Walt Disney Pictures
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Caroline Goodall
Directed by: Garry Marshall
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is an awkward, nerdy 16 year old girl who goes through major changes when she finds out she is the heir apparent to the throne of Genovia and must learn how to become a princess.
Cinema Cat: Mia owns a tuxedo cat named Fat Louie who is seen several times in the movie. We first see Fat Louie when Mia carries him downstairs when she is leaving for school.
Many shots of Fat Louie are seen throughout the film, even though he is usually not interacting with the human actors directly.
In one scene Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews) spots Fat Louie on Mia’s bed and looks appalled.
The most pivotal scene involving Fat Louie is when Mia is planning to run away. As she packs, she drops an envelope which was inside the diary her grandmother had given to her. As any good cat would do, Fat Louie lays across it.
Mia sees the envelope and picks up Fat Louie, putting him into his cat carrier before reading the note.
In the end Mia and her mother are traveling by plane to Genovia and Fat Louie is seen sitting on a soft pillow wearing a tiara.
In the DVD commentary track director Garry Marshall explained there were four cats playing the part of Fat Louie (actress Anne Hathaway remembered there being three), each with a particular specialty. The cat in the first scene could be carried. The cat sitting on Mia’s bed did nothing, would just sit perfectly still. One would be called upon to move and the fourth cat is the one that would sit on the envelope on cue. However it’s clear the one cat actor has distinctive white rings around the eyes and is used both for a carrying scene and for a moving scene. The cat trainers on this film were Rose Ordile and Debbie Silverman.
Final Mewsings: All cats consider themselves to be of royal blood.
[nggallery id=161]
Relevant Links:
To discuss this film and other cats in movies and on television, join us on
Facebook and Twitter.