This time, Cool Cat saves us all!
Cool Cat Fights Coronavirus is a 2021 short film directed by Derek Savage.A follow-up to Cool Cat Saves the Kids, the film, produced during the COVID-19 Pandemic, introduces Cool Cat's new arch-rival, Dirty Dog who schemes to give Cool Cat and friends the infamous virus!
The twenty-minute long film was crowdfunded on Kickstarter raising $7,785 and chronologically takes place before Savage's next Cool Cat production, Cool Cat Stops a School Shooting, which originally was supposed to release before Cool Cat Fights Coronavirus.
As the title suggests, Cool Cat does indeed go up against the real-life global pandemic virus itself, though "Fights" might be a bit of a stretch...
The short can be watched for free on the official Cool Cat YouTube channel
. It was later incorporated into Savage's 2023 film Cool Cat vs Dirty Dog: The Virus Wars.
Cool Cat loves these tropes!
- Alliterative Name: Cool Cat and Dirty Dog
- Animal Jingoism: The hero is a cat and the villain is a dog.
- Artistic License – Medicine: While Cool Cat fighting giant COVID viruses could just be a stylised depiction of him stopping the disease, this doesn't excuse Dirty Dog trying to spread COVID despite being a dog (dogs can catch COVID but they can't spread it to humans). Also, Dirty Dog claims that he is using magic to spread COVID.
- Big Bad: Dirty Dog, Cool Cat's new Arch-Enemy who seeks to spread COVID.
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Broken Aesop:- Cool Cat aims to teach the girls to stop Coronavirus in three ways: stay 6 feet away from each other, wear a mask, and wash your hands. Not a bad message on its own merits, but he and the girls constantly break the Aesop throughout the entire film with no repercussions; for one, Cool Cat not only fails to wear a mask for the entire film (except for the merchandise plug at the end), but one of the girls takes off her mask just before the rap and isn't even called out on it.
- Neither are the girls called out for engaging Cool Cat in a Group Hug after he effortlessly defeats Coronavirus with a single punch, completely flying in the face of the 'keep 6 feet apart from each other' Aesop.
- Furthermore, at the end of the film, Cool Cat also says that people who have differing opinions on the Coronavirus aren't bad. Yet Dirty Dog has a differing opinion on the coronavirus, believing it to be a scam, and is (correctly) shown to be wrong, so this aesop doesn't work no matter which way you slice it.
- At the end, Cool Cat seemingly stops the whole pandemic, breaking the "COVID is a serious concern" Aesop.
- Call-Back: Dirty Dog's name comes from an insult Cool Cat was emailed in the original Cool Cat Saves the Kids film.
- Canine Confusion: Dirty Dog tries to spread COVID, even though dogs, while capable of catching COVID, can't spread it to humans.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Maria, Butch the Bully and the other children from the original Cool Cat Saves The Kids movie are completely absent here, likely due to their actors having aged and Derek having moved elsewhere. In addition, Mama Cat is also completely absent, and Cool Cat and Daddy Derek are the only characters shown living at the house.
- Clueless Aesop: Due to being aimed at small children, the film can't address the potentially fatal consequences of getting COVID, with Angela and Britney just being worried about getting sick. As such, it can't make it clear to kids what distinguishes COVID from a regular cold. This does work in favor of the Dirty Dog scenes though, as he would come off as a bioterrorist otherwise.
- Deus ex Machina: No explanation is given for how Cool Cat knew the weakness of Dirty Dog's virus.
- Epic Fail: When Dirty Dog first tries to infect Cool Cat with the Coronavirus-filled water balloon, he completely misses him by several feet.
- Funny Animal: The main characters are Cool Cat (an anthropomorphic cat) and Dirty Dog (an anthropomorphic dog).
- Greater-Scope Villain: The witch who gives Dirty Dog his magic potion that he uses to make a Coronavirus strain.
- Hypocrite:
- Cool Cat delivers several safety tips on how to avoid catching the virus. Despite saying to wear a face mask, and correcting one of the kids for wearing her mask improperly, Cool Cat himself spends the entire movie without one. He’s wearing one in the segment at the end, with the excuse being that he simply forgot to wear it. He also says that it's important to respect others' opinions on masks and it's okay to not wear one, which could reflect Daddy Derek's anti-mask views, despite having previously berated the girl for not wearing her mask properly.
- In the same film, one scene involves Cool Cat (and Angela and Britney) taunting Dirty Dog for being a poor thrower. That's rich considering the previous film, Cool Cat Saves the Kids, which is meant to be an anti-bullying film.
- Dirty Dog repeatedly claims to think Coronavirus is "a scam" (presumably meant to mirror people who are skeptical of the virus in real life), even though he has the power to harness giant COVID-19 molecules as projectiles.
- Invincible Hero: Taken to extremes as not only is Cool Cat shown actually punching giant Coronavirus strains with no issue during the intro, but No-Sells Dirty Dog's attempt to infect him, Britney and Angela just by swatting away his Coronavirus ball.
- Large Ham:
- Derek really hams it up as Dirty Dog.
- Angela and Britney yell out almost all of their lines.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The villain's name is Dirty Dog.
- Obviously Evil: Dirty Dog. He tries to infect an innocent child and later Cool Cat and friends with coronavirus and when that fails, he swears revenge by scheming to shoot up Cool Cat's school thus setting up the upcoming Cool Cat Stops a School Shooting short film.
- Product Placement: During Cool Cat's "rap", the first short film is shilled and as mentioned below, the soon-to-be follow-up film is also shilled after Dirty Dog's scheme to infect Cool Cat and friends with coronavirus fails.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: Dirty Dog's Villain Song is titled 'Corinavirus (sic) is a Scam' in the end credits.
- Sequel Hook:
- As mentioned above, Dirty Dog swears to shoot up a school. Heck, even the upcoming Cool Cat Stops a School Shooting film gets blatantly advertised complete with showing the poster.
- Dirty Dog also mentions getting a magic potion from "the witch", possibly setting up another villain in said sequel.
- Share the Sickness: Zigzagged — Dirty Dog apparently has COVID, since he tries to spread it to children by coughing on them. However, he also claims that he is using magic to spread COVID, and that COVID is a scam.
- The Stinger: After the credits, there is some brief behind-the-scenes footage of Derek directing Andre Matthews (the actor who played Dirty Dog).
- Weaksauce Weakness: Dirty Dog's virus can be destroyed with farts.
