It's the Cats (1926) User Reviews

Pajamas? Meow?

[boblipton · 6/10 · 3 October 2021]

Koko and Fitz the Pup are running around, sticking up posters advertising the show at the theater. When it begins, however, the only audience consists of the neighborhood kittens.

From another cartoon studio in this period, this would have been very good, but from the Fleischers it's just ok. All but a few seconds take place in the cartoon world, which is both more elaborate and cruder than the Fleischers' norms, and the poster-sticking sequence goes on for a long time, indicating they were trying to save money by a looping sequence.

Koko and his pup entertain cats.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 9 January 2019]

When "It's the Cats" begins, Koko the Clown and his pup are running about town putting up posters for the show they are going to put on for the cats. As usual, Koko and the dog (who is only in a few films) are animated...the cats and theater are actual sets and cute kittens. What follows is a show consisting of some acrobatics, a diving act, some tableaus as well as a finale where the pair inexpicably release a ton of mice into the theater.

I have seen quite a few Koko shorts and love them. However, there is a bit less to love in this one--mostly because it's not as funny as usual. Additionally, it's less entertaining to see the character performing for cats instead of interacting with humans. An interesting diversion but not one of the better films in this long Fleischer Brothers' series.

cats, cats, everywhere, cats, cats

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 3 October 2021]

Ko-Ko the Clown and his dog sidekick are hanging posters for their show. It attracts a lot of cats into the Ko-ko Theatre. It's all kittens in the audience. This is the pets channel doing the Super Bowl. It's people watching cats on Youtube. This is fun. The fake cats are funny. If anything, they should let the real cats walk around and have more of them. Maybe have one of the cats play a piano.

Patience of the saints

[lotekguy-1 · 6/10 · 3 October 2021]

Animation of this era was incredibly labor-intensive, with each frame individually hand-drawn. This one may not be the funniest of the studio's output in the mid-'20s, but the time required to herd all those live kittens into their desired positions must have at least tripled their average production time and film footage. If you doubt it, try getting just one of the critters to go where you want and stay there long enough for a photo.