''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 19 ...

''. 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 ...

, 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, 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

as Mr. Johnson

Reception and legacy

The film garnered over 15 awards, including a Genie Award for Best Animated Short, 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, Californ ...

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 ...

''. 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 Greates ...

'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 ca ...

'', 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, with one of the ads having to been found surfacing on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and 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 Google, and is the second mo ...

.Hula Hoops - The Cat Came Back - Shark (1991, UK)The Hall of Advertising on YouTube
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References

External links

* Watc
''The Cat Came Back''
at NFB.ca *
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