''The Cat Came Back'' is a 1988 Canadian animated short film by
Cordell Barker
Cordell Barker (born 1956) is a Canadian animator based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He began animating in his late teens after taking on an apprenticeship at Kenn Perkins Animation. A two-time Academy Award nominee, Barker is an animation filmmaker wi ...
, produced by fellow award-winning animator
Richard Condie
Richard Condie, (born 1942) is a Canadian animator, filmmaker, musician and voice actor. Condie is best known for his 1985 animated short '' The Big Snit'' at the National Film Board of Canada and has won six international awards for ''Getting ...
in Winnipeg for the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
. It is based on the children's song "
The Cat Came Back
"The Cat Came Back" is a comic song written by Harry S. Miller in Christmas 1893. It has since entered the folk tradition and been recorded under variations of the title—"But the Cat Came Back", "And the Cat Came Back", etc. It is also a po ...
" by
Harry S. Miller. It was in theaters with
Touchstone's ''
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's 1 ...
''.
In May 2017, the NFB and Canadian publisher Firefly Books adapted the film as a children's book.
Plot
The film portrays the increasingly desperate efforts of the elderly Mr. Johnson to rid himself of a small yet extremely troublesome yellow cat that will not leave his home. He first tries to leave the cat in the woods only to get lost himself. An attempt to drown it at sea ends in him nearly drowning. He then tries to send the cat away in a
hot air balloon
A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries p ...
, but winds up getting dragged into the sky himself when he cuts the balloon free. For his fourth attempt, Mr. Johnson tries to take it away on a
pump trolley
A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, or draisine) is a railroad car powered by its passengers, or by people pushing the car from behind. It is mostly used as a railwa ...
, running over many
damsels in distress
The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motiv ...
and even a cow tied to the train tracks until he hits a bug crossing the railroad track, causing the trolley to jump the rails and send him plummeting into an abandoned mine where he is attacked by rats, snakes and bats. Not only does the cat find its way back each time, but it becomes increasingly destructive after each attempt until Mr. Johnson finally has enough and tries to blow up the cat with a large pile of dynamite only to blow himself up instead when he accidentally lights his hair on fire. Thinking himself finally rid of the cat, Mr. Johnson's spirit proceeds to tease his foe when his human remains fall on top of it, killing it and releasing all nine of its lives to bedevil Mr. Johnson for all eternity.
Voice cast
*
Richard Condie
Richard Condie, (born 1942) is a Canadian animator, filmmaker, musician and voice actor. Condie is best known for his 1985 animated short '' The Big Snit'' at the National Film Board of Canada and has won six international awards for ''Getting ...
as Mr. Johnson
Reception and legacy
The film garnered over 15 awards, including a
Genie Award for Best Animated Short
The Canadian Screen Award for Best Animated Short is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian animated short film.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards''. ...
, as well as an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nomination, but lost to the
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
short ''
Tin Toy
''Tin Toy'' is a 1988 American computer-animated short film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The short film, which runs five minutes, stars Tinny, a tin one-man band toy, attempting to escape from Billy, an infant. The third sho ...
''. It was also chosen for inclusion in animation historian
Jerry Beck
Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955, in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer.
Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including ''The 50 Greatest C ...
's ''
50 Greatest Cartoons
''The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals'' is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck.
Criteria
It consists of articles about 50 highly regarded animated short films made in North America and other notable car ...
'', placing at #32. It was also included in the
Animation Show of Shows.
Mr. Johnson and the cat were later used in two adverts for
Hula Hoops
Hula Hoops are a snack food made out of potatoes and corn in the shape of short, hollow cylinders. Created by KP Snacks in the United Kingdom in 1973, they are sold in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa. Hula Hoops ...
, with one of the ads having to been found surfacing on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
.
Hula Hoops - The Cat Came Back - Shark (1991, UK)The Hall of Advertising on YouTube
/ref>
References
External links
* Watc
''The Cat Came Back''
at NFB.ca
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
*
Article on the book of the movie (alongside an adaptation of Toril Kove's ''My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts'') on Quill & Quire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cat Came Back, The
1988 short films
Canadian animated short films
Films based on songs
Films directed by Cordell Barker
National Film Board of Canada animated short films
Best Animated Short Film Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
Canadian comedy short films
1980s animated short films
1988 animated films
Animated musical films
Canadian musical comedy films
Animated films about cats
Quebec films
English-language Canadian films
1980s English-language films
1980s Canadian films
National Film Board of Canada short films
Films about old age