20 Most Hated Film Remakes & Reboots In Movie History
16. That Darn Cat! (1997)
The original 1965 version of the adaptation of Gordon and Mildred Gordon’s novel Undercover Cat (that’s right: the author’s name was Gordon Gordon) brought the novelists in to write the film’s screenplay, and it unexpectedly became one of live action Disney’s most popular hits, garnering the equivalent of $220million at the box office in today’s money, and winning multiple awards.
Starring Disney’s favourite charmer of the time, Dean Jones, alongside Hayley Mills, Roddy McDowell, and Frank Gorshin, the film is a bright, idiosyncratic comedy with a witty, articulate, and surprisingly modern script. Gorshin’s performance as a jumpy kidnapper got him the job as The Riddler on the Batman TV show the following year, and the film helped mark Mills’ transition from child star to real actress.
So why Disney felt the need to remake the film in 1997 with Christina Ricci and Doug E. Doug (and the director of bloody Spice World) is anyone’s guess. Replacing Mills as the film’s adolescent heroine Patti Randall, Ricci was all sulky stroppiness and teenage angst where Mills was a sparkling, spirited proto-feminist with a calm, sensible head on her shoulders.
Meanwhile, Doug E. Doug (what is it with this film and doubling up the names?) was best known for playing the dreadlocked doofus in Cool Runnings: he’s out of his depth here as the FBI agent who believes Patti’s story.
Frenetic and dumber than a bag of feet, the remake was over-the-top and incoherent where it should have been engaging, clever, and charming. It also makes no sense whatsoever: there’s very little motivation given for the kidnapping at the heart of the plot, and we don’t see the kidnappers in action until they’re caught, meaning there are no stakes except for Doug x2 risking his job for mounting an official investigation on the say-so of a cat and a petulant teenager.