At the Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore screening I attended, most of the laughs from youngsters came as the end credits rolled while clips of funny animals -- not even in the movie -- were being shown without any accompanying spoken words. Doesn't that prove dialogue isn’t needed to make kids happy while watching dogs and cats simply being the cute critters they are?

However, I think movies with talking animals can be a lot of fun. In fact, the original Cats & Dogs was a treat for me, which is probably why I’m so disappointed with this dreadful sequel. But if cats or dogs or any other furry creatures speak on camera, what they say should be humorous and/or interesting. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen often in Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. For toddlers, though, the variety of wonderful felines and canines filling the screen and performing human-like activities may be enough to keep them entertained -- or at least quiet. 

Using a spy spoof motif and throwing in several references to pop culture, this family live-action/CGI mix centers on Kitty Galore (voiced by Bette Midler), a former agent for the cat spy organization MEOWS, who’s out to wreak hi-tech vengeance against dogs, humans, AND cats. Who wouldn’t be angry about losing all their hair after being thrown into a vat of hair remover?

With such a scary threat facing the world, cats and dogs must overcome their age-old enmity toward each other and join together to defeat the diabolical villainess. Among the animals trying to stop Kitty Galore are a disgraced police dog (voiced by James Marsden), an older canine (voiced by Nick Nolte), a cool feline (voiced by Christina Applegate), and a wise-cracking pigeon (voiced by Katt Williams). Returning to liven things up a bit is Mr. Tinkles (voiced by Sean Hayes), the malevolent white Persian cat from the first film, who gets an amusing close-up while parodying Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. Nolte (Hulk) wins my vote as the best voice talent of the movie, but that’s probably because I love his gravelly vocal inflections no matter what film he’s in.

As in Cats & Dogs, the human actors take a back seat to the animals in this sequel. Even the main human character -- played by Chris O’Donnell (Vertical Limit) -- receives just a tiny amount of screen time as a policeman worrying over the whereabouts of his canine partner. 

If you enjoy seeing animals operating all kinds of James Bondish spy gadgets or talking about hairballs and “fetching,” Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore should work for you. Personally, I would rather see Despicable Me again instead. Betcha I’m not the only one.      

(Released by Warner Bros. Pictures and rated “PG” for animal action and humor.)

For more information about this film, go to the Internet Movie Data Base or Rotten Tomatoes website.