Armed with the latest high-tech spy equipment, a covert team of highly trained guinea pigs discover that the fate of the world is in their paws. Tapped for the G-FORCE are guinea pigs Darwin, the squad leader determined to succeed at all costs; Blaster, an outrageous weapons expert with tons of attitude and a love for all things extreme; and Juarez, a sexy martial arts pro; plus the literal fly-on-the-wall reconnaissance expert Mooch, and a star-nosed mole Speckles, the computer and information specialist. - skip ad - Genres: Action/Adventure and Animation Running Time: 1 hr. 28 min. Release Date: July 24th, 2009 (wide) MPAA Rating: PG for some mild action and rude humor. Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Cast And Credits Starring: Bill Nighy, Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Kelli Garner, Tyler Patrick Jones Directed by: Hoyt Yeatman Produced by: David P I James, Mike Stenson, Chad Oman

G-Force” — perhaps the most expensive 3-D house-pet action movie ever made and, I’m willing to concede, probably one of the best — is about an hour shorter than “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” half as pretentious and twice as witty. Call this faint praise, if you like. “G-Force,” as loud and enervating as the words “A Jerry Bruckheimer Production” might lead you to expect, can hardly be accused of modesty, but on the other hand no film full of talking guinea pigs would be so rash as to attempt the kind of lumbering gravitas that Michael Bay has seen fit to bestow on a bunch of toys.

The thundering, clanking climax, in which blenders, coffee makers and other appliances turn angry and amalgamate into robotic, apocalyptic threats to civilization as we know it, almost seems like a critique of “Transformers.” Or maybe “critique” is the wrong word. Kids like big, noisy, destructive metal robots. They also like furry little rodents who speak in the voices of Sam Rockwell and Penélope Cruz (especially all those 10-year-olds who dug “Choke” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”). So if you make a movie that has both robots and rodents, plus a bunch of swaggering catch phrases, a couple of flatulence jokes and a bunch of human actors hopping around pretending to interact with the computer-generated rodents — well, the pitch makes itself, doesn’t it?

That seems to be the thinking — again, maybe not the right word — behind “G-Force,” which manages to be fairly entertaining in that exhausting, rackety, late-summer-kiddie-movie way. Mr. Rockwell and Ms. Cruz are joined by Tracy Morgan and Nicolas Cage, his voice almost unrecognizable, playing a mole named Speckles. The other three are guinea pigs, and this foursome is part of an off-the-books experiment run by a renegade government nerd played by Zach Galifianakis. The animals are trying to stop a diabolical scheme involving a consumer-electronics mogul (Bill Nighy) while being pursued by F.B.I. guys who want to shut them down.

That will do for plot summary. Other animals include a dumb, neurotic guinea pig (Jon Favreau) and a clever, neurotic hamster (Steve Buscemi). The 3-D application (available in some theaters) has the odd effect of making the animated critters look warmer and more real than the actual people, and it must be said that some of the action sequences are impressively executed and edited. One of the best is a fairly simple gag in which two guinea pigs go rocketing down a suburban street in an old tire. I mean simple as a visual conceit, since a great deal of effort and ingenuity must have been expended in putting this amusing little sequence together.

And far be it from me to suggest that some of that work, and the money behind it, might have been spent on a better script, or a different movie. “G-Force,” directed by Hoyt Yeatman, lives up to its promise to provide nearly an hour and a half of semicrude jokes and big effects, pausing for an obligatory scene of heartfelt lesson learning, in which the guinea pigs are encouraged to believe in themselves. Fine. It can’t hurt.

But perhaps — getting back to that final showdown between the pets and the raging appliances — there is a deeper message in this film. Maybe it’s a parable about the power of technology, which as we all know can be harnessed for good or for evil. That is, you can build something that will threaten civilization as we know it, or you can make a 3-D action movie about guinea pigs. Or maybe what this film proves is that you can do both.

“G-Force” is rated PG (Parental Guidance suggested). It has some intense action scenes and mildly naughty humor.