That Darn Cat

"That Darn Cat" is a makeover of the Disney film with Haley Mills. This time around, the world is darker, the main character is darker...and the cat is darker.

Christina ("Addams Family," "Sleepy Hollow") Ricci is the main character for our story. She's a psychopathic, Gothic creature with black all around. She moves to a new town, finds a new cat, finds a new mystery, and solves it (I wasn't expecting that). Along the way is Thomas F. Wilson, better known as Biff from "Back to the Future," and Michael McKean--who does a bunch of nothing considering how funny the guy usually is.

"That Darn Cat" fails on a lot of levels. It's watchable, and probably should be seen once on TV, but I wouldn't go out of your way to see it.

Christina Ricci is fine as the title character; but I found that the whole moody, Gothic thing was a bit overdone--whether it was on the script like that or not, it was overbearing. They kept stressing to the audience, "This girl is dark," but I think I got it the first time.

Dean Jones, from the original "That Darn Cat," makes a few cameos in this flick. Whatever happened to him? The last I remember him in a film without being a cameo was "Beethoven"...

Thomas F. Wilson does seem to prove he can act out characters other than Biff, Griff and Buford Tannen, but if I were him I wouldn't quit the day job just yet--a film like this isn't going to get him back in the acting arena.

The film's gags don't exactly work all the time. Sometimes they work a little bit, but on the whole, this film is a pretty big mess that should only be seen on television when nothing good is on.

2/5 stars -

John Ulmer

P.S.--Be on the lookout for cameos galore, including "Cheers" man John Ratzenburger.

I was 12 years old when I saw the original film (I lived in Italy and the Italian title was "FBI, OPERATION CAT!") That was a fun film and not just for kids. This awful remake it's pathetic even for a 5 year old! What possessed Disney to ruin their reputation and the memory of a lovely film I don't know and I just can't believe it. Even the title song in the original film (both original version and the dubbed Italian version) was extremely nice and creating the mood for the story. On this remake the title song is even worst than the movie itself. It was just nice to see Dean Jones even if for just a cameo appearance, he was a regular on the great old Disney's films. I cannot honestly see anything else positive in this remade movie.

Chris Ricci sleepwalks her way through most of this, but then quickly takes on an air of boredom and disdain - much as I did when watching it. Without her this would be no more than a cheap kids' movie, but at least she does add an air of quality. There are few, if any, more visually striking and charismatic young actresses in the business.

There's not much wrong with it as long as you accept it for what it is - a cheap Disney re-make aimed at very undemanding children. I could watch Ricci all day so I'm probably oblivious to many of the movie's shortcomings, but unless you too are a Ricci fan, a cat-lover, or very small child, I doubt you will find this very entertaining.

That ending... I'm not sure if it's woeful or brilliant, I'm leaning towards the latter I gotta be honest. Hear me out.

For most of my watch, I was expecting to give this a less than positive rating. It starts off decently before meandering towards its conclusion. When it gets there, though, it's absolutely bonkers. My feelings towards the final part switched completely, I initially found it stupid (which it probably is) but the last embers of it are so ridiculous that it's actually entertaining.

Don't be fooled by the covers for this film, by the way. It looks like it's going to be a CGI cat but it isn't, a real cat is used for the vast majority as far as I could tell. Even on Disney+ it has the CG cover, which cheapens the film and would've turned me away - had I not been on this Disney marathon that I'm on. Very strange choice from the makers.

At this point, it is worth noting I thoroughly enjoyed the 1965 original film; which is far, far superior to this remake. The cast in '65 are terrific, but the '97 cast list is one I actually rate. Dean Jones, to my surprise, appears in this one. He plays a different character completely, but it's cool to see him nevertheless.

As for the newcomers onscreen, Christina Ricci (Patti) and Doug E. Doug (Zeke) are the leads. Ricci is no Hayley Mills, nor is Doug a Jones, but I still liked them together. Michael McKean (Peter) is also involved, as is Pixar staple John Ratzenberger (Dusty) - who, alongside Mark Christopher Lawrence (Rollo), play a part in the finale.

This has a very low average rating on Letterboxd, which I can completely understand. For me, though, I found it so bizarre that it actually works in a twisted sort of way. Would I recommend this? I dunno. Was I entertained? Surprisingly, yeah.

...and yes, I'm fully aware I did just do a five-paragraph review about 'That Darn Cat' (1997)... ¯\_(-_-)_/¯

In Boston, Massachusetts, maid Lizzie (Rebecca Koon) is abducted by two bumbling kidnappers after they mistake her for the wife of wealthy businessman Mr. Flint (Dean Jones). In nearby Edgefield, Patti Randall (Christina Ricci) is an asocial outcast who dresses in black and only ever hangs out with her cat D. C. who prowls the neighborhood. When D. C. returns wearing a wristwatch that looks similar to the one Lizzie is shown wearing in the newspaper that has "HEll", scratched into it, Patti becomes convinced D. C. knows where Lizzie and the kidnappers are and the watch is actually saying "Help". While Patti's mother Judy (Bess Armstrong) writes this off as a wild flight of fantasy, Patti undeterred takes the watch to the FBI after scratching the "P" into the wrist watch to be taken more seriously. Initially Patti's story is written off by the Bureau as a joke and they assign Zeke Kelso (Doug E. Doug) to interview her as he's considered a joke despite his father's reputation. Eventually Kelso is convinced that Patti's story may be true and he investigates the lead by tailing D. C.

That Darn Cat is a remake of the 1965 film of the name which was itself adapted from the novel Undercover Cat written by The Gordons who also co-wrote the film adaptation. During the 90s Disney had experienced some success remaking some of their films such as The Incredible Journey with Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and most especially 1996's 101 Dalmatians which despite critical reception being mixed became the 6th highest grossing film of that year. Given the success of animal centric remakes it stands to reason that Disney would remake a few other prior successes bringing us to That Darn Cat written now by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski whose filmography is massively inconsistent with the likes of Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt, 1408, and Big Eyes, but also duds such as Problem Child 1 and 2, Screwed, and Agent Cody Banks. The movie is directed by Scottish director Bob Spiers who has mainly worked in British TV including Fawlty Towers and Absolutely Fabulous but is more known internationally for helming the critically panned vanity project Spice World at the height of the Spice Girls fame. That Darn Cat takes the original charm of the 1965 film and replaces it with unfiltered annoyance and noise with characters exaggerated to the nth degree and every gag oversold with subtlety of a battering ram.

Unlike the original movie which was established as a howcatchem with Dan and Iggy established as the antagonists early on and both given very threatening performances (especially for a Disney production) this 1997 film reframes itself as a whodunit which in principle isn't a bad move as it gives a different experience from the original, but the movie makes it way too easy to know who the kidnappers are even when they're using the voice synthesizers that don't do a good job masking the distinctive voice of a noted character actor. Unlike the relatively grounded approach taken by the first film where the case was treated very seriously with certain scenes filmed as though they were from an actual police procedural or film-noir, every actor is written and directed to be as over the top, slapstick, and muggy as possible with pretty much no one taking this seriously which is a major point against the comedy because the key thing that made the '65 original funny was the humans were treating all of this with a sense of urgency while deal with an unpredictable cat as their only lead. Christina Ricci does a distilled version of her role from Casper only with her dialogue filled with cynical quips that are unfunny and pretty grating (I don't blame Ricci for this, I blame the writers and directors) and Doug E. Doug is given a very humiliating role as Zeke Kelson who unlike the straight laced agent from the original is now rewritten as a barely competent boob who can't even identify a cherry stem. Most of the supporting cast making up the Edgefield residents are equally grating with the exception of maybe Dean Jones as Flint and Michael McKean as Peter Randall who're the only ones who exhibit any likability in this film. And then there's the cat itself which is nowhere near as impressive as the original cat from the '65 film with the cat never looking all that engaged and when it does re-enact a scene that was done in the '65 film it's noticeably more slipshod with the cat's screentime greatly reduced in comparison to the original film.

That Darn Cat is an awful movie. With its assortment of TV actors chewing scenery, awkward humor, and hackneyed poorly timed slapstick, this remake of That Darn Cat felt less like the era of 60s Disney and more like the dump years of the 70s where Disney was producing dreck like Superdad and Million Dollar Duck. Just watch the original movie and pretend this doesn't exist.