Cats & Dogs

Cats & Dogs is a 2001 American spycomedy film directed by Lawrence Guterman and written by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra. It stars Jeff Goldblum, Elizabeth Perkins and Alexander Pollock, with the voices of Tobey Maguire, Alec Baldwin, Sean Hayes, Susan Sarandon, Charlton Heston, Jon Lovitz, Joe Pantoliano and Michael Clarke Duncan.

The story centers on the relationships between cats and dogs, depicting the relationship as an intense rivalry in which both sides use organizations and tactics that mirror those used in human espionage. It was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on July 4, 2001. The film received mixed reviews and earned $200.7 million on a $60 million budget.

Unbeknownst to humans, cats and dogs are, in reality, highly intelligent and tech-savvy enemies waging war on each other with covert operations. The Brody family find their pet Bloodhound Buddy has gone missing, yet unbeknownst to them Buddy was an agent tasked with ensuring Dr. Charles Brody completes his research into finding a cure for the allergy to dogs, and was in fact captured by enemy cats. When fellow agent, Anatolian Shepherd Butch, reports Buddy's capture to his superiors, canine agents are dispatched to help ensure Dr. Brody completes his research.

One month later, Brody's wife Carolyn goes to adopt one of a litter of Beagle puppies. A Doberman Pinscher agent replaces the litter with a pack of Miniature Pinscher agents, failing to notice the youngest Beagle left behind. Carolyn adopts the Beagle puppy and names him Lou after her son, Scotty, sarcastically suggests the name 'Loser'. Scotty is immediately dismissive of Lou as he still believes Buddy might come back, when in fact he has escaped capture and retired to Boca Raton. After saving Lou from an explosive trap laid by cats, Butch – mistaking him for a trained operative – brings him to the dogs' underground network, and introduces agents Peek, a Chinese Crested Dog, and Sam, an Old English Sheepdog. Butch realizes Lou is not the agent he was expecting, but his superiors order him to train Lou himself due to lack of time to find a replacement.

The leader of the cats, Persian cat Mr. Tinkles, plans to exploit Dr. Brody's research as part of a plan to conquer the world. Tinkles orders his sidekick Calico, an Exotic Shorthair, to send Devon Rexninjas to steal the research. Lou foils the theft and meets a former agent and Butch's ex-girlfriend Ivy, a Saluki, who encourages him to bond with Scotty. When Dr. Brody believes he is on course to a breakthrough, Mr. Tinkles contracts a Russian Blue mercenary named Dimitri Kennelkoff to destroy the research. Kennelkoff battles Lou and Butch, damaging the Brodys' house and attempts to blow up Dr. Brody's laboratory, but Butch disables the bomb and captures Kennelkoff.

Lou makes an attempt to bond with Scotty, who is reluctant but eventually plays with Lou, but in doing so they accidentally wreck his father's lab and ruin all his research. However, doing so inadvertently results in the creation of the formula which cures human allergies to dogs. Learning of this, Mr. Tinkles sets a trap for the Brodys by luring them out with fake tickets to a soccer game. The dogs subsequently receive a video from Mr. Tinkles demanding the research as a ransom for the family. When an assembly of dogs decide not to surrender the research, Lou angrily disobeys them and Butch and agrees to exchange the formula with Mr. Tinkles for the Brodys; however, the cats double-cross him.

The rest of the dogs track down Mr. Tinkles to his owner's Christmas treeflocking plant, where they learn that he has reversed the formula to give people an allergy to dogs, and plans to use mice to spread the mass-produced allergy all over the world. While Butch, Ivy, Peek, and Sam fight Tinkles' cat forces, Lou frees the Brodys and Calico, who was betrayed by Tinkles, revealing to the family that he can speak. Lou defeats Tinkles but is struck in an explosion which destroys the whole factory; Butch rescues Lou and tearfully admits that Lou was right to love his adoptive family. Lou is joyfully reunited with Scotty and the Brodys and decides to live normal dog's life with the Brodys until he can serve as a full-grown agent. Meanwhile, Mr. Tinkles is sent to live with his owner's maid Sophie and her three sisters, who dress him in increasingly humiliating outfits as retribution.

• Jeff Goldblum as Charles Brody (credited as "Professor Brody"): a professor, Carolyn's husband, and Scotty's father.
• Elizabeth Perkins as Carolyn Brody (credited as "Mrs. Brody"): Charles's wife, and Scotty's mother.
• Alexander Pollock as Scott "Scotty" Brody: Charles and Carolyn's son.
• Miriam Margolyes como Sophie: una criada
• Myron Natwick como el Sr. Mason

In September 1998, it was reported that Warner Bros. Pictures had acquired a pitch from writers John Requa and Glenn Ficarra called Cats and Dogs that follows the spy based shenanigans of cats and dogs when humans aren't looking for a six figure sum.^[4]Lawrence Guterman came aboard to direct the film after a live-action/animatedCurious George he'd been working on for Industrial Light & Magic stalled in development.^[5] Following the success of Columbia Pictures' adaptation of Stuart Little, Warner Bros. became more bullish on the project and by January 2000 and even discussed having two first units work on the film to fast track it for a holiday 2000 release before opting for sometime in 2001 instead.^[5] Warner Bros.' spotty track record when it came to releasing animated films such as the critically acclaimed but under performing The Iron Giant and the eleventh hour cancellation of a remake of The Incredible Mr. Limpet starring Jim Carrey and directed by Steve Oedekerk were cited as factors in Warner Bros. hesitance in formally greenlighting the film.^[5]

The film was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia and Eagle Creek Studios in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada^[6] from June 19 to November 17, 2000. Lou's doghouse was filmed on Stage 1, Mr. Mason's office and the interior of the tree flocking factory was filmed on Stage 2, and the international meeting with the dogs was filmed on Stage 3, while the backyard of the Brody house was filmed on the studio backlot,^[7] and the front exterior of the Brody house was filmed at 1661 W 45th Avenue in Vancouver.^[8] The film features visual effects by Rhythm & Hues Studios, known for films such as Stuart Little, Mouse Hunt, and Hocus Pocus.

Cats & Dogs was released with the classic Looney Tunes short "Chow Hound" which was also seen in the film itself. When released on Independence Day 2001, the film opened at #1, beating out Scary Movie 2 as it grossed $21.7 million over the Friday to Sunday span, averaging $7,140 from 3,040 theaters. It grossed $35.8 million over the Wednesday to Sunday span.^[9] It dropped 44% the following weekend, dropping to the #3 spot, grossing $12 million, falling behind Legally Blonde and The Score, and bringing its 12-day gross to $58.9 million.^[10]Cats & Dogs opened in the UK with $5.3 million during its first weekend, ranking in first place ahead of Rush Hour 2, while also having the third-highest opening weekend for a Warner Bros. film, behind Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.^[11] The film grossed $93.4 million in the US and $107.3 million overseas, for a total of $200.7 million worldwide on a $60 million budget.

Cats & Dogs was released on VHS and DVD on October 23, 2001.^[12] An alternate ending that shows Sophie instead taking Mr. Tinkles to a pet hospital to be neutered was also included as one of the extras. It was later released on Blu-ray on July 20, 2010,^[13] 10 days before the release of its sequel, The Revenge of Kitty Galore.

The soundtrack by composer John Debney was released in 2001. It includes What's New Pussycat? by Tom Jones.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 52% based on 117 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "A great concept, but the movie fails to develop the characters and some of the jokes are hit-or-miss."^[14] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[15] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.^[16]

Jane Horwitz, del Washington Post, la describió como «una parodia de película de espías sorprendentemente ingeniosa y sofisticada que divertirá a los adultos amantes de las mascotas y también cautivará a los niños de 6 años en adelante con su historia de amor entre un niño y su perro y su comedia física con mascotas». ^{[ 17 ]} Roger Ebert le otorgó a la película 3 estrellas de 4, elogiando los efectos especiales y la CGI . ^{[ 18 ]} En contraste, Kenneth Turan, del Los Angeles Times, escribió: «Irritante, infantil y más frenética que divertida, Cats & Dogs logra algunos momentos agradables, pero no vale la pena esperarlos».

Cats & Dogs fue nominada al premio Young Artist Award a la Mejor Película (Comedia) y a la Mejor Actuación en una Película - Actor Joven Protagonista (Alexander Pollock). John Debney ganó el premio ASCAP por su contribución musical a esta película, así como a The Princess Diaries y Spy Kids .

Heston recibió el premio Razzie 2001 al peor actor de reparto por su papel como El Mastín en esta película, el Sr. Claybourne en Town & Country , así como por su cameo en la nueva versión de El planeta de los simios de Tim Burton . ^{[ 19 ] [ 20 ]}

• Gatos y perros en IMDb 
• Gatos y perros en Box Office Mojo
• Gatos y perros en Rotten Tomatoes
• Gatos y perros en Metacritic