Nice Cats, known as Artige Katzen in German, is a 1995 mockbuster by Dingo Pictures. It's a rare example of a movie taking "inspiration" from Disney's 1970 The Aristocats.
Despite the cover promising a much closer "homage" to the Disney movie, Nice Cats only follows it rather loosely, with the plot focusing on a pampered white kitten named Lucy, who goes on vacation to Acapulco with her mother Lauren, brother Lionel, and their owner, Mrs. McDonald. However, after the rebellious Lucy runs off to explore Acapulco by herself, she gets caught by a cat catcher and thrown into a pound. There she meets a stray ginger tomcat named Charlie, who helps her escape the pound, and aids her as she tries to return home to San Francisco and reunite with her family.
I can't find my damn tropes:
- Adaptational Protagonist: Being a Captain Ersatz of Marie, Lucy is made the main protagonist in this movie while Lauren (Duchess) and Lionel (a Composite Character of Toulouse and Berlioz) are only supporting characters.
- Advertised Extra: Another title for the movie is Lucy and Lionel, even though the former is a far more major character than the latter. Lucy and Charlie would've been more appropriate.
- Animal Testing: The fate of any cat caught by the Cat Catcher that isn't attractive enough to be sold for a high price. Charlie thinks it entails trying various types of food, but Lucy corrects that he'll be "teased" until he dies.
- Artistic License – Geography: Apparently, San Francisco (central California) and Acapulco (located in Guerrero, in the far south of Mexico) are close enough that you can travel from one to the other within a matter of a few hours via car.
- Bit Part Bad Guy: The Cat Catcher kicks off the plot by catching Lucy but after she and Charlie escape from him, he's never seen again.
- Captain Obvious: "You have to go straight to go straight ahead!"
- Covers Always Lie: The cover bears a much closer resemblance to The Aristocats, including showing three kittens that closely resemble Toulouse, Marie, and Berlioz, while the movie only has two, and a Jack Nicholson-looking evil butler who is clearly supposed to be Edgar, even though the closest thing to the latter in this movie is the cat catcher, who only serves as a Bit Part Bad Guy.
- Dub Name Change: "Nice Cats" was known as "Lucy And Lionel" in the original German version (and is still referred to as such on the English version of Dingo's site).
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Nice Cats was one of Dingo's earlier animated films before they fully transitioned away from their "storybook" movies, so the entire film is still narrated like one, with only the female voice actor present also providing all of the dialogue for the characters.
- Narrating the Obvious: To a ridiculous extent. The narrator constantly describes what the characters just did and/or said seconds ago, as if she was directly reading the text from a book.
- Narrative Profanity Filter: Lucy says "I can't find my damned hairbrush!" In the book by Edutain4Kids, this is rendered as "Lucy had a hard time finding her hairbrush then used atrocious expressions which unfortunately, heard by Lorine." [sic]
- Pragmatic Villainy: The Cat Catcher wants Lucy to be healthy, but only because she won't carry as much money if she's sick.
- Sick Captive Scam: How Lucy and Charlie escape from the Cat Catcher. This instance is more justified than usual since the Cat Catcher does need Lucy to be healthy so he can sell her.
- Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids: Lorine is very strict about making sure Lucy and Lionel behave like proper domestic cats, forbidding them from swearing or running. This just gives Lucy a lust for freedom, and she ends up sneaking out during her vacation when Lorine and her owner Ms. MacDonald are napping, which leads to her getting cat-napped.
- Too Dumb to Live: After Lauren and Mrs. McDonald learn that Lucy is at the pound, they…don’t just go there and pick Lucy up, and instead just mourn her loss and head back to San Francisco. This is very much unlike The Aristocats, where Madame Bonfamille had no idea what happened to Duchess and her kittens other that they vanished without a trace.
- Understatement: A couple of dogs tell Charlie about how their friend recently got run over to which Charlie casually responds "That doesn’t sound too good".
- Vague Age: So how old is Charlie supposed to be in this movie? He’s designed like an adult cat, and is treated as one in every other of his appearances in Dingo Pictures movie, while both Lucy and Lionel have more child-like proportions with big heads. Yet Charlie constantly flirts with Lucy (a kitten), with the ending implying that they became an Official Couple, and is around the same size as her, with a shot near the end of the movie showing him as being much smaller than Lauren.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Cat Catcher isn't seen again after Lucy and Charlie escape from him.
- With Friends Like These...: When Laurine, Lionel and Mrs. McDonald learn that Lucy's been caught by the Cat Catcher, they just pack up and go home instead of trying to get her back.