Cool Cat's Crazy Dream is so good, it's...well, crazy! Never before have ten minutes of cinema expressed such a combination of ecstatic bliss and utter confusion, as Cool Cat's Crazy Dream dives deep into the human (well, human cat) psyche and explores what it means to in fact have a crazy dream.
Much like Christopher Nolan's Inception, the audience is asked to decide when Cool Cat was dreaming and when he wasn't, and is never given any direct answers on the matter. Is Cool Cat dreaming when he thinks he's telling us about his dream? How about during the ending when Cool Cat, an elementary school student, drives off into a parking lot at Macy's, with the ominous threat of his sworn enemy looming behind him? Has he woken up then, or is he still asleep? I suspect that film students will be discussing these questions for years to come.
Then there's the price of what it means to have a crazy dream. In Cool Cat's case, it appears to have cost him his voice. No longer sounding like a grade schooler high on 100 cans of Cool Cat Cola, Cool Cat now sounds like a hillbilly Mickey Mouse. Reportedly it's because he had tonsillitis, but my theory is that it's because Cool Cat's dream was so crazy and fun that it changed him as a person (well, person cat), redefining who he was and who he wanted to be. No longer content with merely being the coolest cat in the world (which he is, and he says so in the short), Cool Cat wishes to journey beyond his dream, to be able to hang out with George Takei in real life to ask him if Star Trek was his favorite show (Takei shows utter bewilderment here, perhaps unaware of Cool cat's coolness) or press Lea Thompson up to his chest. Thompson looks completely terrified here, a reflection that what is a dream for Cool Cat might in fact be a nightmare for her. Could it be she knows about Dirty Dog? Could it be she doesn't know how to warn Cool Cat about what horrors his enemy has in store for him in the future? Worth noting is that Lea Thompson was in Howard the Duck, a movie in which a duck jammed to an electric guitar. And what does Cool Cat love to do? Jam to an electric guitar. This is one of many subtle movie references that true cinema fans will be rewarded with as they experience Cool Cat's Crazy Dream.
Then there's the film's stance on weed, which is definitely there. Cool Cat has the drugs kick in somewhere around the time he starts waving goodbye to everyone at the Hollywood Parade, and they love him so much that he just has to wave back. Absent from the dream is Butch--no doubt because Cool Cat no longer worries about him as he is safely locked away in prison--but Cool Cat's drama is far from over.
This is because the ending features the reveal of Dirty Dog, the most exciting surprise appearance at the end of a movie since Nick Fury greeted Tony Stark after the end credits of Iron Man. This marks the first appearance of Cool Cat's sworn enemy in the official Cool Cat canon, and his declaration regarding the bad smell of children sends chills down the viewer's spine. What could he have in store for Cool Cat? And why was he in the parking lot?
The exciting news from Cool Cat's Twitter page is that Cool Cat is going to fight The Wicked Witch soon, and if she's the same witch as the one from Oz, then there could be a chance that Cool Cat has in fact not woken up from his dream, and that Dirty Dog has trapped him there. Perhaps Dirty Dog has him imprisoned in a "dream machine" so he won't be able to stop him from terrorizing the kids.
Of course, all of those answers will be given to us down the road in future exciting Cool Cat movies. And I for one can't wait to see what cool adventures he gets into next. In the meantime, look for Cool Cat's Crazy Dream to be a shoe-in for the Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film this year.
Much like Christopher Nolan's Inception, the audience is asked to decide when Cool Cat was dreaming and when he wasn't, and is never given any direct answers on the matter. Is Cool Cat dreaming when he thinks he's telling us about his dream? How about during the ending when Cool Cat, an elementary school student, drives off into a parking lot at Macy's, with the ominous threat of his sworn enemy looming behind him? Has he woken up then, or is he still asleep? I suspect that film students will be discussing these questions for years to come.
Then there's the price of what it means to have a crazy dream. In Cool Cat's case, it appears to have cost him his voice. No longer sounding like a grade schooler high on 100 cans of Cool Cat Cola, Cool Cat now sounds like a hillbilly Mickey Mouse. Reportedly it's because he had tonsillitis, but my theory is that it's because Cool Cat's dream was so crazy and fun that it changed him as a person (well, person cat), redefining who he was and who he wanted to be. No longer content with merely being the coolest cat in the world (which he is, and he says so in the short), Cool Cat wishes to journey beyond his dream, to be able to hang out with George Takei in real life to ask him if Star Trek was his favorite show (Takei shows utter bewilderment here, perhaps unaware of Cool cat's coolness) or press Lea Thompson up to his chest. Thompson looks completely terrified here, a reflection that what is a dream for Cool Cat might in fact be a nightmare for her. Could it be she knows about Dirty Dog? Could it be she doesn't know how to warn Cool Cat about what horrors his enemy has in store for him in the future? Worth noting is that Lea Thompson was in Howard the Duck, a movie in which a duck jammed to an electric guitar. And what does Cool Cat love to do? Jam to an electric guitar. This is one of many subtle movie references that true cinema fans will be rewarded with as they experience Cool Cat's Crazy Dream.
Then there's the film's stance on weed, which is definitely there. Cool Cat has the drugs kick in somewhere around the time he starts waving goodbye to everyone at the Hollywood Parade, and they love him so much that he just has to wave back. Absent from the dream is Butch--no doubt because Cool Cat no longer worries about him as he is safely locked away in prison--but Cool Cat's drama is far from over.
This is because the ending features the reveal of Dirty Dog, the most exciting surprise appearance at the end of a movie since Nick Fury greeted Tony Stark after the end credits of Iron Man. This marks the first appearance of Cool Cat's sworn enemy in the official Cool Cat canon, and his declaration regarding the bad smell of children sends chills down the viewer's spine. What could he have in store for Cool Cat? And why was he in the parking lot?
The exciting news from Cool Cat's Twitter page is that Cool Cat is going to fight The Wicked Witch soon, and if she's the same witch as the one from Oz, then there could be a chance that Cool Cat has in fact not woken up from his dream, and that Dirty Dog has trapped him there. Perhaps Dirty Dog has him imprisoned in a "dream machine" so he won't be able to stop him from terrorizing the kids.
Of course, all of those answers will be given to us down the road in future exciting Cool Cat movies. And I for one can't wait to see what cool adventures he gets into next. In the meantime, look for Cool Cat's Crazy Dream to be a shoe-in for the Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film this year.
