If ever there was a movie with a title that told you all you need to know, it's Disney's "Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco."
A silly little trifle with more wisecracks than laughs, this followup to the surprisingly effective 1993 film "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" will probably please the small-fry audience, its primary target.
But adults who enjoyed the first film will likely feel this was one trip too many to the well.
Still, you could do worse than watching cats and dogs running around San Francisco for 90 minutes, acting out a screenplay that transplants "The Incredible Journey" from the country to the city. Of course, it also steals plot points from "Lady and the Tramp" and "Beethoven" and throws in every lame pooch-pun you can think of, spoken primarily by an energetic Michael J. Fox.
For the uninitiated, the first "Homeward Bound" was a remake of the 1963 Disney live-action film "The Incredible Journey" . . . with a twist. Voices were added to the three live-action animals who make their way home against seemingly insurmountable odds. Fox was Chance, the lively young pup who caused most of the trouble; Sally Field gave voice to Sassy, the sardonic cat who has a love-hate relationship with Chance (she's a feline Miss Piggy); and the older pooch, Shadow, provided reason and wisdom, as voiced by Don Ameche. With Ameche's death last year, Shadow's voice comes from Ralph Waite for this sequel.
The plot has the trio escaping their cages at the San Francisco International Airport, where they were about to be shipped to Canada for a camping trip with owners Robert Hays, Kim Greist and their three kids. (OK, so most people don't take pets on long vacations . . . but then again, most animals don't talk!)
As Chance, Sassy and Shadow make their way through San Francisco, they find themselves on the wrong side of the tracks and encounter danger, comedy and even find time to rescue a kid and his kitten from a burning house. They also managed to elude a pair of dumb crooks who are collecting strays for lab experiments.
Children may get a little antsy during the extended sentimental moments, and they'll squirm when Chance finds romance with a street mutt named Delilah. ("You're my man," Delilah says late in the film.)
And they're not going to understand the baseball set-piece, a game that boasts a trio of dog announcers named Sparky Michaels, Lucky LaSorda and Trixie Uecker — voiced, respectively, by Al Michaels, Tommy LaSorda and Bob Uecker.
But they'll probably enjoy the TV sitcom dialogue — largely sarcasm and wisecracks — as well as some mildly vulgar gags with punchlines that have dogs urinating or coughing up, or dialogue like Delilah's comment as she follows Chance: "Cute butt!"
"Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco" is rated G.