I really can't say why, but this movie's premise just cracks me up. Seeing that cat emerge from the UFO and stroll so gracefully down the plank has the same effect on me now as it had when I saw the movie as a kid – I just start laughing really hard for a good half minute or so. It's not a bad movie, actually, and the humor is deliberate. I think it's even funnier because the spaceship and the alien cat's mission are treated with such seriousness from the get-go, leaving all the goofy humor to the human characters.

Part of what makes it so great of course is just the fact that they picked a cat. With a dog this movie would be in the words of one character, "Dumb. Very dumb." But cats are just that way… no matter where you put then, they pretty much look and act as if they own the place. So you put that cat with his magic collar on a UFO and darned if he doesn't really belong there, which I think is what makes it so bizarre.

It's great how, without computers, they were able to get that cat to react in appropriate ways in scenes with the actors… what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the all (or, a cat on the couch!) in that editing conference. The human actors, even people with loads of talent like Roddy McDowell and Harry Morgan, don't stand a chance of upstaging this feline extraterrestrial. I love how Jake (that's the cat) is more realistic and down to earth than his human scientist buddy, Frank (Ken Berry). Berry doesn't have much screen presence, but would the movie actually be better if it was Steve McQueen? Sandy Duncan on the other hand I thought was very engaging and had a real flair for deadpan humor. She reminds me of other great 60s film comediennes like Goldie Hawn and Debbie Walley.

As a side note, I kind of felt Spielberg's "E.T." borrowed some elements from this film. You have the friendly misunderstood alien, the glowing collar instead of a glowing finger, and even a flying bike! The whole framework of having an alien befriend the humans is old-hat nowadays but actually was pretty unusual before E.T. (you had a few in the 50s… "Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Space People", but not much in the mid/late 60s or early 70s).

One thing that's interesting watching the movie now in the 21st Century is how other than the cat every major character is an adult. You would never see a kids' film these days that doesn't even have children in it. Speaking as one who saw the movie as a child (though not when it was released… probably a decade later when I was 12 or so), I never had a problem with that and it never would have occurred to me at that time. So I think modern family filmmakers are probably guilty of underestimating the imagination of children and their ability to empathize with adult characters.

This film never aimed to be high art, but it's still noticeable how well it does accomplish its limited goals – a tiny dose of sci-fi/fantasy, a good deal of action, and a lot of slapstick and situational humor. The special effects, by the way, are actually pretty good for their time. The digital graphics on the UFO's display screens and the control panel itself are more convincing than the computers you see in stuff like the original Star Trek series or "Logan's Run" which just came out a few years before this film. All of this detail greatly adds to the humor of seeing this domestic animal placed in this environment.

Cats have always been known for their inscrutable stares and associated with divine wisdom. This film has strong charm despite being limited by its own ambition, and maybe even more so in retrospect since nowadays these things are done with effects instead of real animals. I wonder if kids really can connect to a computerized image of a cat in the same way they can relate to a real cat like the ones in their neighborhoods.

A feline from another planet makes an unscheduled stop on Earth. While the U.S. military ponders over his spacecraft and tries to determine if it's Russian (or otherwise) in origin, he makes contact with a bumbling, likeable, eccentric scientist (Ken Berry) and implores the human to help him with his spacecraft repairs. Meanwhile, a nefarious enemy agent (William Prince) is determined to unravel the secrets of the cats' powerful collar.

It's true that you can't be too hard on films like this. Although, as an adult, I found "The Cat from Outer Space" overlong and not always good at gaining momentum, it's still quite engaging family fare that the kids ought to enjoy. Certainly the talented cast makes it quite easy to watch: Sandy Duncan is cute as Berry's would-be love interest, McLean Stevenson a hoot as his sports-obsessed pal, Harry Morgan hilarious as a ramrod-straight Army general. There's a generous dose of familiar faces in the supporting cast, too: Roddy McDowall, Jesse White, Alan Young, Hans Conried, Ronnie Schell (who plays both Sergeant Duffy and the voice of Jake the cat), James Hampton, Howard Platt, etc. Berry is quite personable in the lead.

Overall, this is fairly mild as far as live-action Disney comedy goes, with not that many true laugh-out-loud moments, but again, kids are likely to be far less judgmental, and may very well take to most of the gags (there is one good laugh when we see Morgans' underwear); young and old alike will be endeared to the feline star, a very well trained animal indeed. The airborne finale is reasonably tense and exciting.

Sorrell "Boss Hogg" Booke appears unbilled at the conclusion, in his final feature film appearance.

Seven out of 10.

This movie is just fun. No serious plot, just an enjoyable movie with some really wonderful actors. If anyone has kids, enjoys cats, or just likes a lighthearted film, see this one. This movie is the reason we named our cat "Jake" not because of his looks, but because of his intelligence (from another world you might say).