Starring Christina Ricci and Doug E. Doug Directed by Bob Spiers Rated PG, with mild comic violence Running time 89 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 4 out of 10

(Feb. 13, 1997) -- Call me silly, but it seems you ought to have some excuse to remake an old movie. You should bring something new to the mix -- improved special effects, a bigger or better star, new plot twists, a more contemporary look, color instead of black and white. Something.

The new Disney comedy ought to be called That Same Darn Cat, because not much has changed. Once again, we have a goofy comic thriller, primarily for kids, in which a family cat helps the FBI break a case.

When Disney first made That Darn Cat in 1965, it starred Hayley Mills just as she was about to graduate from child roles. (It was her last Disney film.)

This time, the star is Christina Ricci, the young star of the Addams Family movies. She's also about to graduate to more mature roles.

In both cases, the actresses play Patti Randall, an out-of-sorts young adolescent who is bored with small-town life and whose only true friend is her pet cat, D.C. But when D.C. comes home with a human's wristwatch around her neck, Patti begins to think it may be a call for help.

Indeed, the watch was placed on the cat by a woman being held hostage. In the first film, she's a bank teller. This time, she's a kidnapping victim.

Patti goes to the FBI with her instincts and her clue. They dismiss her as a nut case, but assign one inept junior-grade detective named Zeke Kelso to investigate. Zeke is played in ultra-goofy fashion by Doug E. Doug, of Operation Dumbo Drop and Class Act. (Dean Jones, the original Zeke, returns here in an unrelated cameo.)

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of That Darn Cat is the darn cat. Babe and other recent animal comedies have shown that much can be done with even the most recalcitrant of animal actors. And yet, the cat here does very little except run along roof tops and fence lines. It never develops a personality or delivers any laughs.

The cat-and-kidnapping plot is relied upon to drive the film; at least director Bob Spiers takes time out for a series of wacky subplots and amusing supporting characters. The most entertaining stuff in the new Darn Cat is almost always going on in the background -- though I suspect most of it will soar over the heads of younger viewers. I especially liked the lovesick butcher (Megan Cavanah) who expressed her affection for a local cop by leaving choice cuts of meat on his doorstep.

Spiers may have picked up his offbeat comic sensibility in his native England, where he directed Absolutely Fabulous and Fawlty Towers for the BBC.

I'd like to see it applied to more substantial fare than this darn Disney remake.