★ 5 / 10
Nice idea, just not one that's executed well
r96sk
Nice idea, just not one that's executed well at all. 'The Cat from Outer Space' is mundane. The concept of an alien cat invading is cool, but they choose to do…
Nice idea, just not one that's executed well at all.
'The Cat from Outer Space' is mundane. The concept of an alien cat invading is cool, but they choose to do it in a way that is boring - the cat, Jake, speaks via voiceover only, so there are many shots of the cat just staring whilst Ronnie Schell speaks. That just doesn't work, to get attached/become interested in a character you need emotion and/or expression... you get none of that here. I never cared for Jake, and that's coming from someone who loves cats.
Also with the plot they spend most of the time focusing on the cat helping the humans with dull things, like betting and freezing people. Quite inconsistently too, there's a number of times where the cat could solve their problem instantly but they avoid using him for some reason. It's only at the end when they, truly, tackle the overall story arc - which itself is held back by the (understandably, I guess) lame special effects.
Cast-wise it's very flat, none of them are particularly bad but they all give forgettable performances - even Harry Morgan (Stilton), who has done some fine things for Disney in these early decades.
I can think of at least ten worse live-action flicks from this studio up until 1978, but that's not to say this is anything worth watching - it isn't, unfortunately.
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★ 7 / 10
Hilarious, for me anyway
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…
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.
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