The Cat from Outer Space (1978)

Brilliant and touching

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Psh 3 stars, that movie deserved an Academy Award.

No major spoilers here.Why would I watch TCFOS let alone write about it? (Or is that "why would I write about it, let alone watch it"?) Well, for one thing, it gives me a small measure of satisfaction to rate a silly old Disney flick much higher than I would "Avatar". (Much much much higher.) Secondly, it's a nice little opportunity to compare the cat's "performance" to Tom Cruise's in… just about any movie he's been in. The cat beats him every time, hands down. (And it only got paid in Friskies, not millions of dollars.) It has only one facial expression, but it's a multi-faceted expression compared to Cruise's wide "variety" of annoying grins.Someone pointed out that the cat used for TCFOS waggled its tail every time someone lifted it. "It didn't like being handled," this amazing Agatha-Christian detective pointed out. Which brings me to the third reason for writing this comment: considering what crap some daft people write, nothing I include in this comment can be any worse. Look, I can be a detective too! Example: I have NOTICED that the cat doesn't open its mouth when it talks. So they must have used a NORMAL cat as opposed to an actual alien feline that can talk. The bleedin'-obvious detective work; I am so glad I am capable of it too.TCFOS is a cute little feature with a simple plot, the usual broad Disney acting, and dialog aimed at young kids – so it should be right up Nicholas Cage's alley. (I also hotly recommend the movie and its non-complex story to Sean Penn.) In fact, I'd suggest TCFOS to Nick as study material should he ever want to "improve" on his over-acting shout-a-lot method-acting technique (which I hear normally takes 500 years to develop). In any case, he should watch the film because I hear that these kinds of Disney flicks help develop the young, under-developed mind. On a more embarrassing note, the grand-finale chopper/plane action sequence beats almost anything any recent James Bond film had given us. Daniel Craig is actually shorter than the damsel-in-distress being rescued here (and she's of average female height), so I don't even know if she could have been cast in any new 007 movie; Bond should never be towered over by a taller woman – not even in a Craig "Bond". What this has got to do with either TCFOS or the rotting Bond franchise, you ask. Absolutely nothing. And yet everything.

While this isn't the best Disney movie I've ever seen (You would think being made 19 years after Darby O'Gill the graphics would be better, Gill being ahead of it's time for 1959) it's so obviously a silly movie made for kids! While it's true that the special effects and quality of the picture leave something to be desired, you don't really notice until someone points it out. It's an "entertaining" movie with a cast full of familiar faces, plots children can understand, flashing lights, and hi jinx involving a talking cat. To dissect this movie as if it were up for an Oscar is a mistake and setting up what is just supposed to be a fun family film, for failure. Kids do like it and it is entertaining enough that you don't mind watching it with your children.In regards to the comment "...if this movie is called THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE then why couldn't they have dubbed the cat with a voice that sounds feline ?" because why would they? it doesn't take away from the plot or the climax or any of the characters if the cat talks in a regular voice, there are actually a few scenes when people overhear him and thinks someone else said something. Bottom line : it's silly, fun, sometimes cheesy and definitely not a movie to watch if you take all of your movie watching too seriously.

2004 has been a really awful year for Disney movies and I will not add insult to injury by reeling out a list of mega turkeys they`ve released in the past 12 months . If it`s any consolation to the studio at least their recent flops have had high production values unlike this 1978 offering The story itself is fair though somewhat silly but what really brings the movie down are the simply irredemable production values . First up is the picture quality which instantly reminded me of an old 70s cop show that had been lying in a TV archive for too long . You know those old repeats of STARSKY AND HUTCH and KOJAK that turn up on cable late at night ? well that`s how the picture quality looks like on this movie . Secondly I lost count ( or rather I stopped counting after 300 ) of the number of times that the action cuts away from a location long shot to an actor standing in front of some laughably obvious back projection . I say " laughably obvious " but that gives the impression there`s something amusing about it when there`s not . Finally if this movie is called THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE then why couldn`t they have dubbed the cat with a voice that sounds feline ? I know the cat is called Jake but couldn`t the producers have changed its name to something female and got Eartha Kitt to do the voice ? All in all very grim stuff from the studio that brought us MARY POPPINS and 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA