User reviews

"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.

Disney Productions…I don't suppose I'm still a part of their target group, but I am complete Christina Ricci target group on my own! That was pretty much the only reason for me to see this film, since I'm not that interested in a cat ‘s adventures… The film is a remake of a 1965 film with the same name, also produced by the Disney Studio's. Christina is an angry and introvert teenage girl – Patti - who's loathes the boring, little town she's living in. Her mother is vain and super-polite, she has no friends and the only one she feels some affection for is her cat, J.D. This cat `witnesses' a kidnapping during one of her nightly escapades and Patti alarms the goofy FBI Agent Zeke (Doug E. Doug).

The film causes a surprisingly big amount of chuckles, since the little town and its inhabitants are so wondrously stereotypical. The grand finale – which involves a boisterous car chase through the town – will certainly impress and please the younger viewers. Some overall good acting as well. First and foremost by the lovely Christina Ricci, but also by a few familiar and respected side characters like George Dzundza (Basic Instinct), Peter Boyle (F.I.S.T) and Michael McKean (Airheads)… Doug E. Doug simply has to act like a Eddie Murphy or Chris Rock clone but he's pretty good in doing so. That Darn Cat is warmly recommend fun for young families and animal lovers.

I have an extremely open mind when it comes to Hollywood remaking, revisiting, creating a sequel to, or otherwise building upon an established film. Consider that mind slammed firmly shut!

The original "Darn Cat" featured a precocious feline surrounded by a village of humans (some funny, some scary, some just plain annoying). But the cat always remained at the center of the story, and the cat's actions are what propelled the whole thing forward. But here, the focus is on Patty Randall (Christina Ricci) and her FBI-rookie pal, Zeke Kelso (Doug E. Doug).

Apparently, the producers knew that they had an up-and-coming young starlet in their midst when they created this litter-box, because the focus is moved away from D.C. and onto Ricci's bratty and generally unlikeable Patty Randall. While no producer can be blamed for seeing talent and grabbing it (Two "Addams Family" films and "Casper the Friendly Ghost" had already gotten Ricci significant exposure!), they forgot that the film's title is "That Darn Cat"... not "That Darn Pat".

And it shows. We still have a minor league all-star cast, and we still have the FBI agent, the young girl and her cat as the heroes of the piece, but we cannot even see the villains (who provided so much of the menace in the original) and we see entirely too much of the assortment of freaks, geeks and throwaway nutcases that populate this burg.

I submit a challenge: Watch this one, then go back and watch the original. Then TRY to remember something significant that the cat in the new version did.

See, you're learning!

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.

I guess there are two ways to make a movie with kids as the intended audience. You can either say to yourself a) "Let's make a movie that kids today will love!" or b) "Let's make a movie that I would have loved when I was a kid!" The second approach explains why Steven Spielberg often make movies that appeal to a younger audience. Prime examples are E.T., The Goonies or Indiana Jones. That Darn Cat is an example of the first approach. You see these flat, unbelievable characters saying things that is supposed to be funny but isn't. The plot itself is enough for a ten minute short, but instead it goes on and on. And although I'm not a kid, I don't quite understand what in this movie is supposed to be fun for kids? The clumsy cops chased by a dog, the old lady with a tweety bird or Christina Ricci's sarcastic oneliners? One actor showed a spark of talent with his very acrobatic humour: Doug E. Doug playing the FBI agent.

An abomination. Disney's remake of their own 1965 slapstick classic concerns a clever feline leading an F.B.I. agent to a kidnapped woman. Christina Ricci gives a churlish, let-me-outta-here performance as the cat's owner, while the the fed is played embarrassingly over-the-top by Doug E. Doug, who has been directed to resemble a human cartoon. A pair of rich neurotics (Dyan Cannon and original "Cat" cast member Dean Jones) are amusing, and the formula plot still has a little juice left in it; but the handling here is so heavy and lugubrious--and the cat so dull and lifeless--that the whole project feels dog-tired. NO STARS from ****

The only entertaining thing that I found about watching this movie was listening to Star Wars coming through the wall of the movie theatre (yes I go to a really bad movie theatre). This movie is so mind numbingly bad that I think I would rather have my eyes scratched out by a cat rather than watch it again.

Let's compare it to the original. One is charming, funny, exciting, well acted, and one of the best movies ever made, the other is so far from funny that all you can do is hope that your eyeballs will fall out so you don't have to watch any more. I'm sorry Christina Ricci is a fine actress but cannot compare with Hailley Mills, and don't even get me started on Doug E. Doug in a part one occupied by the amazing and absolutely charming Dean Jones. Dean Jones' tiny part in the new version is the only partially redeeming part of this movie, and it is the only reason I can justify a 1* rating (also because the imdb doesn't go into negatives).

Ladies and Gentlemen, may we present the worst of all Disney remakes. Although the name of this movie is "That Darn Cat", it should have been "That Darn Teen" or "FBI Agent". The cat didn't get any real good scenes, Ricci's character was more annoying than funny, Doug E. Doug didn't get any good lines, even Dean Jones's cameo role couldn't save this movie! The only really good characters were the town's only two auto mechanics, but their scenes were only brief. In all, I'd say that if you are considering watching this movie, go get something more intelligent like a Barney video.

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)... ¯\_(-_-)_/¯

Well, first of all this 1997 re-imagination of the 1965 classic "That Darn Cat" movie is certainly something that will appeal to a younger audience today, for sure.

But that being said, then as a person that have watched and loved the 1965 version, then I have to say that this 1997 version from director Bob Spiers just feels rather unnecessary, especially since the 1965 version is one that actually still can be watched even now in 2021.

This is a family movie, and it does have that traditional Disney feel to it, which is good. And there are lots of nice things about this 1997 version, and it is not a bad movie, quite far from it actually. But the movie just doesn't match the original and why it was re-made, I don't know. And the storyline sort of went a bit too far in terms of mayhem and random destruction of property.

The 1997 version of "That Darn Cat" does have a nice cast ensemble, with the likes of Christina Ricci, Doug E. Doug, George Dzundza, Peter Boyle, Michael McKean, John Ratzenberger, Thomas F. Wilsom and Rebecca Schull. But most interesting and impressive is the fact that Dean Jones actually showed up in this movie, which was quite a nice touch actually.

The cat, Elvis, in the movie is cute, that much is certain. And he does add a lot of charm to the movie.

While this 1997 movie is watchable, it just wasn't a remake that was necessary. My rating of "That Darn Cat" lands on a five out of ten stars.

I switched on the TV and started watching this movie part way through. I found it so funny I wanted to find out more.

Its style of humour makes jokes in quite a sophisticated way, assuming the audience is smart and paying attention. From the reviews I have read I think very few critics were paying attention.

I loved the way the movie takes sideswipes at American society, rich people and the not so rich.

I have been the barrage of negative criticism from professional critics and viewers. It's a mystery to me.

Brilliant cast. Brilliant writing. How did they get the cat to act like that?

But I still enjoyed watching her, so I gave it a 3 instead of a 1. Her expressions are priceless. Some of the other cast members (e.g., Michael McKean) are really slumming, too. The cat himself is somewhat amusing. Aside from that, the movie is all cliche, culminating in a much-too-long car chase. (It's also at this point that the movie becomes unnecessarily crude, having been very "family" until then.)

They made this movie modern, but they also made it more realistic! I am soooo sick of this "Reality TV" era. People seem to have forgotten that fantasy and exercising the imagination are the original reasons for and the very fabric of entertainment movies. For example, in the original, Patricia Randall and her older sister, Ingrid, were living alone at their house while their parents were traveling in Europe. The character of Ingrid was not even in this movie. Part of the fun of the original was that Ingrid Randall and Zeke Kelso were starting to fall in love. Their parents never called their daughters or anything. In real life, few parents would actually stay away that long at once, and even if they did, they would keep closer tabs on their girls. In the new version, Patricia Randall is an only child and her parents happen to be out of the house or just unaware of what is happening. Who cares whether or not it would happen in real life? That was the original point to making movies like that Darn Cat; so that people would get to see things happen the way that they WANT them to happen, not the way that they actually do happen. Christina Ricci also degraded the precocious but sweet character that Hayley Mills originated. Of course, the decay and crudity of the modern world had to be embedded into this movie that was assumed to be like the original; safe and fun for all ages! It was nice to see Dean Jones in the movie, but that is just about the only positive thing I can think of about this version. On top of everything else, the original version immortalized D.C. as a SIAMESE cat(No other kind of cat should have been used), and the rocky title song of this movie was JUNK! It was not at all worthy to be compared to the soothing, orchestrated title song in the original, written by Richard and Robert Sherman, the composers of music for many other Disney classics (e.g. The Parent Trap, Mary Poppins),and sung beautifully by Bobby Darin. What is wrong with today's producers? Do they not want their children to enjoy the same harmless but fun entertainment that helped make their own childhoods memorable? It is a good thing that the classics are being re-released on video and DVD because right now, the past seems to be the only place to find true family entertainment.

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.

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.

An inferior remake to their original hit, Disney try to create a hip and darker version of the original, and fail on all grounds.

The normally reliable Christina Ricci finds it hard to make this work, and it shows.

Well intentioned, but a dud nonetheless.

I am really at a loss as to how anyone could give this movie a 10 (or even more than a 2!). It is full of bad lines, bad acting, bad slapstick, etc. I never thought I could see worse acting than the purposefully badly acted scenes at the beginning of UHF, but this was it. And just when you think it can't possibly get any worse, it does! Over and over again! You actually could have watched this in a theater? It wasn't worth free on TV! My 4-year-old and 1-year-old liked it some, but they wanted to see the cat more and the cat was almost never on.

I haven't watched the original 1965 version yet so I can't compare.

This is a kids movie so you have to view it for what it is, and I thought it was quite alright. The cat was well trained, I don't think it was easy to do this.

In the beginning I thought the acting of Doug E Doug was terrible but as the movie went on I started to like him more.

The movie has its funny moments although a bit slow perhaps at times.

If you have young kids I'm sure they would enjoy this film.

The 1965 version was more faithful to the book, more captivating, less caricatured and mocking, cute, but even the kitten is less captivating than in the previous version, the exaggeratedly slow detective, the rude girl, despite being a fan of Christina Ricci, the Patti should be sweeter and kinder... Long, with more adventures than the other, I just liked the setting, 90s nostalgia, otherwise boring...

This movie is not the best in the world, but it is cute. It could stand a lot of improvement, and Patty needs a new attitude, but the movie is watch-able and, at times, enjoyable. I give it a 5 out of 10.

The main reason why I wanted to see this movie remake was because of Christina Ricci who I loved in Casper and the two Addams Family movies. While she was decent in the title role, although her character is pretty bratty and unlikeable, the cat is cute and Doug E.Doug brings a touch of class to Zeke, the whole film could have been much better. Other than Ricci and Jones, the remainder of the cast are unexceptional and that for me was a disappointment as I like Michael McKean, he is very talented, as was Peter Boyle. The cinematography and scenery from decent to adequate, but the real problems were in the story and the script. The story is very predictable, and there are parts where it drags very badly. The script is also very weak, lacking in a lot of areas, and I did feel the music was not that great either. The length is just right, but with such pedestrian pacing it feels twice as long sometimes. Also there is nothing new from the original, which was very entertaining otherwise unexceptional. Overall, watchable but disappointing. 4/10 Bethany Cox