When you press play on The Cat From Outer Space, the first words that fade into the screen read, “Congratulating Mickey Mouse on his 50th birthday!”, backdropped with a trippy, spinning red and blue silhouette of Mickey Mouse. Four decades later with Mickey at the ripe age of 93 years, the eerily silent image speaks volumes to me about how far away this movie exists from modern day. Strangely, I’m in awe; I feel like I’m being tugged towards a time I never experienced.
The moment I saw that this movie came from 1978, I knew it probably wouldn’t have much to offer in terms of production quality. I also knew that I’d probably find jokes and characters that were passable in 1978 but considered more insensitive today. However, what sold the comedic sci-fi to me was the title: The Cat From Outer Space. I mean, come on. It’s a cat from outer space. I had to watch it, and I know you feel that tug too.
And so, I found the movie and pressed play. Here’s what I found.
Entertainment Value
The unofficial official trailer for The Cat From Outer Space.
Source: youtube.com
Honestly, I felt entertained. The concept of an extraterrestrial cat named Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7—Jake for short—flying in from outer space, finding a human scientist named Frank, and enlisting Frank to help him return home already sounds fun by itself. During the movie, I found myself smiling a lot and even let out a couple of laughs at the more wholesome jokes. Much of the jokes unfortunately hold that nice 70s kind of humor; you know, jokes about Russians, how dumb women can be, and oh, look at the curves on that lady. Jokes kids wouldn’t understand but the parents sitting on the couch with them would. Putting aside those jokes, I found a lot of Jake’s jokes to be funny—you can’t really make an alien cat crack sexist jokes or care about the Russians, after all.
If you’re looking for a genuinely good sci-fi movie, though, I don’t think you’re in the right place. I’m not sure how much this movie really sticks to science, since the cat’s technologically advanced collar seems to just…do anything in any convenient situation, really. For example, the ability to freeze people which wears off after 20 minutes? What’s the science behind that? On the bright side, seeing a cat do that and more with its mind made me smile. I’m seeing a trend here, and it’s the fact that the talking cat really carried this movie. The movie’s strength lies more in its mostly loveable characters.
Production Quality: So Bad It’s Brilliant
A scene from The Cat From Outer Space.
Source: youtube.com
As I predicted, the production quality was hilariously awful in comparison to what we have today. In many scenes, the fact that they used a green screen felt painfully obvious, with the telltale white outline around the actors framing them against the background like stickers on an old scrapbook. In a particular moment, when Jake sat still for too long and his fur looked strangely matted, one glance was all it took for me to see that it wasn’t actually Jake but a fake cat prop.
Don’t get me wrong, though. The poor production quality doesn’t lose the movie some points from me. As I watched, I felt like I was playing a game of trying to pinpoint specific moments where the 70s movie quality really came out. I always felt a “haha, I knew it!” moment when I spotted one. If anything, the production quality looked so bad that it made the movie even more enjoyable and funny to watch. Not to mention that Disney probably did what they could with the technology they had at that time, so it’s not something I’ll really complain about.
My Biggest Gripe: The Sexism
A scene featuring Dr. Liz Bartlett playing pool.
Source: firebreathingdimetrodon.wordpress.com
No matter what era it comes from, I’ll always criticize sexism. The moment I saw only one female, Dr. Liz, standing in a room full of scientists, my heart sank a little. The fact that she’s a scientist is really the only great thing she has going for her, as her characterization went downhill from there. She’s painted as a nuisance to the men in her life, including the protagonist Frank (that’s right, it’s not the cat). While I admire her for believing in Frank and being willing to help him out when she could, this particular trait became Liz's entire character: a helper. She never demonstrates a capability to execute good ideas herself, and is forced to be the umpteenth damsel in distress in storytelling. This poses a big problem for the movie, since she’s the only female character who ever shows up on screen—well, other than that one old lady at the start of the movie. The one time she does contribute something brilliant, it’s because of, you guessed it: the extraterrestrial cat’s powers. I’m telling you, the talking cat really carried this movie.
My Conclusions
Evaluating this movie closely, there are some storytelling aspects from the 70s that Disney fans, including me, may not be a fan of. However, if you’re like me and want to watch this movie purely because the plot features an extraterrestrial, omnipotent cat and not because you’re looking to ascend to another level of intellectual thought, then you’ll find this movie pretty fun and entertaining.
In summary, this is what I expected: a cat from outer space, pretty bad production quality, a fun story that makes up for said production quality, and a smile.
This is what I got: a cat from outer space, pretty bad (but funny!) production quality, a fun story that makes up for said production quality, sexism I don’t want to think about, and a smile.
All things considered, I’d say the experience was worth the watch.
Author Bio
Linda Tran is an English major with a minor in Professional Writing. She loves talking anything Disney and Pixar, as well as anime and video games. Her favorite Disney character is Baymax. In her free time, you’ll most likely spot her binging an anime, listening to music on her headphones, or furiously typing on her laptop doing God knows what. While she has many things she wants to do, Linda hopes to find a professional writing or marketing career in the entertainment industry. You can find more of her written work on College Magazine.
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