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Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

That Darn Cat (1997): Dir: Bob Spiers / Cast: Christina Ricci, Doug E. Doug, Michael McKean, Dyan Cannon, Peter Boyle: Utterly boring and stupid remake of the 1965 original. This version is about as exciting as getting a vasectomy. Witless plot regards a cat that prowls out at exactly eight-o-clock. It diverts a dog's attention so to steal its food before the mutt receives a fence board to the head. It would watch a bird through a window, then a cat, etc, etc. Who gives a crap. A kidnapped rich woman slips a watch around its neck and its owner played by Christina Ricci investigates. She is joined by rookie cop Doug E. Doug who will obviously prove himself to his fellow cops. The cat is not half as interesting as the Siamese in the original. Uninspired directing by Bob Spiers whose locations are the only area of compliment. Ricci deserves better than this, and Doug overacts as the rookie cop viewed as a joke to others on the force. Being part of this film will not likely help him in the popularity polls either. Michael McKean, Peter Boyle and Dyan Cannon make forgettable appearances and that is pretty pathetic considering the talent involved. It is a family mystery but lacks the intrigue of the original, which wasn't quite as corny as this turned out to be. Perhaps if the cat was given a personality then perhaps this film might have rose above mediocre, otherwise it has all the ambition of a cut dog. Score: 1 / 10

First off, what people don't realize in this film is that it is an attempt by Disney to create an art flick that represents many television shows that were popular when the original movie came out. For instance, the reference to Monte Carlo is pointing to Herbie goes Bananas, in which the same car that the criminals in That Darn Cat was used in Monte Carlo. Also, the scene where the car jumps over the police car is a reference to the Dukes of Hazard county, who like to jump over Boss Hoggs (another rent-a-cop with a butch). These are but two of many references to old television shows and movies that Disney sought to represent in this underrated piece. Too bad they aimed at the wrong target audience. It has gone the way of Cabin Fever.

This remake is entitled "That Darn Cat", but D.C. the cat is more of a sideline than the major character. Patti Randall was not likable at all in this remake either. She reminded me of one of those high school Goth jerks you read about who have been angry since the day they were born, so they end up opening fire on the rest of the school one day. The federal cop, Kelso was okay, but not as good as the one in the original. I guess Disney was trying to make Christina Ricci and Doug Doug (or whatever goofy name he has) into stars, but they don't hold a candle to Hayley Mills and Dean Jones in the original. I'm an animal lover and a cat lover and I don't blame D.C. for the remake being so much more inferior to the original movie. After all, they nearly cut him out of the whole movie. All in all, a very poor remake.

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 ****