Cinema Cycle - That Darn Cat

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE: 08/12/2014

TITLE: That Darn Cat

FORMAT: LaserDisc

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 30 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 21.5 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 418 miles

SYNOPSIS: A kidnapped maid attaches a help message to a cat who eventually leads its owner and the FBI to her rescue.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Light fluffy hometown comedies will always have a place at Disney studios.  If it worked in 1967, lets do it again in 1997.  Christina Ricci moves from the Adams Family to Disney remake in the exact same character.

PROS AND CONS: My second Disney Movie in a row and this one is not as good as the last.  Remakes seldom are.  While the premise for this film is interesting, the execution leaves something to be desired.  

The concept of a cat roaming through a small town at night uncovering all the odd and twisted behavior of its residence is interesting and fun to watch, but it is so sanitized by the censors at Disney that it isn't very believable.  I had the kidnapping case solved about 20 minutes into the film, but had to watch the next 70 minutes to get to the inevitable silly car chase through town (filled with one-liners about all that had come before) before the final happy ending.

Christina Ricci’s acting ability is wasted here.  She plays the same basic angst ridden teen that she did in Adam’s Family.  It is apparent that by this time in her career she should have been moving on to more substantial and sultry roles, but I suppose she was required to do this film under contract.  The lead male role played by Doug E. Doug is just odd and not at all engaging.  

There is a tip of the hat to Dean Jones, who starred in the original, along with some interesting cameos such as Dyan Cannon, Peter Boyle and of course John Ratzenberger (who I believe is required to appear in ALL Disney movies)  If I had kids I would let them watch this.  I don’t have kids, so I doubt it will ever be watched again.

To read an overview of this project, check out the initial post for this series.

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

The summary of the project and a glimpse of what is coming up next can be found on my public LaserDisc spreadsheet.