SpuffyWeb
Sadly Over-hyped
Ketrivie
It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Cody
One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Staci Frederick
Blistering performances.
TheLittleSongbird
Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it even more through young adults eyes, due to having more knowledge of it, various animation styles, studios, directors and how it all works.Granted, 'The Cat Came Back' is not one of Friz Freleng's, a director who did many great cartoons and a director held in high admiration by me, best, not being one of his funniest, wittiest or freshest. For relatively early Freleng, 'The Cat Came Back' is worth watching though he would do much better later. It is never what one would call properly hilarious (but is never unfunny), Freleng's later efforts show more evenness and confidence in directing and the story. It is quite thin in terms of story, with nothing new done, and the structure is basically an excuse to string the events along. It is not terribly imaginative and occasionally momentum is not always there. A few of the characters are bland with not an awful lot to do.However, enough of the characters and their chemistry carry 'The Cat Came Back' very well. The most interesting character being the cat.'The Cat Came Back' has enough very amusing moments (like some suitably wild action), some variety and there is a good deal of liveliness in the second half. The conflict is nicely done and there is a good deal of cuteness and charm. The sentimentality is kept at bay thankfully.Animation is very good, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading, vibrant and very meticulous in detail. The music is outstanding, it is lovely on the ears, lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it. Overall, well done but Freleng did much better later. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . (aka, the Looney Tuners) warn America against the False Promise of Reconciliation, or even a USA Reconciliation Commission in this 1936 short, THE CAT CAME BACK. Warner's prophetic prognosticators depict a mouse rescuing a kitten, followed by an "Oh, the Ranchers and the Cowboys Should Be Friends" OKLAHOMA!-style celebration dance. But, as it turns out, Warner shows that the answer to Rodney King's plaintive query--"Can't we all just get along?"--is a resounding "No!!!" as the mother cat cannot leave well enough alone, and pokes Ma Mouse in the eyes, provoking a general brawl as THE CAT CAME BACK closes. America should have learned her lesson in 1865, when the Rebel Traitors were NOT hanged, their weapons and assets were NOT confiscated, and their voting rights were NOT permanently revoked. The first thing these ungrateful ingrates did was blow out the brains of their Benefactor, Abe Lincoln, install one of their own--Andy Johnson--in Abe's rocking chair, and reestablish virtual Slavery in a more Racist fashion than ever for a Century of Jim Crow. Now with the help of devious Red Commie KGB Chief Vlad "The Mad Russian" Putin, these Confederates and their allies are threatening to ruin America FOREVER!! Warner is clearly telling us with THE CAT CAME BACK that cats and mice or Rebels and Patriots can NEVER coexist. Even if it takes a Second Civil War (which Warner's clairvoyants suggest that it will with their final rumble closing THE CAT CAME BACK), We True Blue Loyal Patriotic Normal Union Label Americans MUST 1)Repeal and Replace the deeply-flawed Suicide Pact current Racist-written U.S. Constitution at a Constitutional Convention, B)Confiscate the ill-gotten weapons, property, and other assets of Putin's 40 Million Odoriferous Rump\Scents Administration enablers and ringleaders under Martial Law, and C)Deport these Deplorable Forty Millions up North to Canada for a seven-generation Cooling Off Period.
Lee Eisenberg
While "The Cat Came Back" may just look like a cartoon at face value, I see a connection to a historical event: the 1914 Christmas Truce. Several soldiers fighting in WWI were charging at each other, when they suddenly stopped; they began to see each other not as enemies, but as fellow human beings.Of course, I'm probably reading way too far into the cartoon. I'm sure that it was intended as silly entertainment to precede a feature film. As this was during the early days of Warner Bros. animation, we shouldn't expect any of the totally wacky things that would characterize their work within the next few years. Worth seeing, if only once.