That Darn Cat

A Disney cat tale for the 90's, this pat story about a tabby-turned-super-sleuth is a fun and colorful family flick. Christina Ricci, of Addams Family fame, again dons some depressingly dark duds. She convincingly plays a misunderstood teen who prefers the company of her cat, D.C. (Darn Cat) to that of her saccharine small-town classmates. The movie gets rolling when D.C. comes home after a nightly prowl wearing a watch identical to one a local millionaire's maid was photographed wearing before she was kidnapped. Ricci is positive D.C. can lead the way to the kidnappers, but no one believes her, not even her cookie-cutter parents. She manages to enlist detective Zeke Kelso (Doug E. Doug) and his bumbling entourage of boys in blue to find the missing maid and prove her parents, and the world, wrong. Under D.C's direction, the fur flies and a hilarious hunt for the kidnappers ensues. The only flaw in this Disney comedy is that there are not enough of the cute cat "close-ups," otherwise, it's perrrfect. (A. Glover)