There sure have been many so bad they're good movies. With films like The Room, Troll 2, Rocky Horror Picture Show (although I think it was intentionally SBIG), and, in my opinion, Human Centipede. Well, a new movie has surfaced that has caught the attention of the Internet.
Enter Cool Cat Saves The Kids. A movie released this year by a man known as Derek Savage (Or "Daddy" Derek as he's called in the film). Cool Cat Saves the Kids stars the titular character Cool Cat, a character whose personality will make you think this was something made in the early to mid nineties as I myself thought upon first seeing it. The film follows Cool Cat as he shows kids the "proper" way to handle cyberbullying, graffiti, gun control, and even stars in the Hollywood parade(I have no idea how he was able to do that). I use quotation marks around the word proper because Cool Cat does a terrible job handling the lesson it's trying to teach. In the part where Cool Cat deals with cyberbullying (or bullying of any sort), he rationalizes that those who bully others do so because they don't have any friends. He even sends a message to the kid bullying him online along the lines of "If you had friends, you wouldn't need to be a bully because friends are awesome!" or something like that even though there are a plethora of reasons why somebody might bully. I'm not saying bullying is good or that all bullies should be seen as sympathetic but this movie simplifies this in such a childish and quite frankly insulting way. What about kids who are friendless but don't try to hurt others? Are they suddenly bullies because they don't have friends?
The other poor lesson this movie teaches kids is actually crossing the street. At one point in the movie, one of Cool Cat's friends is showing Cool Cat a ball he got. It goes into the street and he runs out to get it just as a car is coming. Cool Cat saves him and lectures the boy about looking both ways before crossing the street. Sounds good so far, no? Well, a little later, Cool Cat and his friends see the antagonist in the flick (a bully named Butch) stealing candy and CC proceeds to bolt out into the street after him WITHOUT LOOKING BOTH WAYS! Completely contradicting what he was just trying to teach. So what are kids supposed to learn from this? Always look both ways unless you're chasing someone then just go after them like a crazed dog?
The last lesson I want to bring up is, in my opinion, the worst one this movie could teach and that's what to do when you see a schoolmate brandishing a gun. So Cool Cat and friends find a gun and instead of trying to handle it themselves, they go get "Daddy" Derek. Now this actually isn't too bad. I do like that the movie encourages kids to get an adult to handle this if they find a firearm. A lot of specials don't normally point that out from what I've seen. Of course, Butch the Bully finds this gun and monologues his plan to take it to school and threaten kids to give him their lunch money. The next day, he brings the gun to school and Cool Cat and his friends see him showing it off to another kid. What is the best course of action they suggest? Going into the school! Yeah, don't try to find a teacher who might be outside, call the police, or hightail it outta there, nope, go into the place that could come under fire. Thankfully Butch is stopped before he can do anything with the gun by a cop who arrests him but I personally think he's just trying to protect Butch from Cool Cat.
Aside from contradictory lessons, the acting is terrible. The guy who plays Cool Cat is constantly screaming his lines, the characters often state what they're going to do or what is going on instead of showing it, and somehow, Derek Savage was able to get Erik Estrada (CHiPs and Sealab 2021) and Vivica A. Fox (Both Kill Bills) to be in his movie. I don't know if he knows them personally or what but I think they're both way too talented to be in this.
In addition to all this, Savage has also gotten into a feud with a Youtuber known as I Hate Everything. IHE did a video where he watched CCStK and commented on it. While I didn't think his thoughts on the movie were too bad, Savage thought differently. He had the video removed from IHE's channel and has even gone as far as to threaten IHE by claiming he'll get his account taken down if he ever makes another video about him or Cool Cat. IHE, from what I've seen, has tried to be civil and composed about this whole mess (and has done a good job of it) while Derek has continued to insult the guy and threaten him, calling him things like "liar" and threatening to sue him and get his channel removed.
In some ways, I can kind of understand Derek's feelings. It's clear to anyone that he truly cares about Cool Cat. This is his baby, his magnum opus. From what I've read on his IMDB page, Cool Cat was based off an imaginary friend he made in his childhood so obviously this character has stuck with him for a long time.
With that said, however, Derek needs to realize that when you put something out there for everybody to see, you're going to get negative reception. It sucks, but that's the unfortunate truth of it all. Nobody wants to see their work get ripped a new one but it happens. When I post a new drawing or chapter of my Dragon's World series on my DA account, I know there's a chance that someone'll leave a nasty comment on one of my works but I take that risk knowing what could happen because I like to share my stuff and because I want to make it better. The way Derek has been handling this issue with I Hate Everything is hurting both him and Cool Cat. CC is supposed to be a character who is about friendship and kindness, what would he think if he saw his "daddy" Derek bullying somebody with threats of legal action (which wouldn't work anyway since IHE hasn't broken any laws) and threatening to take their account down? I wish Derek would think of this. He seems to treat Cool Cat like a real person anyway so why not ask himself how his fictional (or possibly real in his world) son would feel if he saw his dad hurting another person?
Well I definitely posted a lot. I'll end this post with a reuploaded version of IHE's Cool Cat review. Might want to check it out in case it gets removed again (Warning: Vulgar language)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSqc3zu_R04
