Feline Films with Delta
Hello and welcome to Cinema Wellman. I am your host David, and today I’m joined in the studio by Delta!
Delta belongs to my friend Courtney, and I’m watching him while she attends a music festival.
As has become custom here at Cinema Wellman when taking care of animals belonging to friends or family…we have a special episode for you!
Since Delta is a cat, we’re going to be covering 13 cat movies that were NEW to us here at Cinema Wellman.
And I want to make it clear that, as was the case when I took care of Nora, Delta was NOT interested in ANY of the films he was privy to.
Not even the ones when rats, mice, and dogs were involved.
Another custom here at Cinema Wellman is if you visit us, there WILL be films playing. Whether you watch or not is totally up to you.
Before getting into the new cat capers, I do want to mention another dozen cat movies that have been screened in the past and are recommended viewing for cat owners and non-cat owners alike, and these 12 cat films (listed here in chronological order) span the genres so there’s something for everyone.
*Cat People (1942 OR 1982) - classic horror, original or remake
*Rhubarb (1951) - a feral cat inherits a baseball team - delightful!
*Harry and Tonto (1974) - Art Carney won a Best Actor Oscar as a man on a cross country journey with his cat
*Hausu (1977) - or House - this Japanese horror film is a cult classic - you need to watch the trailer at least - this is wild, wild stuff
*The Cat From Outer Space (1978) - fun Disney family film from a time when Disney cared about making fun family films
*Cat’s Eye (1985) - anthology horror film of Stephen King’s stories
*Pet Sematary (1989 OR 2019) - more from Stephen King - I liked the original and the remake
*Puss in Boots (2011) - I can’t help but crack up listening to Antonio Banderas voice Puss
*Keanu (2016) - the title character is the adorable kitten of an L.A. crime kingpin - a fun, silly Key & Peele comedy
*Kedi (2016) - a documentary about the many cats that live in Istanbul - this was awesome
*Luck (2022) - a fun animated adventure about the battle between the organizations of good luck and bad luck
*Flow (2024) - I think I’ve mentioned this one before…
The new cat movies we’ll be meowing about today will be listed by IMDb scores worst to best. The worst score being a totally deserved 2.8, and the best score being 7.8! Five of these films had an IMDb score of 7+, which is impressive.
We are feline fine today, so let's open this bag of cats!
Cats (2019)
PG/110 min/IMDb: 2.8/directed by Tom Hooper
Wow! This was something. And by something I mean this was as bad as I thought it was going to be. I have always heard terrible things about Cats, and never had any desire to see it until this project.
I asked around a bit to see if anyone had actually seen it, and most responded with a “No!” as if I asked them if they’ve ever eaten a worm.
When my girls were part of the drama club in high school they were part of this production. When asked if they had seen it, Dakota responded with a resounding, “No!”
Hannah had seen it, so we compared notes.
We agreed on the following points:
*Stunningly bad
*Uninspiring, utterly forgettable music
*Incredible waste of talent! (Jennifer Hudson, Idris Elba!)
*Not even Taylor Swift could save it
*God-awful CGI - If you can perform the play every night on Broadway since 1982 without CGI why can’t you make the movie without CGI!!
Hannah added that she has attempted to explain the concept of the entire thing to friends and they don’t believe her.
The “Butthole Boondoggle” itself is testament to what a mess this production was.
How this ran on Broadway for such a run (5th longest in Broadway HISTORY!) is a mystery to me.
Avoid these cats at all costs.
Next up is a TV movie that left me with more questions than answers. It did star Kathleen Quinlan, and we love her, so that was good.
The rest was not.
Strays (1991)
R/83 min/IMDb: 4.7/directed by John McPherson
Just some of the dumbest behavior you’ll ever see in a horror movie. It’s one of those horror movies that will have you yelling a variety of questions and curse words at your screen.
These Yuppie morons…hey, that guy looks like Timothy Busfield!...move into their “dream” house out in the sticks to get away from the city blah blah blah.
The previous owner of the house they move into was apparently killed by a clowder of stray cats, and don’t potential buyers need to be told that by law or something?
In any event they move into a house that has three great looking floors. All good, dream house, etc.
Then there’s the basement and attic. Both of which are straight out of a Saw movie.
Dripping water everywhere, holes, exposed wiring, vermin.
It’s ridiculous.
And then the cats are terrorizing the family and they’re in the vents of the house. I have to admit that the parts where the cluster of cats are running rampant are pretty scary.
The rest of it is just silly.
Who leaves their bulkhead open all the time anyway? That may have been the dumbest part of the whole movie.
That Darn Cat (1997)
This is a remake of Disney’s 1965 That Darn Cat, and you know how we feel about remakes here at Cinema Wellman.
If you’re interested in a movie about a cat being part of an FBI investigation led by an agent who’s allergic to cats, see the original.
This wasn’t bad, and I have nothing against Christina Ricci, but it wasn’t very good either.
Next up is a movie based on a favorite cartoon of mine when I was a kid.
How did I not know this existed?!?!
Top Cat (2011)
PG/90 min/IMDb: 4.7/directed by Alberto Mar
This isn’t even an American movie which had me researching why another country was delving into Hoagy’s Alley for the adventures of T.C.
Turns out Top Cat is HUGE in Mexico!
The original title of the film is Don gato y su Padilla!
Like EVERY episode of the cartoon, the movie is about T.C., Benny, Brain, Choo-Choo, Fancy-Fancy, and Spook involved in all sorts of scams and schemes which are attempted to be stopped by poor Officer Dibble.
I enjoyed this 90 minute hit of nostalgia, but understand the low rating on IMDb.
Remember that these feline films are being presented in ascending order of IMDb scores, so the “good" ones are coming up.
Eye of the Cat (1969)
M/102 min/IMDb: 6.1/directed by David Lowell Rich
Okay, maybe not just yet.
IMDb says: “A man and his girlfriend plan to rob the mansion of the man’s eccentric aunt. However, the aunt keeps dozens of cats in her home, and the man is deathly afraid of cats.”
If you think this sounds like a cheesy, lurid melodrama, you’d be correct.
The man and his girlfriend are idiots, and I was rooting for the cats the entire time.
Again, some of the cat mob scenes when they’re attacking are pretty scary.
Lots of people are afraid of cats, and I totally get it!
Not you, Delta, you’re a good little guy!
Oliver & Company (1988)
G/74 min/IMDb: 6.6/directed by George Scribner
G rated, sub 80 minute late 80s animated family fun from Disney featuring a variety of voice actors that are pretty amusing at times.
Cheech Marin, Richard Mulligan, Roscoe Lee Brown, Dom DeLuise, and Bette Midler all add their voices to this story about a “lost and alone kitten who joins a gang of dogs engaged in petty larceny in New York City.”
Oliver is voiced by “Whoa!” Joey Lawrence!
Yet ANOTHER Joey Lawrence citing here at Cinema Wellman!
Enough already.
That Darn Cat (1965)
G/116 min/IMDb: 6.7/directed by Robert Stevenson
This is a G rated family adventure film from Disney that involves a kidnapped bank teller who is held at gunpoint by thugs and repeatedly threatened with MURDER!
Disney was a little dark back in the 60s.
I was surprised that I had never seen this. I’m sure I had seen it at some point as a kid, but if it’s not in the archives, I didn’t officially see it.
I enjoyed it and was reminded of the films that Disney used to make.
A Whisker Away (2020)
PG/104 min/IMDb: 6.7/directed by Junichi Sato
This was screened when Dakota was here for a visit, and we kept looking at each other with what I’d call “questioning surprise.”
D described it as “chaotic,” while I couldn’t help thinking that the screenplay must have been written by a 7th grade girl.
We didn’t dislike it, but it was easily the weakest of the three Japanese animated films on this list.
Felidae (1994)
UR/82 min/IMDb: 7.0/directed by Michael Schaack
While searching cat cinema to screen for this episode I ran across Felidae, a German animated mystery that IMDb describes as follows; “A cat must investigate brutal murders of other cats in a neighborhood he has moved into with his owner.”
Those Germans and their fun animated family adventures!
This was actually one of my favorites on this list as the story was interesting, the lead investigating cat was well written, and it moved like any normal murder mystery with humans.
And there’s even a sex scene!
Not the humans, the cats!
Those Germans and their fun animated family adventures!
This is well worth the 82 minutes if you can find it. This was a lot of fun.
The Aristocats (1970)
G/78 min/IMDb: 7.1/directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
IMDb: “One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke - one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.”
Wait. That’s not The Aristocats. One minute.
“With the help of a smooth talking tomcat, a family of Parisian felines set to inherit a fortune from their owner try to make it back home after a jealous butler kidnaps them and leaves them in the country.”
Yes! That’s it! That’s The Aristocats!
This was actually a lot of fun, as were the other hand-drawn animation films on this list. In this age of AI (A1), it’s so refreshing to see a finished product that was painstakingly engineered by humans.
Like That Darn Cat, I know I had seen this as a kid, but if it’s not in the archives…
Next up is a film from Studio Ghibli, so you know we loved it!
The Cat Returns (2002)
G/75 min/IMDb: 7.1/directed by Hiroyuki Morita
Dakota and I both loved this film IMDb tells us is about a seventeen-year-old girl who, after helping a cat, finds herself involuntarily engaged to a cat Prince in a magical world where her only hope of freedom lies with a dapper cat statuette come to life.
At Cinema Wellman, and plenty of other places, Studio Ghibli is money in the bank. So many wonderful stories brought to life over the years that are just magical on the screen.
Every Ghibli fan has their favorites, but you honestly can’t go wrong with any movies released under their umbrella.
D and I especially loved the “security cats!”
A Streetcat Named Bob (2016)
NR/103 min/IMDb: 7.3/directed by Roger Spottiswoode
The title character of this wonderful film based on a true story and international best selling book is an orange cat, much like my friend Delta!
IMDb tells us; “The true feel-good story of how James Bowen, a busker and recovering drug addict, has his life transformed when he meets a stray ginger cat.”
This is an addiction story with a very positive vibe and is absolute proof that an animal can make all the difference in a person’s life.
A pet can be a literal life-saver for people. James Bowen is proof of that.
I love that I read they cast several cats to play the real Bob, but he ended up doing most of it himself.
When I shared that I was watching this (and crying) with my friend Jenn, she said she cried just watching the trailer!
Jenn loves cats. And positivity.
One more feline film to mention, and it’s another Studio Ghibli film!
And this one is directed by the master.
Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
G/103 min/IMDb: 7.8/directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Yet another masterpiece of animation directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki.
IMDb; “Along with her black cat Jiji, Kiki settles in a seaside town and starts a high-flying delivery service. Here begins her magical encounter with independence and responsibility, making lifelong friends and finding her place in the world.”
I’m really not going to add much more to that other than you should see Kiki’s Delivery Service and EVERY other film produced by Studio Ghibli.
It’s just pure magic.
Well, that’s a wrap from here at Cinema Wellman. If you happen to be a cat person, we’ve given you quite a few wonderful cat movies to seek out, and a couple to stay far away from.
Delta and I thank you for tuning in today.
I hope you join us next time when I won’t have an animal houseguest, so I guess I’ll have to think of something else.
Until then, take care.
