MOVIES ABOUT animals differ in terms of quality, from affecting and delightful to really icky-poo and even smarmy. Worst of all are some anthropomorphic productions that make their creature characters ?talk? a blue streak, complete with mouths moving ?like humans.?

The classic talking horses and piglets aren?t so bad. What really take the overly cutesy cake are the too-too-human pet characters who are all dressed up in flashy designer duds, replete with wigs and diamond-studded tiaras (groan and moan).

So, whenever a new animal movie opens in town, we tend to look at it askance before giving the latest cinematic goose a gander. ?Afraid that it?ll goose us in our unpretty posterior? You?d better believe it.

Visual gimmickry

That?s why it took us a while before we decided to give the sequel, ?Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,? a gung-ho go. To make things dodgier, the version we watched was in 3D?which could have exacerbated its in-your-face cuteness and visual gimmickry to an even more off-putting and gag-inducing degree.

So, what?s the verdict? The good news is that the doggone-and-feline flick isn?t the icky embarrassment it threatened to be. Its central plot and conflict may be far-out fantastic (a secret organization of dogs saves the human race from the threat of world domination mounted by a similarly covert group of nasty super-felines led by the aforementioned Kitty Galore?no relation to the Pussy G. in the James Bond flick).

The sequel?s premise may be far-out, but what makes it droll is the fact that the production takes its James Bond spoof to stratospheric and even intergalactic heights, complete with pint-sized, top-secret command centers, futuristic attack vehicles, fancy spy gadgets, complex satellite systems, etc.

In other words, this is no budget production done on the cheap with only a few lazy sight gags and tired running jokes going for it. You still have to leave your ifs and buts at the box office, but as animal flicks go, ?Cats and Dogs, 2? is a relatively frisky romp.

Versatile

It?s made even better by the fact that the pivotal role of Kitty Galore is voiced by Bette Midler, whose versatile vocal chops make the character even more vilely evil than perhaps originally planned.

Best of all, the movie eventually shows that the age-old enmity between cats and dogs need not be a permanent mutual-aversion condition.

It turns out that, aside from Kitty and her vicious cohorts, other cats also love their humans enough to eventually give the courageous doggies a helping paw, just in the nick of time to turn the tide of battle in favor of them and the humans they want to save from the evil felines? dastardly plot.

How about that? If cats and dogs can get together, there?s hope for everyone!