C+

If you can imagine a cross between “Home Alone” and “Spy Kids” with most of the major characters played by canines and felines, you’ll have an idea of what “Cats and Dogs” is like. The picture boasts an amazing array of talking beasts brought to life by a clever combination of live-action footage, puppetry and computer animation, and it’s punctuated by action gags and snippets of dialogue that get laughs that are admittedly easy but are laughs nonetheless. Unfortunately, they’re embedded in a plot that might have been fine for a Looney Tunes entry but seems way overextended for a feature of even a paltry 83 minutes. Moreover, there are three humans in the mix too, and they’re about as dull a trio as one will ever encounter. The result is a family flick that’s fitfully amusing but frayed at the edges despite its state-of-the-art effects.

The premise of the script is that cats once ruled the earth (in ancient Egypt, to be precise), but were overthrown by dogs, who put control in the hands of humankind. Ever since felines have plotted takeovers, which have been consistently foiled by canine counter-measures. Now a Persian named Mr. Tinkles (Sean Hayes)–who looks a lot like Snowball from “Stuart Little”–is trying for world dominion by disrupting the efforts of Dr. Brody, a typically eccentric scientist (Jeff Goldblum), to devise a formula that will cure human allergies to dogs. A cadre of canine agents is on the case to protect the Brody home from invasion, but when the in-house mutt is removed by a catty stratagem (in a rambunctious opening chase scene), he’s accidentally replaced by an innocent, naive pup, a Beagle named Lou (Toby Maguire) who yearns for adventure. With the help of old pro Shepherd Butch (Alec Baldwin), Butch’s earstwhile flame Ivy (Susan Sarandon), techno-wizard Chinese Crested Peek (Joe Pantoliano) and dopey muscle English Sheepdog Sam (Michael Clarke Duncan), the young pooch defends the Brody homestead against a series of feline interlopers, including a Russian bomb-kitten and three Siamese ninjas; but when Brody, along with wife Carolyn (Elizabeth Perkins) and son Scott (Alexander Pollock) are kidnapped by Tinkles, Lou and Butch must decide whether to turn over Brody’s formula as their ransom or let them perish for the dream of a world in which no one is allergic to dogs. Can there be any doubt what they’ll do? A picture like this, after all, needs a slam-bang, high-octane, aw-shucks-ain’t-they-wonderful conclusion.

The spirit of John Hughes hovers over “Cats and Dogs.” Much of the running-time is devoted to the sort of comic slapstick that the writer-director deployed so successfully in “Home Alone” and its slew of sequels, whether actually in that series or not (see “Baby’s Day Out” and “Dennis the Menace”)–the difference here is that’s it’s critters that get bonked, clobbered and otherwise skewered in the search for yocks, rather than somebody like Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern or Joe Mantegna. Another big chunk of the picture, centered on how Lou and Scott bond, has the sticky-sweet feel that’s Hughes’ other specialty–even the cloying music that John Debney provides in these scenes recalls John Williams’ score for “Home” 1 and 2. (Goldblum’s bumbling absent-minded professor shtick and Perkins’ blandly supportive spouse, on the other hand, are derived from the “Flubber” movies and the “Honey, I Shrunk the [Whatever]” pictures.) That isn’t to say that some of the bits in “Cats and Dogs” aren’t clever. A few of the sight gags in the world dog headquarters that Lou and Butch visit on one occasion are pretty good, and the enlistment of an army of rodents in Tinkles’ final scheme allows for some funny crowd shots. But the ninja sequence is basically a bust, with yet another predictable “Matrix” takeoff, and the Russian kitty fight is clumsily staged and goes on way too long; moreover, the scenes in the final act of the Brody clan trussed up as prisoners are just dull. Butch and his doggy assistants prove a surprisingly pallid lot, ineffectually voiced (even Maguire’s spunky Lou loses his luster after awhile), and while the villainous cats are livelier (with Jon Lovitz doing nicely as Tinkle’s lieutenant Calico), they’re stuck with some weak material too–including a running gag involving Miriam Margolyes as the maid who presides over the mansion of Tinkle’s comatose owner. (Having lent her voice to the first “Babe” movie, she must have a special affinity for flicks that involve talking animals.)

Mention of “Babe” invites comparisons which are not to the advantage of this new effort. “Cats and Dogs” has effects that are about as good as those in Chris Noonan’s wonderful 1995 picture, but its narrative possesses nowhere near the same degree of warmth and charm. Like so many of John Hughes’ films, it’s a synthetic creation, a calculated combination of knockabout farce and cheap sentiment that generates sporadic laughs and perhaps an occasional sniffle but lacks heart. It’ll do for a family outing on a Saturday afternoon, but that’s about it.