Back in 2001, Cats & Dogs turned into a moderate box office hit. With $93 million US and $200 million total, it didn’t dazzle – that total made it 24th in the States that year – but with a $60 million budget, it clearly turned a profit, and given its obvious appeal to family audiences, a sequel seemed guaranteed.

While a second film did emerge, it took a surprisingly long nine years to arrive. Perhaps due to the length of this wait, 2010’s Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore failed to replicate its predecessor’s success.

With an $85 million budget, Galore brought in only $43 million US and $112 million total, a low enough total to ensure it’d lose money. This meant the studio didn’t pursue another film in the series for a decade – and even then went straight to video for 2020’s Cats & Dogs: Paws Unite.

In the first film, we learned that canines and felines long fought a high-tech war unobserved by humans. This time, though, the two sides need to stage a truce and join forces against a common enemy.

Once an agent for the MEOWS group, Kitty Galore (voiced by Bette Midler) goes rogue and decides to shoot for world domination. This means that her canine enemies and former feline friends need to find a way to stop her for the good of both sides.

Though I thought the original Cats & Dogs boasted lots of potential for entertainment, it failed to become more than an erratic adventure. Galore offers such a close replica of that experience that I feel tempted to just cut and paste my comments from the earlier review.

On the positive side, Galore boasts a fine cast. In addition to Midler, we find Nick Nolte, Christina Applegate, James Marsden, Jack McBrayer, Wallace Shawn, and a slew of others.

A highlight of the prior film, Sean Hayes reprises his role as Mr. Tinkles. Heck, we even get Roger Moore, a nice nod since Galore offers such an obvious nod to the universe of James Bond.

In addition, Galore manages the occasional moment of giddy mirth. The film throws an awful lot at the screen, and every once in a while, a gag hits the mark.

Unfortunately, the wheat to chaff ratio seems poor, as a lot more of the jokes fall flat than connect. Galore mixes cheap bits meant for kids with slapstick and it fails to work any of this in a clever manner.

The plot seems like a mess, so it does the film no favors either. Essentially the story acts as little more than a framework to support the gags and action, so Galore bops from one barely connected sequence to another and never comes together to create a logical narrative.

I do enjoy the sight of so many cute critters, but the movie mars them as well due to spotty effects. Galore brings its characters to life via a mix of real animals, CG and puppets, and the three techniques don’t mesh.

Of course, even the actual animals require the assistance of visual effects to allow them to move their mouths to speak, but Galore goes farther than that with a few entirely CG characters – like Kitty herself. Whenever we see these, they take us out of the movie because they never look especially realistic.

The puppets work even weaker. Mr. Tinkles comes across worst – because he gets the most screen time – and others create distractions as well.

Somehow Warner spent $85 million on Galore, but with its cheap effects and generally iffy production values, I don’t know where that money went. A forgettable sequel to a mediocre movie, this winds up as a spotty piece of family fare.

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with a mostly appealing presentation.

Overall sharpness remained good. A smattering of wider elements or effects components could seem a little soft, but those didn’t create real distractions. Still, the movie felt a bit more tentative than I’d expect at times.

Instead, the movie tended to be accurate and concise. I noticed no shimmering or jaggies, and the film lacked edge haloes or source flaws.

The palette opted for a mix of the usual orange and teal. Within stylistic choices, the hues looked fine, though.

Blacks were deep and dense, while low-light shots depicted appropriate clarity. Despite some softness, the image seemed to be more than satisfactory.

With plenty of action scenes, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix often opened up to give us active information. These used the various speakers to create an involving, effective sense of these situations and circumstances. The elements meshed together well and moved in a satisfying manner.

Audio quality also pleased. Music was peppy and full, while dialogue sounded accurate and concise.

Effects demonstrated good clarity and range, with fine low-end response as necessary. This wasn’t quite a demo-worthy track, but it fared well.

This package includes both 2D and 3D versions of the film. The picture comments above cover the 2D edition – how does the 3D compare?

In terms of quality, both seem pretty similar. The 3D process accentuates the movie’s grain in a slightly distracting manner, but otherwise, the two feel a lot alike.

As for 3D imaging, that version works reasonably well, if not in a stellar manner. Unsurprisingly, the movie’s handful of airborne scenes fare best, as they offer good dimensionality and movement.

Otherwise, this becomes a mediocre 3D presentation. While we get a decent sense of depth, the film can feel semi-blah in terms of stereo imaging much of the time. I prefer the 3D version but not by a lot, as it doesn’t really improve the film.

A few extras appear here, and Meow-Takes runs three minutes, 32 seconds. It mixes outtakes and a gag reel to present “fake goofs” from the animal characters.

This means the actors offer stabs at humor. These don’t really work.

A new animated Looney Tunes short, Coyote Falls goes for three minutes, and as implied by the title, it comes from the Road Runner realm. Wile E. Coyote uses a bungee cord to try to leap onto and capture Road Runner.

It’s typical for the characters. Note that this short appears in a 3D version as well.

Dogs Dishing spans eight minutes, 59 seconds and provides notes from director Brad Peyton, producers Andrew Lazar and Polly Johnsen, screenwriters Steve Bencich and Ron Friedman, cinematographer Steven Poster, and actor Jack McBrayer.

This becomes a tongue in cheek look at the production that offers jokey remarks from filmmakers and some from the “animal actors” themselves. Like “Meow-Takes”, “Dishing” tries hard to create comedy, and it doesn’t succeed.

With The Best of the Best, we get a four-minute, 33-second reel that mixes Galore clips with clips from cartoons that feature cat/dog battles. It becomes a form of music video and it lacks any value I can discern.

The disc opens with ads for Cats & Dogs, The Looney Tunes Show, and the Lego Universe video game. A Sneak Peek at Yogi Bear mixes movie shots and behind the scenes clips. No trailer for Galore appears here.

A third disc provides a DVD copy of Galore. It includes none of the Blu-ray’s extras.

A mediocre mishmash of spy film clichés and cheap humor, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore seems unlikely to entertain more than the youngest viewers. While it occasionally offers some funny bits, most of it feels cheap and lame. The Blu-ray offers pretty good picture and audio but it lacks substantial bonus materials. Fans of the first film will probably like the sequel, but it does nothing to improve on its forgettable predecessor, and the 3D version fails to add much pizzazz.

To rate this film, visit the prior review of THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE