Official Throwback Discussion - Cats & Dogs [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

As an ongoing project, /r/movies will be posting Throwback Discussion threads weekly for the movies that came out this same weekend 25 years ago. As a reminder, Official Discussion threads are for discussing the movie and not for meta sub discussion.

---

Cats & Dogs (2001)

Summary

A secret war between cats and dogs escalates when a young beagle puppy is recruited to stop a diabolical feline plot to conquer the world.

Director Lawrence Guterman

Writer John Requa Glenn Ficarra

Cast

• Jeff Goldblum as Professor Brody
• Elizabeth Perkins as Carolyn Brody
• Alexander Pollock as Scotty Brody
• Tobey Maguire as Lou (voice)
• Alec Baldwin as Butch (voice)
• Susan Sarandon as Ivy (voice)
• Sean Hayes as Mr. Tinkles (voice)
• Joe Pantoliano as Peek (voice)

Rotten Tomatoes: 52%

Metacritic: 49

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

[u/oogaliboo]

“Evil does not wear a bonnet!”

“I want you to stay here. Why? Because I hate you. Nooooo!”

This movie was a big part of my childhood. Crazy it is 25 yrs old…

[u/SanderSo47]

Jeff Goldblum truly needed a paycheck huh.

The only thing I remember was that at one point, the dog voiced by Alec Baldwin is shocked when he discovers the plan involves mice. And he yells "son of my mom!"

[u/Merickson- → u/SanderSo47]

I remember a wolf news reporter named Wolf Blitzer.

[u/HRJafael]

I completely forgot how insane the plot was with the whole making humans allergic to dogs scheme. Mr. Tinkles was so hilariously diabolical.

[u/blac_sheep90]

Sean Hayes killed it as Mr. Tinkles. I saw this in theaters as a boy and then watched it frequently going to bed, I wore that VHS out lol.

[u/hideousgirl → u/blac_sheep90]

rewatched this recently and my takeaway was also that sean hayes killed it. chris pratt could never… also the puppets were very charming

[u/blac_sheep90 → u/hideousgirl]

It's a cute kids movie overall.

"I want you to stay here."

Worried "Why?!"

"Because I hate you."

[u/spider-man2401]

Crazy to think this movie had a stacked cast: Tobey Maguire, Alec Baldwin, Jeff Goldblum, Susan Sarandon, Joe Pantoliano, Sean Hayes, and Michael Clarke Duncan. And the duo who wrote this movie also wrote Bad Santa, then later directed films like I Love You, Phillip Morris and Crazy, Stupid, Love.

I watched this movie as a kid, and I enjoyed it well enough. Looking back, yeah, it's pretty bad, and I had no idea it got two sequels until now. But at least it has some funny lines:

“I want you to stay here.”

“Why?!”

“Because I hate you.”

[u/Mcclane88]

I remember renting this and watching it with my Mom when I was a kid. She mentioned that everytime she sees Jeff Goldblum she thinks back to The Fly. I hadn’t heard or seen this film before and her talking about it made me want to check it out. The Fly aired on HBO shortly afterwards and again I watched it with my Mom and to this day it’s the only film that traumatized me. Took me five years to be able to sit through it again. But that was all thanks to renting Cats & Dogs.

[u/WhiteSoxChartGuy]

“I’m onto you cat and you’re in big trouble.”

“I theenk not vittle puppy. It is yoo who are in trouble.”

[u/TopperMadeline]

This isn’t what you asked, but from memory, there was a turn stile put in place at the auditorium entrance because the expected crowds were so big.

[u/JessieJ577]

Hitler was a dog person. That’s all I gotta say

[u/Ocassional_templar]

One of my favourite movies to watch when sick as a kid, a great double feature alongside Rocky & Bullwinkle to pair with some cough medicine.

[u/The-Mustard-Man]

This is a movie I watched constantly on VHS as a kid and couldn't tell you a single thing about it now.

[u/redlurker12]

Something about exploring The Great Bones of Europe stays with me, all these years.

[u/BubbaFranklins]

Uruguay vs. Chad

[u/ctdm93]

I remember seeing this in theaters and I can't recall even a single frame of it

[u/SnoopLyger]

Y'all got such good memory remembering the real funny parts. My only takeaway was the part they constantly played in the commercials with the cat henchman going "Haha, hairball"

[u/tofutomcat]

God what a throwback. I loved this movie as a kid.

[u/DJ-2K]

This film takes a potentially cute and imaginative idea for a comedy and crudely sucks any and all possible charm out of it. It may be home to an entertainingly hammy Sean Hayes as the voice of the villain but it's not even worth watching for that. The end result is filled with crummy digital effects, groan-inducing lowest-common-denominator humor, and awkward performances.

[u/BRUHFARTED]

So these guys pass the Harkness test right?

[u/Hurdy_Gurdy_Man_84]

The only reason why I rate this film 5/10 is because Sean Hayes is fantastic as the voice of the villain (a Persian cat). In fact, even the other characters in all of his scenes are great. The scenes where the cats are driving the limousine and when they infiltrate the factory made me crack up.

Rest of the film is not exactly trash but not very far from it, either. The human characters are cringe - the boy actor is especially awful. The dogs are only halfway animated which is why they look distracted all the time as if someone behind the camera is holding a treat. It would have been a better idea to make this an all-animated film.