Angst? What Angst?: Shadow and Chance's scenes after Sassy's supposed death quickly go right back to being funny. It helps that we know she's still alive.
This movie's got a nice (and often overlooked) soundtrack; this is arguably the best score.
For many, the second half of this is guaranteed to have them in tears.
Sassy rescuing the others from the animal shelter features quite an impressive rendition of the Mission: Impossible theme song, years before Danny Elfman's famous reworking of it for the film series.
Harsher in Hindsight: Shadow's plight near the end becomes this when you know that his actor, Don Ameche, died in same year the film was released.
In the Norwegian dub, Sassy is voiced by Mari Maurstad, who previously voiced Georgette in Oliver & Company, a snooty dog who gets annoyed with the new cat in the house.
Also, the animals (mostly Chance) refer to the pound as "the Bad Place".
Narm Charm: The first movie's ending is corny, but it's so heartwarming and sweet it's impossible to do anything but go, "Awww!"
Signature Scene: Shadow's heartfelt reunion with Peter near the end is one of the most remembered scenes of the film. The advertising also loves to play up this scene.
The animals often go from being realistically dirty in long shots to immaculately groomed in closeups, especially noticeable with Shadow's long fur.
Multiple cats and dogs were used to portray Shadow, Chance, and Sassy during the making of the film, which is close to impossible to notice. However, there's one obvious moment that's quite mystifying as to how it happened. For whatever reason during the scene at the ranch where Kate provides bowls of food to Sassy and Chance, there's a brief moment where Sassy straight up appears as a completely different breed of cat.
Squick: Chance barfs up the portion of wedding cake he eats.
Strawman Has a Point: When the pets suspect something's wrong when their humans haven't picked them up at the ranch, Chance insists to Shadow that they abandoned them, as humans do when they don't want their pets anymore. While Chance was ultimately wrong about their owners, the reality is that pet abandonment is a serious issue affecting countless animals, and is frequently caused by overwhelmed owners who didn't realize the responsibility that goes into owning pets. In the sequel, Shadow and Sassy become aware of this after learning about Riley's past.
Unintentional Period Piece: The railroad yard scene features a Southern Pacific freight train. The Southern Pacific Railroad was folded into the Union Pacific Railroad in 1996, three years after this film was released. (Though some diesel locomotives in the Southern Pacific paint scheme are still used, albeit with a Union Pacific shield and road number added.)
is arguably the best score.