in a talking animal movie, personal pets and even fave childhood toys.

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“Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” is a clever, funny movie that will entertain kids and adults.

I KNOW. I was as surprised as anyone. The idea of adorable animals (well, Kitty herself is pretty ugly) “acting” out a movie sounds as dumb as pretty much every other movie that fits that description.

Except that this time, thanks to a script with enough funny references to other films and a few homegrown laughs of its own, it works, at times pretty well. It’s like a James Bond movie acted out by house pets (the title is a Bond reference; kids, ask your parents), and it’s better than the Timothy Dalton ones.

Having Roger Moore on hand as the voice of a cat only makes it all the better.

Granted, it’s not a “Toy Story” movie, and it’s not “Inception.” But the sequel to the 2001 “Cats & Dogs” is a good-enough movie to hold the attention of both your children and you, and as anyone who frequents children’s movies knows, that’s gold.

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Things have really gone to the dogs this summer. And the cats of course! In the new movie Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, a team of furry friends pull double duty to save the world.

On The Red Carpet’s Chi-Lan Lieu caught up with stars Christina Applegate, James Marsden, and Chris O’Donnell at the red carpet premiere, to talk about the four-legged film.

“I think this movie separates itself from some of the others, cause it takes on this James Bond theme,” said Marsden. “And you gotta get a kick out of the idea that our pets are the ones out there saving the world.”

“Kids can watch it and think ‘Oh My God is my cat or my dog have this covert operation when I’m not looking?’ You really get into that,” laughed Applegate. “When I came home, even though I’m a rational human being, I for one second looked at both my cat and my dog and was like, ‘what do you guys do when I’m not here? What is it?’”“I think the special effects are just incredible,” said O’Donnell. “It’s a little bit disconcerting when you watch it, because these dogs and cats really look like they’re talking. I mean the technology has gotten that good. This is not them putting peanut butter in the horse’s mouth to make him start yapping its gums or something. It’s pretty unbelievable.”

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore claws into theatres July 30.

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Warner Bros. presents James Marsden (The “X-Men” trilogy) and Chris O’Donnell (“Batman and Robin”) in “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,” a comedy in 3D that blends live action with state-of-the-art puppetry and computer animation.

In the film, “Kitty Galore,” formerly an agent for cat spy organization MEOWS, has gone rogue and hatched a diabolical plan to not only bring her canine enemies to heel, but take down her former kitty comrades and make the world her scratching post. Faced with this unprecedented threat, cats and dogs will be forced to join forces for the first time in history in an unlikely alliance to save themselves—and their humans.

Though Marsden and O’Donnell share the screen, director Brad Peyton explains, “they rarely got a chance to interact in person, but even so, their work came together in a way that created its own chemistry and in that sense they truly were a partnership.”

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The ingenious ‘Cats & Dogs’ are back on the big screen, and this time Kitty Galore is getting revenge! ET is with Christina Applegate, James Marsden and Bette Midler, who are starring in the live-action/CGI family spy adventure!

“The past couple of years I’ve wanted to do things that I can, in my repertoire, show to my goddaughter and my future children,” Christina explains of why she wanted to do the film.

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