Your favorite movie featuring cats?

Editing to add the link to the blog post based on this thread -

Oscars Special: Top Ten Best Cat Movies

With the Oscars coming up, I want to run a special piece about our favorite cat movies.

Can you please share in this thread what your favorite cat movie is and why?

It can be more than one movie!

No strict rules here. The cat doesn't have to be the star of the movie, but it needs to be there enough to make an impression and make you enjoy the movie as a cat lover.

A few "cat movies" I can think of - The Aristocrats, Milo and Otis, Cats vs. Dogs and of course, Garfield! Also, the cat in Meet the Parents who used the toilet

Hands down, "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Every time I watch it, I'm moved by how Holly comes to realize that her heart belongs to Paul, just as Cat has become her own; and she decides to keep them both close.

Plus, "Elsa & Fred" (though I need a box of tissue to watch it).

And who doesn't love "The Adventures of Milo and Otis"?

Oops, forgot to explain why I love "Elsa & Fred"... it's about an atypical romance in which Elsa teaches Fred to see the world from a different point of view; and we see just how much he's come to love her when he's willing to search all over Rome for a white kitten, in order for her to fulfill her life's dream.

Also want to add, my husband's favorite movie with "cats" would be "Born Free." He adores big cats and sentimental stories, so it's actually his all-time favorite movie. (He's a big softie! )

The old movie.. I forget exactly what it's called.. "Bell book and candlestick" and it has a cat who plays a witch's familiar. The witch can't cast any spells without her cat who was called Pyewacket and Pyewcket would always leave home.

My DD and I love watching The Aristocats!  It's one of my step-father's favorites and he is only secretly a cat lover. 

I love the characters, the music (what attracted my step-dad to it as a kid!) and just a good clean story line.

Cats and Dogs. I love the ones that took over.

dejolane

Keep the suggestions coming! And please do share more about why you like the movies. I'd like to use these as brief recommendations/reviews in an up and coming article.

Thank you!

I'm not much of a new movie watcher, but there are some old ones!

"That Darn Cat."  A Disney movie.  I believe the cat was an alien, right?

"The Three Lives of Thomasina."  A cat who keeps getting reincarnated, at her own request.  By the way (just in passing, and apropos of nothing), this movie was based on a book or story by Paul Gallico.  This was a guy who wrote lots of radio plays, shows, books, etc.  If you can find it, I recommend his book, "The Manxmouse," which JK Rowling described as one of her favorite books.  And, a free answer to a favorite trivia question.  Gallico also wrote "The Poseidon Adventure."  He also wrote the book the movie "Pride of the Yankees" was based on.  He also wrote "Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris."  His list goes on and on.
 

Mike, your post has just reminded me of Paul Gallico's wonderful little book The Silent Miaow

http://www.paulgallico.info/silentmiaow.html

The 1963 narrated live action Walt Disney film " The Incredible Journey" in which 3 animal friends-- 2 dogs (a Labrador Retriever and a Bull Terrier) and their Siamese cat buddy -- set out across the Canadian wilderness to try to find their human family. I love it for the cinematography and the amazing performances of the animals, the story of their determination, courage, intelligence and great loyalty.

I prefer the original which let the story be told by a narrator and the actions of the animals over the 1993 remake ("Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey") where they had actors doing voices for the animals and had them making dumb insults at each other and acting more like bratty, whiny human children ..... I guess basically due to the 1990s writers assuming people have no attention span or imagination and so nearly every moment has to be filled with mindless chatter. Homeward Bound has its good points and I know some people who saw it as kids still love it. But the original version lets the animals be more like animals. It is certainly more faithful to the book and no doubt part of why I love it is that, like the book, it includes my favorite breed Siamese. In the remake they used different breeds (and I'm sorry but it's just harder to imagine a Himalayan/ pointed Persian making a 200 mile journey walking across rough country and surviving all those dangerous adventures. actually I think the original had the cat being more courageous too. )

The original 1965 Walt Disney live action comedy "That Darn Cat" featured the same Siamese cat actor from TIJ (Well,I'm sure there were multiple Siamese used in both of the films, but it seems this one Siamese tom had a major part in both. ) The story line is that "D.C." (short for "Darn Cat", of course),a clever and confident beloved trouble-maker of a meezer, during one of his nightly rambles about town, finds evidence of a crime..... his young human Hayley Mills reports it and the FBI then have to follow the cat to track down the criminals. Worth watching just for the opening sequence which is absolutely wonderful.

Oh I totally agree, I love "Cat" , the "poor slob, poor slob without a name" in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Cat was played by 8 or 9 red tabbies including "Orangey" , the only winner of two Patsy awards; for Breakfast at Tiffany's and Rhubarb ( 1950s film about a cat who inherits a fortune) and also appeared in other films & television programmes.

& naturally I love the Siamese Pyewacket in Bell Book and Candle with Kim Novak.

It's animated but the Aristocats is a great classic that generations of kids have loved.

Speaking of animated Disney films with cats, I do get a kick out of Si and Am in Lady & the Tramp, though I think they were responsible for making a lot of people think Siamese are "mean" ( and evidently all plotting to get sweet little spaniels blamed for their mischief! )

I don't know if you also want to include movies featuring big cats, but I'd like to mention another one. "The Tiger and the Snow" is one of our top favorite movies. It's about a man's unrequited love for a woman and the lengths that he'll go to for her. It's just beautiful; don't want to give away too much of the plot here, but I will say that a tiger plays a small yet important role.

Ooooo I LOVE this movie. Adventures of Milo and Otis

Milo is the cat and Otis is the Pug dog. It is about their journey through the Japanese wilderness. They become separated and finally reuinite. It is a wonderful movie and a great story for all ages. It was made in 1986. I still love to watch that movie.

I also absolutely loved Milo and Otis. When one of our Rainbow kitties, Ali, was with us, we had the TV on and Milo and Otis was playing. The very end showed the litters of kittens and puppies and Ali just sat staring at the screen absolutely fascinated.

Great selections! Yes, big cats work too. I know that whenever I look at a lion or leopard, I see my cats in them, in a way.

Any more suggestions?

I don't have a favourite as such.. I'm not a big movie-watcher.  But a friend and I went on holidays and decided to get out a kid's movie, and of course it had to be Puss in Boots...

It features Puss in Boots and Kitty Softpaws (Anthony Banderas and Salma Hayek). It was nothing like the real Puss in Boots - very gimmicky and outrageous, but that's the nature of modern kids movies now (I think )   They were very, very catlike in movement and it was great to watch. I loved the way the big brave Puss in Boots wasn't always so big and brave, and Kitty Softpaw was a very impressive girl kitty!  An interesting aside is that Kitty Softpaw had been declawed, and said about it: "People aren't always very nice";she was quite embarrassed as she didn't feel complete.

Fun to watch.. deserves a big screen.  

Check out the blog post based on this thread and see if you got quoted -

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/oscars-special-top-ten-great-cat-movies

Thank you so much for your recommendations!

Not sure if this counts since it's animated, but probably my favorite is the movie "Cats Don't Dance." It's a very classic rags-to-riches story that focuses around the life of Danny - an orange anthropomorphic cat - who leaves his sleepy little hometown of Kokomo in order to pursue his dream of becoming a big Hollywood star. Being a classic plot, it's also set in a very classic time period - I think the 40s or 50s. The villain of the film is a child actress called Darla Dimple, who acts like just the sweetest little thing on screen and in front of her fans, but behind the scenes, she's very spoiled and cruel to everyone. A big plot point in the film is that animals in Hollywood never land big important roles, but of course since Danny is so ambitious, he tries to prove everyone wrong. Definitely one of my all-time favorite films.