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WARNER

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Scott Bindley
Cast:
Melissa Rauch, Max Greenfield, George Lopez
Writing Credits:
Sean McNamara

Synopsis:
A supervillain threatens the peace between cats and dogs.

MPAA:
Rated PG

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Spanish Dolby 2.0
French Dolby 5.1
Danish Dolby 5.1
Finnish Dolby 5.1
Norwegian Dolby 5.1
Swedish Dolby 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French
Danish
Finnish
Norwegian
Swedish
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
Spanish
Danish
Finnish
Norwegian
Swedish

Runtime: 84 min.
Price: $24.98
Release Date: 10/13/2020

Bonus:
• “Animal Charades” Featurette
• ”Cast Reveals All” Featurette
• Gag Reel
• Previews
• DVD Copy


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
-LG OLED65C6P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV
-Marantz SR7010 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Surround Receiver
-Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player
-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer


RELATED REVIEWS


Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite! [Blu-Ray] (2020)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (October 14, 2018)

Back in 2001, Cats & Dogs became a modest hit. Sure, $200 million worldwide wasn’t a tremendous total even then, but given the movie’s $60 million budget – and probable popularity on home video – the flick clearly turned a nice profit.

Surprisingly, fans needed to wait nine years for a sequel, and 2010’s Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore appeared to suffer from that long layoff. Youthful fans of the original probably expressed no interest in a second chapter, and the film’s $112 million take on an $85 million budget meant it disappointed.

Perhaps this explains why the franchise waited an entire decade to produce Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite!, the newest chapter – and a direct-to-video affair. I guess someone thought they could milk the anthropomorphic animals for a little more fun – and money.

10 years ago, dogs and cats called a ”Great Truce”, whereby they’d work together to maintain peace in the face of various threats. Feline agent Gwen (voiced by Melissa Rauch) and canine agent Roger (Max Greenfield) work together to this end.

However, criminal mastermind Pablo (George Lopez) taps into a frequency only heard by cats and dogs to subvert this peace and prompt those species back into renewed conflict. Gwen and Roger lead an inexperienced team of rookie agents who must use old-school methods to halt this threat and re-establish the truce.

At its best, the original Cats offered silly fun, but unfortunately, it only sporadically achieved its potential. If I ever saw Galore, I forgot about it, so I can’t compare.

Whatever issues befell the first two movies, at least they offered professional Hollywood efforts, with casts that included “names” like Jeff Goldblum, Alec Baldwin, Bette Midler, Nick Nolte and many others. That level of credibility fails to attach to Cats 3.

When George Lopez acts as easily the biggest star in a movie of this sort, the viewer knows not to expect much from it. Honestly, I find myself a bit surprised the producers couldn’t recruit a couple of decent names, as this kind of flick offers actors an easy payday, as the voiceover work requires little time commitment.

That said, any “payday” relies on a decent budget. Based on what I saw here, I suspect Cats 3 probably cost about $219, as it seems relentlessly amateurish.

When I watch a movie meant for kids, I don’t expect it to come with a screenplay apparently written by kids. Cats 3 credits Scott Bindley as the movie’s writer, but I assume he got some local second graders to pen the script instead.

Within the movie’s first two minutes, we hear Gwen and Roger refer to the peace pact as the “Furry Animals Rivalry Termination”. The on-screen graphic easily allows us to see that this delivers the acronym “FART”, but just in case, Cats 3 offers repeated jokes that revolve around the spoken word “fart”.

Not content to let it end there, Pablo creates the “Pets Out of the Ordinary Pedigree” alliance – or “POOP”, of course. Are we amused yet?

Nothing else about the screenplay succeeds. The story seems dull and cheap, and the film tosses in a pointless subplot about two teens who inevitably will become pals, eventually in an innocent romantic way.

Why bother with the human story? No one goes to a Cats & Dogs movie for anything but animal shenanigans, so the narrative with the owners of Gwen and Roger acts as nothing more than cheap filler.

As a major animal lover, I kind of enjoy our time with the critters, though the subpar visual effects distract. The CG animation to make the characters speak/emote seems awkward at best and clumsy at worst.

While I suspect the work probably isn’t worse than it was for the first movie, that was 19 years ago, so one would expect significant improvements over that span. We don’t get them, and the awkward effects add to the movie’s bargain basement impression.

As noted, I can find some value from a movie that focuses on adorable animals. However, I’d be better off if I just scanned YouTube for dog videos. Cats 3 becomes an inane waste of time.


The Disc Grades: Picture B/ Audio B/ Bonus D+

Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite! appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not great, the movie came with a largely positive presentation.

Sharpness usually seemed fine. Some wides showed a bit of softness, but the majority of the flick displayed pretty solid delineation. No issues with shimmering or jaggies materialized, and I saw no edge haloes or print flaws. LP> In terms of palette, Cats 3 opted for the usual teal and orange. For the most part, the Blu-ray reproduced the tones fine.

Blacks appeared fairly dark and dense, while low-light shots displayed mostly nice clarity. All in all, the image worked pretty well.

When I examined the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Cats 3, I thought it was moderately active and involving, as the mix used music and atmosphere to nice advantage.

These elements created a good sense of place and movement that brought us an engaging soundscape, with the best material found in the smattering of action sequences.

Audio quality was fine. Speech was reasonably crisp and natural, and effects showed good punch.

Music was also clear and full. The soundtrack didn’t excel but it connected with the story in an appropriate manner.

Two featurettes appear, and Animal Charades goes for five minutes, 17 seconds and involves producer Andrew Lazar, director Sean McNamara, animal trainers Diana Gautier-Eyben, Tracy Gardhouse, Bead McDonald, Lori Lancaster, Lori Boyle and Larry Payne, and actors Callum Seagrum Airlie, John Murphy, and Sarah Giles.

“Charades” discusses the movie’s animal cast and how the filmmakers got them to perform. It’s a brief overview but we get some good notes about the non-human performers.

Cast Reveals All lasts three minutes, 17 seconds an offers info from those animal actors. We see shots of the critters with “funny” thought balloons attached. It’s pretty lame.

A Gag Reel spans one minute, 37 seconds and provides outtakes of the animals on the set. It offers more charm than the usual blooper compilation.

The disc opens with ads for Happy Halloween Scooby-Doo! and SCOOB. Trailers adds a promo for Lego Shazam: Magic and Monsters.

A second disc provides a DVD copy of Cats 3. It includes the same extras as the Blu-ray.

While the first two movies in the series didn’t excel, they easily surpass Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite!. a low-quality clunker. Puerile and inane, the movie fails in virtually all possible ways. The Blu-ray brings generally positive picture and audio along with minor bonus materials. Only the youngest – and least demanding – viewers might get something from this

Viewer Film Ratings: 1 Stars Number of Votes: 1
05:
04:
0 3:
02:
11:
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