Cats and Dogs 2: The revenge of Kitty Galore

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Cats and Dogs 2: The revenge of Kitty Galore's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Cats and Dogs 2: The revenge of Kitty Galore completed by The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 13 September 2010.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines.

ACCM review

This review of the movie Cats and Dogs 2: The revenge of Kitty Galore contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

The second film in the Cats and Dogs series continues the story of several canine and feline secret agents.  This time around, the head spy dog Lou (voice of Neil Patrick Harris) and his offsider, special agent Butch (Nick Nolte) seek the help of ex-police dog Diggs (James Marsden) and pigeon informant Seamus, as they track down the arch villain Kitty Galore (Bette Midler).  Meanwhile, cat operatives Catherine (Christina Applegate) and Tab Lazenby (Roger Moore) from the feline spy organisation, MEOWS also search for Kitty Galore, an ex-member who turned rogue following a devastating accident. 

As both groups work to locate Kitty Galore, the full extent of her evil plans is revealed. It soon becomes apparent that time is running out.  In desperation, the dogs and cats realise that their only hope of thwarting Kitty Galore is by joining forces and working together.  This decision results in the development of some very unlikely friendships.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Separation from a loved one; loneliness; isolation; revenge

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is repeated physical violence in this movie, such as when:

• Diggs bites an unidentified kidnapper who is dressed as a clown
• Diggs threatens to kills Seamus the pigeon with a hammer
• Diggs grabs Seamus in his mouth
• Diggs threatens several unidentified cats who work for Kitty Galore
• Diggs throws a block of wood at the head of an unidentified fair-ground worker, knocking him unconscious
• An unidentified cat agent aims and prepares to fire a tank cannon at Diggs
• Diggs and Catherine are chained together by Kitty Galore, then left hanging from the ceiling above a tank of water.  As the pair are lowered, it appears that they will both drown
• Some of Kitty Galore’s feline operatives shoot snaring devices at Butch and Diggs, then try to pull the dogs over the side of a large boat and into the sea
• Kitty Galore threatens to drown Catherine, who has a fear of water
• Kitty Galore frequently throws, crushes, hits and mistreats her pet mouse, Scrumptious
• Catherine slaps, hits and kicks other unidentified cats who work for Kitty Galore
• Several unidentified cats and dogs are depicted at various times yelling, threatening, hitting, biting and kicking one another.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of eight, including:

• A cute puppy unzips her furry coat to reveal that underneath, she is actually the furless and menacing character, Kitty Galore
• An unidentified cat begins losing chunks of its fur, and slowly transforms into a threatening giant metallic robot
• Kitty Galore and other unidentified cats bare their claws in a menacing fashion at others throughout the film
• Kitty Galore falls into a vat of hair remover and it appears that she may drown
• Kitty Galore and Chuck fall from the top of a very tall exploding fair-ride.  Chuck lands on his feet, while Kitty Galore falls into a fairy-floss machine and is cocooned
• Chuck reveals a magic trick chamber that contains a stuffed replica of Kitty Galore which is pierced with knives after the trick goes wrong
• Diggs runs from an exploding building
• Diggs, Butch, an elderly woman and her cats become trapped in a house that is rapidly filling with kitty litter. It appears that they will suffocate
• Diggs, Butch, Seamus and Catherine become trapped on top of an electrified fair-ride
• An electronic squirrel explodes
• Kitty Galore stabs a photograph of Chuck and leaves it for him to find in the magic trick chamber
• A snarling and menacing cat turns to reveal the words, “dog killer” tattooed across his back
• Mr. Tinkles is shown bound with leather straps and head mask behind a perspex panel, in the same manner that murderer Hannibal Lector was depicted in Silence of the Lambs.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Most children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by the content of this film.

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

OK for this age group

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

There are some mild sexual references in this movie including:

• The name “Kitty Galore”, which is an allusion to the sex-kitten character from James Bond and Austin Powers films, “Pussy Galore”
• A group of female Afghan dogs walk past Butch and Diggs in a provocative manner and Diggs responds by saying, “Hell-o ladies”, in an equally provocative manner
• Catherine holds up a magazine with tomcat, apparently in drag, and remarks that she always wondered what Garfield would look like in a dress.

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• one scene depicts a room full of cats who have apparently become stoned after drinking catnip.

Coarse language

Some threatening language and several put-downs, including:

• “Smack him around”
• “Go play in the road traffic”
• “Feeble canine face”
• “Fur face”
• “Sucker”
• “Idiot”
• Gender-based put-downs, such as, “You drive like a girl”
• Jokes involving dog urination and butt-sniffing
• Several derogatory references to mental illness, such as, “First class nut case”, “Crazy”; “Psychotic”; “Mad canines”, and “Whacko”.

The movie's message

Cats and Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore is a fast-paced animated children’s action comedy.   While perhaps less entertaining than the original Cats and Dogs, this film nevertheless contains enough depth to appeal to a variety of ages.  The principle message of the movie concerns the value of loyalty and teamwork.  Parents, however, may be disturbed by the representation of some cats as calculating and evil, in addition to the constant violence depicted between animals.


Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• helping one another
• loyalty
• courage

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as

• The negative outcomes of fighting, in comparison to the benefits of learning how to share and work together.