When meowing becomes cool

So, I was thinking about my cats and how much I miss them (fine, the oldest one died in 2000, but I still miss him)... so, dedicated to my deceased and very loved pets, Beto and Tata, a list of my favorite "cats" ever.

Garfield
My lord and saviour. The hero of my childhood, and the most accurate portrayal of a cat I've seen. Funny, smart, lazy, infinitely hungry and simply the height of cool, Garfield might just be my favourite [fictional] feline ever.


Cheshire Cat
You wouldn't believe just how much I used to quote Alice in Wonderland, and particularly this lovely and psychedelic little cat, when I was growing up. Completely insane and adorably nonsensical, the cat with the best smile is, besides idly terrifying, one of the most fun cartoon characters ever drawn.

Felix the Cat
The wacky feline with the psychedelic settings, the rock and roll feel and the manic laugh, Felix is not only absolutely hilarious and adorable, but the most recent cartoon version (the one I knew) is a sort of 21st century noirish madness that fits him much too well. The ultimate "bad luck" cat, while not the type you'd necessarily want to run into, makes beyond great comedy... and that bag of his is the dream of any female (hell, it even looks like a Louis Vuitton)

Pyewacket
The ageless witch cat, Pyewacket takes his name from a "familiar spirit" of a witch detected in Essex in the 17th century -but those of us who love the dear kitty know him as Kim Novak's pet and prank partner in the 1958 film Bell Book and Candle. In the movie, Pyewacket is the "means to an end" to Novak's spells, and ultimately the responsible for the film's happy ending... but being a wicked kitty and all, isn't it adowable?

Crookshanks
The moody cat that starts a maniac and ends up a hero in JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and yet another "witch" cat, here is the half-Kneazle Hermione Granger took in her possession during her third year at Hogwarts, the cat that discovered Sirius Black's true identity and gained himself an enemy for most of the book... such a cute little pig face, ain't he?


Puss 'n Boots
Quite possibly the most adorable cat ever to have been filmed, cute little thing that can kick your ass. Arrested for possession of kitty sand, the greatest thief in Santiago de Compostela stole the show from the second he first appeared in Shrek 2 and we are all endlessly grateful to Antonio Banderas for it... who, in return, has stated that Puss has "ruined his life" - the once latin lover has now been overshadowed for a furrier version of himself. Así es la vida.

The Villain Cats
Maybe the most famous "prop" in the history of film, the cat Marlon Brando held in the very first scene of The Godfather has become subject of countless parodies... it does absolutely nothing, but has become iconic in itself just for being there, playing around with the Don as he structures murders... similarly to the gorgeous white cat the great James Bond villain, Ersnt Stavro Blofeld, always held in his SPECTRE meetings...


Catwoman
And finally, last but never least, the great villainess that acquired her cat-like powers after being licked back to life by a gang of alley cats... the goddess of evil and always the sexiest thing in leather: Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman in Batman Returns. Sleek, gracious, vindictive, evil and drowning in sexuality, Catwoman might just be the greatest villainess ever to have existed, and La Pfeiffer most decidedly makes her justice. Meoowww.