When the Cat's Away: A tiny kitchen riot

Is it worth your time?

If you have seven minutes and a weird fondness for vintage animation, sure. It is for the people who find comfort in the jerky, old-school movements of 1930s cartoons. If you need a coherent plot or, I don't know, a reason to care about a mouse couple's domestic life, you are probably going to hate this.

It starts exactly how you expect. The owners leave, and the floorboards immediately become a dance floor. I spent most of the runtime just staring at the sheer number of mice filling the frame. It feels like a high-stakes grocery store raid. 🐭

There is this one moment where a roach just starts wiggling around that felt oddly specific. Why is the roach the best dancer? I do not know. It just is.

Then the villain shows up. A rat, obviously. He has this look on his face like he’s really enjoying the intimidation factor, which is honestly a bit much for a kitchen. It reminded me of the tension in The Black Cat, though obviously with a lot more fur and way fewer existential dread vibes.

The pacing is all over the place. It’s mostly just mouse-bop-music and frantic running until the cat finally enters the chat. The cat’s arrival isn't even really dramatic; it’s just inevitable. The whole thing stops dead the second those eyes appear.

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s barely a story. But there is something about the way the animation wobbles that makes it feel alive in a way that modern, smooth stuff never quite gets. 🐈

Random thoughts:

• The kitchen decor is a bit depressing.
• I still have no idea where the humans went. Probably to get more cheese.
• The sound design is basically just a squeak-fest.
• Would have loved to see what the roaches did next, honestly.