The Cat from Outer Space (1978)

If you look hard enough, and believe me because I have, there are a plethora of obscure Disney movies to be found on Disney+. And I'm not just talking about the ones they onboarded thanks to third party acquisitions, I am genuinely talking about movies that Walt Disney Productions put money into and funded only for them to melt away into obscurity in the sands of time. I guess not every movie can be the next Sleeping Beauty, Toy Story or Frozen... but these movies are what Disney Week is all about. We tend to pivot to Disney Channel Originals as well when the moment grabs us, but Disney Week has always been about highlighting the lesser known, lesser searched for Disney titles. This week's pick which you would be forgiven for not knowing or remembering absolutely nothing about is: The Cat from Outer Space. A 1978 movie about an extraterrestrial cat trying to fix his spaceship and get home before the horrible U.S. Army can steal his technology. A... really original... storyline premise but ironically this movie predates E.T. by 4 whole years! So maybe all this time E.T. has genuinely been a rip off of The Cat from Outer Space and it's been done a gross injustice? I guess there's only really one way to find out...

After being forced to make an emergency landing on Earth, an extraterrestrial cat named Zunar J-5 (Rumpler / Amber, Voice: Ronnie Schell) is forced to leave his craft behind and hitch a ride with the US Military when they arrive on the scene almost immediately after his forced landing and confiscate his spaceship. After hitching a ride with General Stilton (Harry Morgan) and his entourage, Zunar J-5 is introduced to scientist Frank Wilson (Ken Berry) after Frank appears to be the only person in the building with any idea on how Zunar's propulsion system works. As Zunar wanders around Frank's lab, curious about stuff but seemingly unable to communicate with Frank, Frank begins talking outloud to him and he names Zunar Jake, and when Zunar / Jake kind of responds to Frank talking about electromagnetism, Frank opines that it "almost looks like you know what I'm talking about..." After Frank scores a dinner date with his colleague and fellow Scientist Liz Bartlett (Sandy Duncan), Jake reveals to Frank that he can communicate; by way of thought transference and thanks to a nifty little collar he can amplify his brain power to move objects around and interact with them. Back at Frank's Apartment, Jake makes a deal with him that he will help him with his research in return for Frank's help repairing his spaceship. They make their way back to the Top Secret Government facility holding the ship and once inside, with a bit of help from Jake's spare collar, Frank is able to carry out a diagnostic on the ship and the pair discover they need a mineral known as ORG-12 on Jake's planet, or gold as it's more commonly known on Earth! However unbeknownst to the pair, a Government spy; Mr Stallwood (Roddy McDowall) has also had his suspicion pricked by the top secret army activity and he witnesses Jake's collar in action; opening gates and making Frank fly... but before Jake and Frank can get any further, somebody sounds the alarm at the military base and after all pandemonium breaks loose, Frank and Jake have to commandeer a military bike to escape... Back at Frank's apartment, he calculates that they need $120,000 worth of gold in order to bridge the gap in the fault with the spaceship - so, alot - and after Frank's intrusive neighbour, Norman Link (McLean Stevenson) bursts in to the apartment, Jake gets the idea that they can raise money by gambling on sporting events that Jake manipulates into making sure they win! Yeah, sounds perfectly legit! Link takes some convincing at first but after some light persuasion from Jake he eventually comes on board. Back at the base, the military discover and I.D. Frank's fingerprints from the craft and General Stilton is convinced Frank will lead them to the mastermind behind the spaceship, arranging for Frank and friends to be put under surveillance... Back with Frank, Link and Jake and cooking up a plan to use Link's winnings to gamble on football matches, the first match goes off without a hitch, but the second match needs Jake's intervention in order for it to go the way the trio need it to, however when Liz rocks up for a lunch date with Frank, Frank has to make an excuse to dodge it. Blaming Jake for being sick, but Liz instead comes back with a neighbouring vet who sedates Jake and puts him to sleep! Fearing that they are about to lose everything, Frank and Link with an unconscious Jake try to rush down to Ernie's; the betting office to cancel the bet, but not before they have to remove an obstructing Liz who refuses to move until she gets some answers about what's going on! With Liz now in on everything that's going on Frank talks Ernie into switching the bet from the football and instead to a pool game with one of the regulars based on odds of 20-1 if Liz takes on the challenge. Liz knowing nothing about how to play pool... They fail the first challenge but during the course of which, Jake comes around and after a bit of quick thinking from Frank, talks Ernie into offering a second challenge with increased odds which, with a bit of help from Jake, they snag before quickly dashing away with the money before anyone gets suspicious! Meanwhile Mr. Stallwood takes the evidence he has gathered on Jake and his collar to his employer; Mr. Olympus (William Prince) who, impressed with the collar and it's potential decides he had to have the technology and sets off immediately to go seize it... Whilst at the military base, General Stilton begins to connect the dots and suspect that a cat is in fact the pilot the spaceship... Back at Frank's apartment Jake is just about to reduce the solid gold bar of $120,000 so that they can install it in his ship when General Stilton and his men burst in. But using his powers, Jake freezes everyone in position and reduces the bar to the size of a nail, before Frank commandeers the Generals uniform in order to sneak inside the base. Mr. Olympus witnesses Frank and Jake leave for the base and as soon as they are gone, he takes Link and Liz, and her cat Lucibelle, hostage... Making their way into the base under the guise of being General Stilton, Frank and Jake get the spaceship back online and are just about to leave when Link is escorted into the base to deliver a message. He explains to Frank that Mr. Olympus has taken Liz hostage and wants to exchange her for the collar, with the exchange taking place at Dailey's Air Park. Jake makes the decision to stay behind and help Frank and Liz, potentially missing out on his chance to get home, and together they all make their way to the Air Park. Frank, Link and Jake arrive at the Air Park but in doing so, arouse enough suspicion that they are tailed by the police and the army. Spooked by their arrival, Mr. Olympus and his entourage with Liz held hostage take off in an helicopter and commandeering a rusty biplane, Frank and Link give chase and after a bit of a mid air dog fight, Mr. Olympus and his gang end up bailing out of the helicopter leaving Liz behind to fly it alone! But after a very long and very tense scene, Frank and Jake are able to manoeuvre the plane and rescue Liz, and her cat Lucibelle, before the helicopter crashes to the ground. In the closing scenes Jake is granted US citizenship.

This was a good one! I mean, it was a little bit light on the action in places, but this was a 1 hour 43 minute movie and it didn't really feel like it dragged at all at any point! It kept a pretty steady pace all the way through and was an interesting and engrossing enough storyline that the movie stayed interesting. Even if it was a bit short of action moments. Some decent enough acting as well, couple of moments where things got a little bit corny but for the most part, yes, this was a perfectly acceptable and enjoyable little Disney movie!

Ken Berry as Frank is the main lynchpin holding this whole thing together, and he does a really good job. He has character and personality in his role and it's pretty easy to forget that he's acting out the whole thing with a cat that isn't - at time of filming - talking back to him! I mean I don't know if they dubbed the voice in post prod or if it was filmed sequentially, but either way you don't notice a transition and considering the demand on the role he does a really good job.

Equally, and once again, Sandy Duncan is also very good in this movie in the slightly more limited part that she plays. I recognized her from her role in The Million Dollar Duck and she is again treated a little bit like the limited feminine support role but her character; Liz Bartlett gets a bit more of an opportunity to shine in this movie. She is just really good at what she does and it's clear she puts a 100% into the roles she plays. Or at least the ones I've seen her in anyway. But yeah, she was a favourite and a joy to watch perform.

I'll be honest, there's very little really to criticize this movie on! In terms of production everything was on par if not above par. The cinematography was interesting, and although a product of it's time, there was some decent enough special effects with the whole flying scenes and telekinetic stuff that Jake was making happen. The last 10 odd minutes with the aircraft rescue was also pretty impressive stuff for it's time and really tense too! Soundtrack was perfectly fine if not maybe a little bit Disney cookie cutter. It was all a very much above above, competently produced movie, very typical of it's time but in no way falling short or feeling under baked in any areas.

And I guess the only real gripes I have is that despite being a mostly interesting and mostly entertaining movie, it did feel like it was slightly lacking in the action department. There was enough exposition and plot development to flesh out the events of the movie but not really alot of stuff happening! Although there was a bit of a crescendo at the end with the airplane scene it took a long time for everything to sort of come together at the climax of the movie. I don't think it necessarily felt drawn out and boring as a result but it wasn't the most exciting, edge of your seat kind of experience that you might get with some other Disney productions.

But I guess if that's the only criticism I can find then the movie, generally, does a pretty good job. I certainly enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to watch both Ken Berry and Sandy Duncan at work and doing what they do best, and Rumpler and Amber were cute cats to go with it I guess. A fairly inoffensive but enjoyable and entertaining enough little movie. I could watch this again but I can understand why it didn't really make much of an impression at the time. 3 out of 5.