Fan Review by Patsy, October 22, 2008
I believe I will give 2 1/2 stars out of 4 for this little film. It is not my favorite, but for those same reasons, it seems to have a sincerity about it. "Cats The Movie" (renamed from A Cat's Tale, which I liked better) seems to have begun as casual home movies of someone's cute kitty wandering around a house and neighborhood. The way it's filmed seems amateurish, not polished or slick, which is part of the charm. It's nothing like the irritating "Cats And Dogs" of several years ago, in which CGI mouths were used.
Like many fans have said, it seems they let the cats just do what they wanted on camera, not "tricks" as the misleading statement on the DVD says, and built the story around it. The story has a slow beginning, but it gets better as it progresses. It was confusing, as well as annoying, when the cat was suddenly whisked away by some skater/thief, and the weird plot about how this thief talked about selling the cat and getting money was out of place. As if a lot of people really want cats nowadays! It didn't last anyway. It was just some weird thing thrown in to establish the cat "getting lost" and trying to find his way back home.
Some of the voiceover from Marchello (Troy Garrity of "Soldier's Girl") was a little too chatty and annoying at times. I just wanted to watch the cat play and run around. It's only my opinion. I get irritated at the voiceovers on "The Planet's Funniest Animals" too. Sometimes you just want to watch animals play without some human voice yapping over it.
Jeremy Sisto plays one of 2 squirrels in the film, and it's pretty cute to listen to! It's not that big a role, however, so if you're only in it for him, I'm just warning you in advance.
I would say that this film might delight very young children because the writing of the script and the way the actors voice the characters seems aimed that way. The simple plot and adorable felines might also score with hardcore cat lovers.
Again, not my favorite, but it's a cute one. Happy Halloween!