MOVIE REVIEW : Disney’s ‘Cheetah’ Goes to the Dogs

Remember the great days of the Disney animal movies? Remember “Old Yeller” (hunting dogs)? “Perri” (squirrels)? “The Shaggy Dog” (anthropomorphic sheep dogs)? And all the others?

Well, keep on remembering. And forget “Cheetah” (which opened Friday citywide): a new Disney Studio movie about California yuppies, transplanted to Kenya, and their adventures with an adopted cheetah cub and a nefarious gang of poachers and dog-racers. Shot on gorgeous African locations, stuffed to the brim with gazelles, lions, elephants, hippoes, rhinos and giraffes, the movie also features that less dignified species, human beings, here prone to hyperactive, pointless behavior, and annoying braying and yawping.

Director Jeff Blyth, a travel movie specialist, gets some nice shots of animals in their habitat, though his humans mug, whine and philosophize incessantly. The three writers, however, deserve to be banished, in penance, to the nearest wildlife sanctuary.

“Cheetah” (MPAA rated G) is a gentle, dopey little movie, which tries to sneak by with good will and locations. But truly it must be said: Listening to bad dialogue is like chewing a brick. And cliches are like cheetahs. They break fast out of the gate, tire quickly and then drop back and go straight to the dogs. (A fine old Disney cartoon, “Mickey and the Seal” shows with “Cheetah” and upstages it completely.)