Are you a cat person or a dog person[1]? It seems you must always choose. “I like them both” is never given as an option. So, if you must choose – and you live in Europe rather than North America – then the odds are that you will fall closer to the cat end of the pet spectrum. According to a study published by Kattly, using data from European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF), 27 percent of European households have at least one cat, compared to 25 percent that have at least one dog. Romania is the cattiest country in Europe (48 percent of all households have at least one cat), while Greece is the least catty, with only 13 percent of households having a cat.[2]
Those who do live with cats (no one really “owns” a cat – they’re just small, furry roommates who will occasionally throw up in your shoes) know that it’s a mixed bag. Cats can be soothing,[3] but also quite aggravating. Since everything is on the cat’s terms, it is all the more rewarding when cats show affection. Still, there is a very fine line between having a cat and suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
So, what with all these cats lying about,[4] it’s only natural that in addition to cat people, there are also cat movie people.[5] Among them is Nakeisha Campbell, associate editor for the media brand PureWow. She put in the time (quite likely with at least one cat curled up nearby – it’s also quite likely that the cat was sitting on the remote at least half the time) to assemble a list of the 25 best movies about cats.
The cats in these films cover the spectrum from the heroes of their own stories to sidekicks to straight up villains – a transformative journey that our own cat goes through several times each night. The movies on this list span seven decades from the 1960s to the 2020s and include live action and animation with everything from family fare to comedies, dramas, horror, documentaries, and biopics. If you’re looking for something for the holidays, there’s Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale (2007) and Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever (2014). Interested in an inspiring true story? Catch A Street Cat Named Bob (2016).[6] Have a tissue handy if you’re going to watch Koneko monogatari (aka, The Adventures Of Milo And Otis, 1986) and keep the lights on if you’re going to watch Pet Sematary (1989).
If you’d like to learn more about these films, you can look them all up in the EIDR Content ID registry, where you’ll fine basic descriptive metadata and a host of third-party identifiers that link to Web sites with full cast and crew, synopsis, ratings, and information on how you can stream these films today.
[1] It’s uncertain where the expression “raining cats and dogs” originally came from, but one likely theory is that it’s a combination of two different traditions: Witches, often pictured with black cats, were said to ride their booms during storms, leading to a nautical tradition associating cats heavy rain. Meanwhile, Odin, the Norse god of storms, was often pictured with dogs or wolves, which became a symbol of wind. This could have led to severe storms being composed of cats (rain) and dogs (wind).
[2] Greek cat ownership is quite low despite, or perhaps because of, Greece’s high stray cat population, which numbers around 3 million compared to just over 10 human residents. Türkiye has even more stray cats – around 4 million – and the second-lowest rate of cat ownership in Europe with only 14% of households having at least one cat. But given Türkiye’s higher population – nearly 8 times that of Greece, the cat-per-person ratio in Greece is significantly higher.
[3] Studies have shown that petting a cat causes the release of both dopamine and serotonin, leading to reduced stress and lower blood pressure – until the cat turns on you and literally bites the hand that feeds it.
[4] Cats sleep an average of 12-18 hours per day, in a series of “cat naps” of about 78 minutes each.
[5] Let us not speak of the cat-people in the movie Cats (2019). The computer-generated modifications to the human actors (in cat costumes and makeup) led to some rather unsettling imagery that audiences did not resonate with. (Earning Cats a 2.8 rating on IMDb.)
[6] Starring Bob the Cat, playing himself.