That Darn Cat!

As a child of the 1980’s I grew up watching classic Disney films like The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, and That Darn Cat! As a cinephile, beginning to explore the wider world of films beyond what was the latest to drop into theaters, I was developing a healthy disdain for remakes, especially when the only apparent reason for the remake was to earn a quick buck. So in the late 90’s when Disney started churning out remakes of their classic 60’s films I was definitely not the target audience. That didn’t stop me from seeing them, though, but I came away from those experiences feeling empty and insulted. Since those days I have seen the original The Parent Trap and That Darn Cat! many times and have meant to return to Freaky Friday yet never seem to find the time. I have never revisited any of those remakes, though, until loading up the Disney+ app this morning to stream 1997’s That Darn Cat, a film I had vague memories of being a pale facsimile of the classic Hayley Mills film I loved in childhood. I remembered clearly that it didn’t hold my interest back then but was willing to set personal biases aside and judge it for what it is and not what it isn’t.  

The story revolves around the kidnapping of a live-in maid for the wealthy Mr. Flint (Dean Jones). Their intent was to kidnap the wife but these criminals are the typical bumbling affair rampant in Disney films and they snatch the wrong woman. Their ransom demand cannot be met as Mr. Flint is forced to admit he is actually flat broke, having lost all his money through reckless spending and investments. Meanwhile Patti Randall (Christina Ricci) is feeling like an outcast, preferring to distance herself from her piers at her high school. Her parents don’t understand her and her only friend is her cat D.C. One day D.C. returns home from a night in town wearing a wrist watch instead of a collar, a wristwatch with a partial call for help etched in the back and matching that of the one the maid was wearing the night she was kidnapped. Patti speculates that D.C. must have found the house the maid is being held at and that the maid put the watch on the cat in hopes of rescue. Patti goes to the FBI with this information. The FBI tasks agent Zeke Kelso (Doug E. Doug), an agent living off the legend of his father, to tail the cat and see if he can lead them to the kidnapped woman. In typical fashion, chaos ensues.

For a mid-to-late 90’s film aimed at younger audiences That Darn Cat is not terrible. It failed to impress critics at the time who were probably comparing it to its predecessor unfavorably and that does the movie a disservice. That’s not to say it’s a good film, either. The problem here is that the film works on a Disney Channel Movie level more than on a Big Screen level. It has an impatient feel to it like something filmed for The Wonderful World of Disney and being forced to fit into the ninety minute window of that series. With comedies usually 90-100 minutes is the butter zone with anything longer than that trying the patience of viewers. Fitting in a mystery, the drama of Patti and her emotional woes, and fleshing out the many MANY mini dramas of the townsfolk, strains the short runtime leaving everybody as mere caricatures rather than flesh and blood people. This problem could have been lessened by cutting a few of these side stories out. This film does not need the unrequited love of the butcher woman and a security guard, nor the rival between two neighbor mechanics. If they must be included then they need enough time to breath.

This is all the more obvious when looking at the original film from 1965. It, too, had many side stories  playing out during the main plot. But all of these side stories were tied together in such a way as to feel organic and justify their inclusion in the final film. Plus, at just shy of two hours, there was enough time to give room for them. Also, the comedy, while slapsticky at times, was more organic to the characters. In the 90’s version the comedy comes from having oddball characters acting strange for reasons better suited to an animated short. The two mechanics, for example, are constantly upstaging each other but no reason is given for why. These aren’t characters but cartoonish rivalries. The mechanics are at least humorous. The butcher and the security guard are just painful to watch. Their scenes are not even funny on a juvenile level.

Christina Ricci is perfectly fine in the role of Patti. This is the kind of angsty teen she specialized in during this era and she does it well. She wears all dark while her fellow students are in bright colored hues. It’s seems unearned, though, when in the final scenes both sides switch and it’s her classmates in black while she wears the bright primary colors. Her character change seems on the same level as Sandy in the final scene of Grease, too abrupt.

Doug E. Doug, in contrast, gets the bulk of the physical humor. He’s the traditional sad sap who must redeem himself in the eyes of the bureau, forced to make the choice to continue to be a nothing or step up even if it may cost him his job. The arc is not ground breaking but he does a good job at the humor, coming the closest to some of the classic pratfalls popularized in the 60’s film. Still, as funny as some of it is, it doesn’t hold a candle to what was made thirty years prior.

When remaking a film for modern audiences it’s important to reach that audience in a way that the original might not. Younger audiences may not have the patience for a slower burn film like the 60’s That Darn Cat! It’s hard to judge a film like this when it’s aimed for a different audience than I am. With that in mind I watched both back to back with kids in the target age bracket, beginning with the newer film. Both liked the classic version better. With that in mind it becomes clear that, although both films elicited plenty of laughter, the original has a quality to it that didn’t get replicated with the remake. It’s a fine film for what it is but, while the original still endures as a good example of comedy and mystery, the remake has mostly fallen out of the cultural consciousness. 

Release Date: February 14, 1997

Running Time: 86 Minutes

Rated PG

Starring: Christina Ricci, Doug E. Doug, George Dzundza, Peter Boyle, Michael McKean, Bess Armstrong, and Dean Jones

Directed By: Bob Spiers