Directed by: Joe Dante
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Ben (Ethan Hawke) is a young sci-fi fan who dreams of a computer blueprint which leads to adventures for himself and his friends Wolfgang (River Phoenix) and Darren (Jason Presson).
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Ben takes Darren to Wolfgang’ home which houses a very eccentric family. Wolfgang is scientifically gifted and has cobbled together computer parts to build the diagram in Ben’s dream. As the boys go into the basement where Wolfgang has the equipment set up, a ginger tabby cat is pawing at a cage with a mouse inside.
The cat’s name is Erhardt and the mouse’s name is Heinlein. Wolfgang has rigged it so Heinlein can speak by pressing buttons to activate words and the mouse thanks them for ordering the cat down.
When the computer is activated, it creates some kind of force which shoots through a bookshelf. Erhardt reacts to this sudden action.
Later Ben returns to try the experiment again. Erhardt is coming down the stairs behind him.
The boys are discussing the situation as Erhardt jumps (or is catapulted) to a shelf near them.
Wolfgang shows Ben that the entity which created the holes was a sphere and he produces it again and demonstrates with a few computer keystrokes how he can program it to move across the room. At this point Erhardt is again eyeing Heinlein in his cage.
The cat then jumps down onto the keyboard, hitting several buttons and causing the floating sphere to shoot around the room, breaking everything in sight.
The ball shoots out of the basement and flies around the neighborhood, causing havoc. Darren arrives and enters the basement just as the sphere returns and continues its rampage. Erhardt is even tossed over the couch by the projectile (the cat actor was somehow launched up and over the couch from behind by some means). He even lets out a poor cat screech which is dubbed in.
Finally the ball circles near an electrical box as Erhardt watches. The sphere then launches straight into the power supply, cutting off the computer and ending its destruction.
Wolfgang is in a panic realizing his parents are going to kill him when they see all the damage. Erhardt jumps on top of Heinlein’s cage as Ben scolds him with a not-so-strict “Bad kitty!”
The animal coordinator on the film was Ray Berwick and the animal handler was Steve Berens.
Final Mewsings: Don’t let your cat program your alien coordinates.
Many thanks to Mark Murton for letting us know about the cat in this film.
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