I went to see A Cat's Life because I'd seen the trailer a couple times and just couldn't pass up the chance to see all those cute kittens on the big screen.
The opening scene introduces us to our tabby protagonist, Lou, and his siblings who were all interminably cute. They, along with their mother, live in an attic of an apartment in Paris. An adult stray wanders in through an open window and this stirs the curiosity within Lou who starts climbing a bookcase in order to get to the window. His 3 siblings would sit there on a derelict chair and watch him like a Greek chorus, their big kitten eyes telling us that Lou's headed for danger.
Oh, mama! My CU (cuteness unit) meter was pegged in the red throughout this whole opening scene.
After mom sadly is lost, the kittens are adopted by humans. Lou is taken in by a girl, Clémence, who lives in the apartment beneath the attic. Ever the doting cat mom, she enjoys watching Lou be all cute and playful and also becomes extremely concerned when he wanders out of the apartment in wide-eyed curiosity.
Lou gets his first dose of country life when Clem's family vacations at their cabin in the woods. While he encounters some danger in the form of a lynx that calls the forest home, he mainly hops from the ground onto fallen trees and back onto the ground as he navigates his new environment. I could have watched those close-ups of his little feet walking on moss and fallen leaves in close-up for hours.
We meet an old crone type character, Madeleine, who lives in the woods with her very large dog endowed with ginormous jowls after she rescues the extremely curious Lou.
Clem's family returns to Paris where her parents decide to ignore the admonishment of Melissa Kearney and seek a divorce. One last trip to the cabin to empty it out in preparation for sale sees Lou escape into the woods again. This time, he does not return to Clem. While she is heartbroken, he goes on adventures dodging hungry owls, meeting up with some fellow local ferals, and chasing a very pretty lady cat. At one point, he goes in pursuit of a mouse(?) and gets stuck in some wire left behind by some ne'er-do-wells who think the forest is a garbage dump.
Chasing rodents as bad karma is a motif in the movie as, not only does it get Lou snared in wire and so tangled that he cannot escape, but it was pursuit of a rat that led to an accident for his mother and her disappearance.
Lou is held fast by the wire and helpless for a some time before Madeleine rescues him. Clem and her mother return only to find Lou in bed and hooked up to a little kitty IV. The vet said he was not expected to recover.
Thankfully he does and Clem learns her life lesson as she lets Lou, who has seen his lady cat outside and is now scratching at the door so he can get some, free. Something got in my eyes during this scene and they welled with tears. Stupid ventilation system.
While I have no doubt that this type of tale about a girl growing up has been told countless times, A
Cat's Life was still a boatload of fun. The English dubbing was annoying and unnecessary but cinematographer Dan Meyer did a great job of following the rambunctious felines and capturing kitten faces in close-up. There's always a cat ear or a tail or some whiskers somewhere on the screen. And who doesn't want to see cat feet traversing a mossy log in close-up?! Editing this movie must have been pure joy.
The soundtrack is full of meows and purrs and squeaks and just all manner of cat noises. I suffered cuteness overload within 30 seconds of the movie starting because teeny tiny kittens suckling at their mother's teat is just adorable, wholesome goodness.
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