hyped garbage

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Psh 3 stars, that movie deserved an Academy Award.

No major spoilers here.Why would I watch TCFOS let alone write about it? (Or is that "why would I write about it, let alone watch it"?) Well, for one thing, it gives me a small measure of satisfaction to rate a silly old Disney flick much higher than I would "Avatar". (Much much much higher.) Secondly, it's a nice little opportunity to compare the cat's "performance" to Tom Cruise's in… just about any movie he's been in. The cat beats him every time, hands down. (And it only got paid in Friskies, not millions of dollars.) It has only one facial expression, but it's a multi-faceted expression compared to Cruise's wide "variety" of annoying grins.Someone pointed out that the cat used for TCFOS waggled its tail every time someone lifted it. "It didn't like being handled," this amazing Agatha-Christian detective pointed out. Which brings me to the third reason for writing this comment: considering what crap some daft people write, nothing I include in this comment can be any worse. Look, I can be a detective too! Example: I have NOTICED that the cat doesn't open its mouth when it talks. So they must have used a NORMAL cat as opposed to an actual alien feline that can talk. The bleedin'-obvious detective work; I am so glad I am capable of it too.TCFOS is a cute little feature with a simple plot, the usual broad Disney acting, and dialog aimed at young kids – so it should be right up Nicholas Cage's alley. (I also hotly recommend the movie and its non-complex story to Sean Penn.) In fact, I'd suggest TCFOS to Nick as study material should he ever want to "improve" on his over-acting shout-a-lot method-acting technique (which I hear normally takes 500 years to develop). In any case, he should watch the film because I hear that these kinds of Disney flicks help develop the young, under-developed mind. On a more embarrassing note, the grand-finale chopper/plane action sequence beats almost anything any recent James Bond film had given us. Daniel Craig is actually shorter than the damsel-in-distress being rescued here (and she's of average female height), so I don't even know if she could have been cast in any new 007 movie; Bond should never be towered over by a taller woman – not even in a Craig "Bond". What this has got to do with either TCFOS or the rotting Bond franchise, you ask. Absolutely nothing. And yet everything.

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.

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!