Inspired by a recent experience of seeing several movies with cat appearances, I realized that what the world really needs is a slowly growing index that lists movies with cats in them.
And here it is!
Jump to Movies With BIG Cats in Them or to Movies With Animated Cats in Them.
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THESE ARE NOT RECOMMENDATIONS Some of these movies are good; others are not. I do not recommend all of them. I have not seen all of them. Sometimes I state that I have not seen a movie; but don't conclude that if such a statement is lacking then I have seen it. Maybe I saw it, or maybe I saw a portion of it, or maybe I haven't seen any of it but somehow simply learned that it has a cat in it. That's the only thing you can be sure of. It's a list of Movies With Cats In Them, you know. |
| TITLE |
DATE
|
CAT'S ROLE / COMMENTS |
CAT CHARACTER NAME(S)
|
CAT ACTOR NAME(S)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Rink |
1916
|
Has two cats. One cat is the very first image we see in the film, playing a cute little kitty role. The other plays a comic role, later on. |
none
|
?, ?
|
| Bronenosets Potyomkin (a.k.a. The Battleship Potemkin) |
1925
|
Has a cat. |
none
|
?
|
| The Bells of St. Mary's |
1945
|
Cat plays comic routine with a hat. (I have only seen a clip, so far.) |
?
|
?
|
| Africa Screams |
1949
|
Has a (ferocious) kitten. Also has at least 4 lions. |
none
|
?
|
| The Third Man |
1949
|
Cat plays important plot development role - the first to identify the "third man." |
none ("kitty")
|
?
|
| Rhubarb |
1951
|
Haven't seen it, but sounds delightful. Cat has title role. |
Rhubarb
|
|
| Seven Brides for Seven Brothers |
1954
|
Has a cat. (Oddly, the female cat role seems to have been played by a male cat.) |
Pansy
|
?
|
| This Island Earth |
1955
|
Haven't seen it. |
Neutron
|
|
| To Catch a Thief |
1955
|
Has a cat. Cat provides thematic image for the "cat burglar" (not to mention the "copy cat", ...) |
none
|
?
|
| The Incredible Shrinking Man |
1957
|
Haven't seen it. |
Butch the Cat
|
|
| The Diary of Anne Frank |
1959
|
Has a cat; somewhat featured. |
Moortje (sounds like "Moushi")
|
?
|
| Breakfast at Tiffany's |
1961
|
Cat plays large role. Even made it on the movie emblem! Poor kitty -- had to get wet for the sake of the show. That's what I call devotion to one's craft. |
Cat
|
|
| Gigot |
1962
|
Haven't seen it. [May be some discrepancy as to Orangey's connection to this movie.] |
?
|
|
| Comedy of Terrors |
1964
|
Haven't seen it. |
Cleopatra
|
|
| Village of the Giants |
1965
|
Haven't seen it. |
Giant Cat
|
|
| Blue Thunder |
1982
|
Has a cat. |
Tiger
|
?
|
| Local Hero |
1983
|
Has a cat. |
none
|
?
|
| Love Leads the Way |
1984
|
Has 2 cats. |
none
|
?
|
| 84 Charing Cross Road |
1986
|
Has a cat. |
none
|
?
|
| Koneko monogatari (a.k.a. Milo & Otis) |
1986
|
Has a cat as one of the 2 major roles. Haven't seen it. |
??
|
?
|
| Beaches |
1988
|
Has a cat. |
Pounce
|
?
|
| Rain Man |
1988
|
Has a television commercial with 5 cats briefly shown. |
?
|
?
|
| Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure |
1989
|
Has a cat. |
none
|
?
|
| National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation |
1989
|
Has a cat. |
?
|
?
|
| Another You |
1991
|
Has a cat. |
none
|
?
|
| So I Married an Axe-Murderer |
1993
|
Has picture of a cat (the slide
shown at the beginning of the movie, during the first performance of
the "Woman" poem. Sherry is holding Charlie's now-stolen cat.) {Warning: film characters distinctly lack morality.} |
none
|
?
|
| Twenty Bucks |
1993
|
Has at least 1 cat. |
?
|
?
|
| 12 Monkeys |
1995
|
Has a cat. And the cat gives a
stunning performance, esp. when the human female lead throws a
telephone, and the cat acts startled but not scared. Brilliant. Also has a lion and a tiger. |
none
|
?
|
| Men in Black |
1997
|
Has 2 cats, one of whom is somewhat featured toward the end. |
Orion, unnamed
|
?
|
| Enemy of the State |
1998
|
Has 2 cats, one of whom has a notable part. |
?, Babe
|
?, ?
|
| A Simple Plan |
1998
|
Has a cat. |
none
|
?
|
| Anna and the King |
1999
|
Has at least 1 cat. |
?
|
?
|
| End of Days |
1999
|
Has at least 1 cat. |
?
|
?
|
| The Matrix |
1999
|
Has a cat, who plays a brief but notable plot-advancing role. |
?
|
?
|
| The Sixth Sense |
1999
|
Has at least 1 cat. |
?
|
?
|
| Stuart Little |
1999
|
Apparently has at least 5 cats. |
Snowbell, Smokey, Monty the
Mouth, Lucky, Red
|
?
|
| The 6th Day |
2000
|
Has at least 1 cat. [I only saw a few minutes of this.] |
???
|
?
|
| Coyote Ugly |
2000
|
Has a cat. {Warning: not a particularly wholesome film.} |
none
|
?
|
| Meet the Parents |
2000
|
Features a cat. Total number of cat roles in the movie is 10, though only 2 are of particular note. |
Jinx (a.k.a., Mr. Jinx)
|
Jinx played mostly by Misha, but
also by Bailey, Peanut, and Ledge. Others unknown.
|
| Snow Day |
2000
|
Has a cat. |
none
|
?
|
| Two Coyotes |
2000
|
Has at least 1 cat. |
?
|
?
|
| What Women Want |
2000
|
Has a cat. |
???
|
?
|
| Cats & Dogs |
2001
|
Has several cats. However, it is one of the most pitiful movies I've ever seen. (Ok, maybe it's palatable if you're under 6 years old, or under 6 IQ.) |
Mr. Tinkles, Calico, Russian
Blue, Ninja Cat, Ginger Kitten, maybe others (unnamed)
|
?
|
| The Fellowship of the Ring |
2001
|
Has a cat. |
none
|
?
|
| Kate & Leopold |
2001
|
Has a cat. (Also has a cat-shaped bookend.) |
none
|
?
|
| The One |
2001
|
Has a cat. [Which is good, because that's about the only thing this movie has going for it.] |
none
|
?
|
| Flower & Garnet |
2002
|
Has at least 1 cat. [I haven't seen but a few minutes of it.] The cat is seen eating a popsicle. I don't know why. |
?
|
?
|
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
2002
|
Has a cat, who has a little bit of plot significance. |
Mrs. Norris
|
?
|
| Men in Black II |
2002
|
Has a cat. |
Bruno
|
?
|
| Mr. Deeds |
2002
|
Has several cats -- ostensibly, 7 or 8. But a simple list of cat fur color shows that there are at least 9 cat actors. (Movie also has several cat images: e.g., note the Munich zoo poster hanging on the wall of the corporate boardroom.) |
Fifi, Freddy, Frobo; others
unnamed.
|
?
|
| Star Trek: Nemesis |
2002
|
Has a cat. |
?
|
?
|
| Stuart Little 2 |
2002
|
Apparently has at least 2 cats. |
Snowbell, Monty
|
?
|
| Big Fish |
2003
|
Has lots of cats -- so many that
it makes counting them quite challenging. But here
goes... I count a minimum of 21 cat actors. The
number of cat roles is perhaps open to interpretation, but there are a
minimum of 32. I figure the maximum number of cat roles is
59, with the probable figure being either 47, 48, 50, or 51 --
depending on how you count the second outside orange cat in the first
cat scene, and how you count the 3 cats in the final
"marsh-house-gets-overgrown" scene. But I'm gonna go with 48. |
Daredevil Cat; all others
unnamed.
|
?
|
| How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days |
2003
|
Has a cat. {Warning: film is quite crude.} |
none
|
?
|
| Terminator 3 |
2003
|
Has 2 cats. One must admit that "Hercules" doesn't do a very good job of acting. He blatantly stares at the camera crew. That's gotta be one of the first things they teach you not to do, at Cat Movie Actor's School. |
Hercules, none
|
?
|
| What a Girl Wants |
2003
|
Has a cat. (Also has a statue of a cat [lion].) |
none
|
?
|
| Anchorman |
2004
|
Has 7 or 8 cats. Warning: not only is this film essentially garbage, but it also mildly mistreats the cats in it. (The one redeeming quality -- and the only really funny bit in the whole movie -- is when a punt dog gets ... well... punted. OK...it's not really the dog, it's a dog-toy.) |
none
|
?
|
| Garfield: The Movie |
2004
|
Stars an animated version of Garfield, but also has real cats in the roles of Nermal, Arlene, Sir Roland/Persnikitty, and many kit parts (kinda like "bit parts" -- only kittiful). It's hard to tell just how many kit parts there are, but I count a minimum of 26 cats in the movie; probably a few more. |
Nermal, Arlene, Sir
Roland/Persnikitty, others unnamed
|
?
|
| Mindhunters |
2004
|
Has several cats -- maybe 8 or 10, I don't recall. The setting is an island ostensibly inhabited by a large number of cats, but probably only involved 8 or so cat actors. Warning: this is a dumb Hollywood gore-fest movie. Not worth seeing. |
none
|
?
|
| Princess Diaries 2 |
2004
|
Apparently has a cat. |
?
|
?
|
| Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire (IV) |
2005
|
Has 2 cats. |
?
|
?
|
| Joyeux Noël |
2005
|
Has at least 1 cat, who is the focus of at least 1 scene -- I gather that the cat is (quite reasonably, I must say) adopted by 3 different armies. (I haven't seen it, though.) |
Felix
|
?
|
| Nine Lives |
2005
|
Has a cat. |
none
|
?
|
| TITLE |
DATE
|
CAT'S ROLE / COMMENTS |
CAT CHARACTER NAME(S)
|
CAT ACTOR NAME(S)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Chimp |
1932
|
Has a lion. |
?
|
?
|
| Dream House |
1933
|
Has a lion (and pretty silly lion animation and lion
costume). |
?
|
?
|
| Bringing Up Baby |
1939
|
A leopard plays the title role! It's been way too long since I've seen this one to comment. But, hey, it's the title role. |
Baby
|
|
| Africa Screams |
1949
|
Has 8 lion roles (if I recall correctly), with at least 3 adult male lions playing those roles. In addition, it has 1 lion cub. Also has a (ferocious) kitten in the opening scene. |
none
|
?
|
| Born Free |
1965
|
Has several lions. There are a minimum of 10 lion roles in the movie. How many different lions acted in the movie is another question. Apparently, there were 8 -- although the credits are quite ambiguous on that point. |
Elsa,
The Big One, Lustica, others unnamed |
Credits
apparently indicate:
Girl, Boy, Ugas, Henrietta, and Mara and the Cubs. |
| Napolean & Samantha |
1972
|
Haven't seen it, but it has a lion & a cougar. |
Major, ?
|
?
|
| Apocalypse Now |
1979
|
Has a tiger. |
none
|
?
|
| Volunteers |
1985
|
Has a tiger and a leopard. |
none
|
?
|
| Who's That Girl |
1987
|
Apparently has at least 1 cougar. |
?
|
?
|
| Endless Summer II |
1994
|
Has at least 1 lion. |
?
|
?
|
| 12 Monkeys |
1995
|
<see main table, above.> Has a lion and a tiger. |
none
|
?
|
| Gladiator |
2000
|
Has some tigers in it. Did it also have lions? I can't recall. |
none
|
?
|
| Vertical Limit |
2000
|
Haven't seen it, but I'm told it has multiple (2?) snow leopards in the opening scene. Apparently, these are the two kitties who now live in southern Oregon (see GreatCatsWorldPark.com). |
?, ?
|
|
| I Dreamed of Africa |
2000
|
Has a lion. The "Making Of" featurette even has a 2nd lion. Contains some rather choppy script-writing and some equally limited acting. It does get better toward the end of the film. It also features some nice scenery from Africa (ostensibly Kenya, but apparently also South Africa). Meanwhile, be warned that it also has a brief, completely gratuitous sex scene. |
none
|
?
|
| Big Fish |
2003
|
Has a lion. Also has a fake lion.
(Personally, I'd have guessed that it was just a
fake lion, but one of the "making of" featurettes on the DVD says it
was a real lion. OK.) |
?
|
?
|
| Secondhand Lions |
2003
|
Apparently has a lion. |
Jasmine?
|
|
| The Passion of the Christ |
2004
|
Has a leopard. |
none
|
?
|
| Two Brothers |
2004
|
Has 2 tigers in it -- title roles. Haven't seen it. |
Kumal, Sangha
|
|
| Duma |
2005
|
The title role is a cheetah, who is played by 6 different kitties. |
Duma
|
|
| King Kong |
2005
|
Has a tiger. Other than that, what a stupid movie. |
none
|
?
|
| Apocalypto |
2006
|
Apparently has at least a black panther. I only saw a brief clip. |
?
|
?
|
| Night at the Museum |
2006
|
Apparently has at least a lion. |
?
|
?
|
| TITLE |
DATE
|
CAT'S ROLE / COMMENTS |
CAT CHARACTER NAME(S)
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Pinocchio |
1940
|
Cat plays a nice supporting role. |
Figaro
|
| Cinderella |
1950
|
Hmmm... I think I saw it a long time ago. Have to watch it again sometime. |
Lucifer
|
| The Jungle Book |
1967
|
Has a good panther kitty and a bad tiger kitty. |
Bagheera, Shere Khan
|
| Aristocats |
1970
|
Has lots of cats. It's all about cats. Everybody wants to be a cat. The quintessential cat cartoon feature. |
Thomas O'Malley, Duchess,
Berlioz, Marie, Toulouse, Scat Cat, Chinese Cat, English Cat, Italian
Cat, Russian Cat
|
| The Last Unicorn |
1982
|
Cat plays important plot role -- and is nicely finicky. |
The Cat
|
| Lion King |
1994
|
Has lots of big cats. First is a cheetah, curiously enough. Then lots of lions -- at least 13, if you want to count (which I didn't do very closely). A strangely popular tale centered on the modern creation myth (a.k.a., "evolution") and simultaneously painted with an odd tinge of the occult. Hmmm. |
Mufasa, Sarabi, Simba, Scar,
Nala, Sarafina, others unnamed
|
| Garfield: The Movie |
2004
|
Animated Garfield stars in the title role. Also has real cats <see main table, above>. |
Garfield
|
| Shrek 2 |
2004
|
Has a cat. Plays a significant role. |
Puss In Boots
|
| The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe |
2005
|
Has lots of animated big cats. Of
course, the most notable is Aslan, the first title character and the
one who represents Jesus. But there are other animated cats, too,
including at least: 3 cheetahs, 2 white tigers, and I believe I saw
some leopards. I'll have to watch it on DVD sometime, where I can
freeze frame it, to count properly. Meanwhile, may I point out two problems with the movie? First, it is obviously beneath the dignity of tigers to be placed on the witch's side! Second, and much more importantly, there is a profound theological error in the movie (not in the book, BTW). At one point, Aslan says that the Deep Magic-- and I lack the exact wording here, but... -- basically guides everything that we do and controls our destinies, even Aslan's own. I'll have to get the exact wording, but one gets the sense that the Deep Magic is set apart from Aslan & is superior to Aslan himself. This is fundamentally wrong. In the real world, God's laws are an expression of his character; he of course always follows them, but not because he is subservient to them, rather because he is the very source of them. Likewise, in the Narnian world that C.S. Lewis' books create, the Deep Magic is an expression of Aslan's character and Aslan is not subservient to the Deep Magic. The movie thus strayed in this profound way. (Now... there is of course the notion that Jesus, in his Incarnation, does indeed place himself in subjection to the Law, as a full human being. However, this does not negate the point because in the movie, there is no notion of Incarnation. Aslan is simply God. And as God, it is nonsensical to say that he is subservient to his own Deep Magic.) |
Aslan, plus many unnamed
|
More to come. From time to time. Here and there. Now and then. To this one and that one. At his own caprice.