That Darn Cat (Live Action) (Remastered) (1997)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	85:44
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Bob Spiers
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Christina Ricci Doug E. Doug George Dzundza Peter Boyle Michael McKean Bess Armstrong Dyan Cannon Dean Jones
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Richard Kendall Gibbs

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Spanish Norwegian Swedish Danish Finnish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    OK, everyone. Listen up! I wanna check that we got everything. Sing out when I call you!

    Cute kid who's smarter than her parents and doesn't fit in at school? Present!

    Photogenic animal who is apparently smarter than all the humans? Rowr!

    Rehashed script of a successful movie? Got it right here!

    Well-meaning mom? Here!

    Low-key dad for the heart-touching moment? Here!

    Incompetent FBI agent with the famous father he can't live up to? Here!

    Aging has-been Disney actor? Here!

    Bumbling pair of local law enforcement? Here! Yo! Guys, you'll have to be security guards in this film — we've had bumbling police in the last three films.

    Comic relief minor characters? Present! Here! Here! Present! Here! Over here! Ruff! Hmm, excuse me a moment.

    Hey, Ralph — isn't that an awful lot of comic relief characters? Have you read the script? I think we're gonna need ALL of them. Oh. I knew I should have called in sick today...

    I can't swear that the conversation above happened. But it seems likely. This film is very formulaic, like a checklist of all things Disney. But there's something missing: that Disney sparkle that makes a good Disney film work despite the formulaic elements. It's sorely missed.

    This film is a remake. The original, made in 1965, starred Hayley Mills as the (not so young) girl, and had Dean Jones as the FBI agent. This remake has Christina Ricci as the girl, and Doug E. Doug as the FBI agent. Dean Jones has a minor part in this film. I haven't seen the original, but it must have been considerably better than this for anyone to consider remaking it.

    The plot (if you can call it that) runs like this: a woman is kidnapped. A cat comes up to her, where she's sitting bound to a chair. She puts her wristwatch around the cat's neck. The cat's owner finds the wristwatch, and notifies the FBI. They don't take it seriously, and send an incompetent agent to investigate. He sets up a team of agents to tail the cat to find the woman. Hijinks ensue.

    Christina Ricci is reasonable in this film, but the script is hardly a stretch for her.

    Doug E. Doug was excellent in Cool Runnings (now that was a good Disney film!), but he really strains here — maybe he's better as a supporting actor?

    The supporting cast turn in reasonable performances, although Dyan Cannon probably doesn't include this in her resume. Come to think of it, I don't imagine any of the cast will be listing this film.

    The script might have been a success, with the right director, and a huge special effects budget (something like Cats and Dogs). So we can't blame the script alone. And I don't think we can blame the actors. The director has to shoulder a lot of the blame for this film's lack of appeal.

    Not recommended.

Video

    This film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. That's close to the theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced. I am bemused by the fact that the transfer is reported (on the cover) as a 14x3 transfer.

    This is the second time this film has been released in Region 4. The previous version was provided in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, too, but was 16x9 enhanced, so this one has gone backwards from there.

    The image is a little soft, but it's clear enough. Shadow detail is not good. There's noticeable film grain. There's no low-level noise.

    Colour is bright and cheerful (this is Disney, after all). There aren't any colour-related artefacts.

    There are plenty of film artefacts. Most of them are small, but there is a very obvious sequence of water spots scattered across several frames from 57:20 to 57:24.

    There is plenty of aliasing, on shutters, blinds, car chrome, US flags — anything that could alias, does. There is some moiré, but to a far lesser extent than the aliasing. There are mo MPEG artefacts.

    There are subtitles in English and five other languages, plus English for the Hearing Impaired. I watched these last, and they are fine — well-timed to the dialogue, accurate, and easy to read.

    The disc is single-sided and single-layered. That means no layer change.

    There's an insert shot at 61:04 featuring what is supposed to be Christina Ricci's hand, but the hand is far too old to be hers.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The English soundtrack (there is another in Spanish) is Dolby Digital 5.1, at 448kbps.

    The dialogue is generally easy to comprehend, and there are no visible audio sync problems. A couple of passages of dialogue sounds overly clear, while at other times it sounds somewhat muffled or distorted (42:31, for example).

    The score, from Richard Kendall Gibbs, is adequate to the task. There is an interesting selection of songs in the soundtrack.

    The surrounds are reasonably active, with a variety of directional sound effects that are clear. The subwoofer isn't needed, and gets minimal use.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are no extras at all.

Menu

    The menu is simple, and easy to use. It's static and silent.

    The Region 1 version of this disc was released in 2003.

    The R1 is missing:

• original aspect ratio

    The R4 is missing:

• nothing

    If you must have a copy of this film, then the R4 disc is preferable, because it is in the original aspect ratio.

    A poor film given an inferior barebones presentation on DVD.

    The video quality is good enough.

    The audio quality is good.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall