That Darn Cat (1997)

That Darn Cat is a 1997 film starring Christina Ricci and Doug E. Doug. It is a remake of the 1965 film of the same name, which in turn was based on the book Undercover Cat by Gordon and Mildred Gordon.

Plot
The scene is Boston, "before the turn of the century". A rich businessman is annoyed at his wife's pestering, so he calls for the maid to prepare some warm milk. However, a pair of inept robbers kidnap a maid from a house, believing her to be the wife. The film switches to a small New England town called "Edgefield", where 16-year-old Patti Randall (Ricci) is disgusted with how boring and old-fashioned the town is. She does love her cat, D.C. ("Darn Cat") however. Her parents are unhappy at the way Patti acts and dresses. Every night D.C. leaves at 8 and harasses the neighborhood (such as tricking the dog and eating the dog food or playing with a bird cage while a geriatric and senile old lady orders travel packages). However, Patti's big break comes when D.C. walks into a dilapidated building where the maid wraps a Timex watch around D.C.'s neck with "Hell" scratched on it (she meant to write "Help" but only came in some of the way). Patti (Ricci) discovers the watch around her cat's neck and informs the FBI. The rest of the film revolves around the various humorous scrapes and struggles that Patti and the agent Zeke (Doug) face trying to get D.C. to lead them to the victim.

Production & Awards
Title sequences were produced by Pacific Titles & Optical. Animal Makers created the animatronic version of the cat. Buena Vista Home Entertainment distributed the video in most regions, while Abril Vídeo covered Brazil. It was filmed using a 35mm camera for both the coloured moving and black and white still pictures. The aspect ratio of the film was 1.85/1.

The film was shot in three main locations, 1) Aiken, South Carolina, 2) Augusta, Georgia and 3) Edgefield, South Carolina. The film earned Ricci two award nominations in 1998. The first was for a Kids Choice Awards for favourite movie actress and the second was for a Young Artist Award, Best Performance in a feature film - Leading actress.