An 8 minute animated short film based on the classic children's ditty about old Mister Johnson and the yellow cat that "wouldn't leave his home". The humourous film chronicles Johnson's increasingly desperate attempts to rid himself of the cat, which survives each increasingly violent attempt and returns, unscathed, to further demolish Johnson's possessions.

The "children's song" on which the film was based exists in several versions. Some have been bowdlerized but in its canonical form, the song is in fact more violent and horrid than the film, featuring numerous violent deaths and drownings. The cartoon violence of the film is done in a quirky, over-the-top style, and one never really feels that the cat is in any danger - unlike Johnson, who is in constant peril from the cat and his own plans, not unlike the well-known coyote/roadrunner dynamic.

But the cat came back
the very next day,
Oh, the cat came back,
they thought he was a goner,
but the cat came back,
he just wouldn't stay away.

The Cat Came Back was created in 1988 by Cordell Barker and produced by Canada's National film Board (NFB). It was the winner of a Genie Award for Best Animated Film, and recipient of an an Academy Award® nomination for Best Short Film, Animated.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.