Vaguely amusing in places, the sort of humour that will have kids laughing hysterically, but not clever enough to make adults laugh in the way Shrek does for example.

The film is well acted by the two-legged folk, especially the very likeable Owen, played by 13-year-old Liam Aiken and his embarrassing try hard of a mother portrayed by Molly Shannon - it's also well performed by the four-legged types.

The voice-overs are slick and well-suited to the various shapes and sizes of the dog stars, with Britney Murphy in particular sounding convincing as a mollycoddled neurotic and scrawny Italian Greyhound.

Matthew Broderick takes on the vocal part of the film's lead dog, Hubble the Border Terrier, who comes to our planet in his own little space ship, his mission to shape up the dogs on earth because they're not taking over the planet like they're supposed to be.

Instead the dogs are quite happy as pets in their loving homes, with special treats and over pampering - especially Barbara Ann the Standard Poodle who would be right at home in a Parisian lady's handbag - albeit a large one.

So with his new owner, dog-loving only kid Owen, Hubble tries to prepare the earth dogs for the arrival of The Greater Dane - ruler of all dogs in the universe.

Needless to say, this section includes some bullying of Owen, whose persistence in talking to dogs doesn't win him any friends in the neighbourhood - they obviously don't realise the dogs are in fact talking back to him.

There is some hilarity in the vein of dog farts - childish I know, but somehow it made me chuckle, and there's a Uranus joke that will have small people rolling about in the aisles.

If your heartstrings are particularly fragile you may experience some tugging - kids who love their pooches definitely might have a tear in their eye, whilst the more cynical of cinema-goers might well reach out for the vomit bag.

Certain scenes will please Cruft fans out there, with healthy looking dogs leaping around in a Pedigree Chum advert type of fashion - the only difference being these dogs chat and one of them would have had to have had some crazy Pedigree Chum mixed with Red Bull to be able to fly through the air like that.

Dogs doing yoga in the park is also a nice scene - although if you're a bit squeamish look away because there's a lot on display...

Generally the film's watchable, sentimental but watchable, with neat voice-overs and some very well trained mutts.

Vic Saggers