Numerootno
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
abs1957
If you cannot enjoy a film where the hero is a gorgeous cat with a magic collar then you probably also hate other fantasy films like the Harry Potter series. You certainly need to chill out and stop watching all those super-serious gritty movies and enjoy some escapist fantasy ones instead.This remains the one and only film that my wife and I have ever paid hard-earned cash to see more than once at the cinema. It's that good, but only if you are a cat-lover!
Nick Damian
This film is based on actual events...The story focuses and is centralized on a cat - which through a mechanical mishap made a detour while traveling in his spaceship and lands on Earth.As this is a real account of actual events, it can only be confirmed that JAKE - the cat has come to terms with being on Earth.The details are very interesting - mainly due to the fact that the military did not try to hide this event and thus has been made public and is of public record.The President was informed of this visitor from another planet and even the mafia had ties to this event.Dealing with an energy crisis and alternative means of transportation was a very crucial and important matter at the time of the 70's when the cat came to Earth and has now evolved into much of a larger scale fiasco.Had the people only taken the advise of the cat, we - today - might not have nearly the problems which we now face on a grand scale - worldwide.I strongly believe that we should carefully go back over the details which the cat from outer-space had given to us in his incisive and informative quest to return back to his planet and put his words of knowledge into immediate action.Jake - the cat from outer-space obviously had the answers for this now crumbling world and this being already foreseen 30 or so years ago, should now be ventured into with all efforts and of course, credit given back to Jake in an effort to eliminate the damage done to our planet.What may scare you is - as the cameras were capturing live action, you will see that the Army puts in plenty of effort to kill the cat and even though the cat.For more details on this event, be sure to ask your congressman for the files located in CIA headquarters.
funkyfry
I really can't say why, but this movie's premise just cracks me up. Seeing that cat emerge from the UFO and stroll so gracefully down the plank has the same effect on me now as it had when I saw the movie as a kid – I just start laughing really hard for a good half minute or so. It's not a bad movie, actually, and the humor is deliberate. I think it's even funnier because the spaceship and the alien cat's mission are treated with such seriousness from the get-go, leaving all the goofy humor to the human characters.Part of what makes it so great of course is just the fact that they picked a cat. With a dog this movie would be in the words of one character, "Dumb. Very dumb." But cats are just that way… no matter where you put then, they pretty much look and act as if they own the place. So you put that cat with his magic collar on a UFO and darned if he doesn't really belong there, which I think is what makes it so bizarre.It's great how, without computers, they were able to get that cat to react in appropriate ways in scenes with the actors… what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the all (or, a cat on the couch!) in that editing conference. The human actors, even people with loads of talent like Roddy McDowell and Harry Morgan, don't stand a chance of upstaging this feline extraterrestrial. I love how Jake (that's the cat) is more realistic and down to earth than his human scientist buddy, Frank (Ken Berry). Berry doesn't have much screen presence, but would the movie actually be better if it was Steve McQueen? Sandy Duncan on the other hand I thought was very engaging and had a real flair for deadpan humor. She reminds me of other great 60s film comediennes like Goldie Hawn and Debbie Walley.As a side note, I kind of felt Spielberg's "E.T." borrowed some elements from this film. You have the friendly misunderstood alien, the glowing collar instead of a glowing finger, and even a flying bike! The whole framework of having an alien befriend the humans is old-hat nowadays but actually was pretty unusual before E.T. (you had a few in the 50s… "Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Space People", but not much in the mid/late 60s or early 70s).One thing that's interesting watching the movie now in the 21st Century is how other than the cat every major character is an adult. You would never see a kids' film these days that doesn't even have children in it. Speaking as one who saw the movie as a child (though not when it was released… probably a decade later when I was 12 or so), I never had a problem with that and it never would have occurred to me at that time. So I think modern family filmmakers are probably guilty of underestimating the imagination of children and their ability to empathize with adult characters.This film never aimed to be high art, but it's still noticeable how well it does accomplish its limited goals – a tiny dose of sci-fi/fantasy, a good deal of action, and a lot of slapstick and situational humor. The special effects, by the way, are actually pretty good for their time. The digital graphics on the UFO's display screens and the control panel itself are more convincing than the computers you see in stuff like the original Star Trek series or "Logan's Run" which just came out a few years before this film. All of this detail greatly adds to the humor of seeing this domestic animal placed in this environment.Cats have always been known for their inscrutable stares and associated with divine wisdom. This film has strong charm despite being limited by its own ambition, and maybe even more so in retrospect since nowadays these things are done with effects instead of real animals. I wonder if kids really can connect to a computerized image of a cat in the same way they can relate to a real cat like the ones in their neighborhoods.
dfray
I initially saw this movie as a child and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have actually looked for it for years and am thrilled it is out on DVD. As most fun Disney films, it's not meant to be 'realistic' - just entertaining fun. Disney wasn't looking to develop masterful characters here but enjoyable ones that could help convey positive messages through the story line. Most young kids would enjoy this film, intrigued by the smart cat from another planet. Most kids would get into the plot, will probably be using their imaginations to construct pictures of the cat's home planet, and will be rooting for him to make it home. If you can withdraw from the current thrust of fast-pace, high-tech film to relax with a cute story, I'd say enjoy!
