Logline:
A 10-year-old boy, Trevor, stymied between a neurotic mother and inattentive father, feels lost at home until he discovers a magic spell that causes his feuding parents to trade places with his equally feuding family cats. An emotional journey ensues that tests family bonds, rekindles the magic of love and makes us stop and listen to the “sound and the furry.”
Synopsis:
Trevor, 10, is a quiet boy who is surrounded by a world that is loud and full of conflict. His parents argue. His beloved cats fight with his dogs. His beloved cats even fight with each other. He has a little sister – more arguing. However, the greatest disappointment in this cacophonous life is his father who used to build model planes with him and who now spends all his time working either at the office or alone in the basement.
Trevor misses his father and with childlike logic he blames him for being bullied at school – if his father practiced baseball with him, he would be better and therefore, not laughed at. The new goal-oriented father misses all his son’s baseball games and feels a constant judgment of disappointment from his wife, Trevor’s mom. The mom has her own issues, feeling the need to obsess over her weight and appearance to the exclusion of real parenting time. The feuding parents at home and victimization by the school bully lead Trevor to be even more isolated. His need to collect “happy” sounds solidifies and two of his favorite sources are his beloved cats, Chester and Lady Paw.
It is this very ear for recording sounds that one emotional day leads Trevor to follow a magic word that he hears on the wind in the trees near his school. The search results in a trailer park and his first encounter with Witch Kelly. Of course, Trevor does not know she is a witch and their cryptic encounter sends him fleeing home.
Home may be safe but it is still a place of disappointment for Trevor and he can finally not take his father’s disinterest any more. In his room, he rips up all the airplane models and posters associated with a happier time. He is angry. Timing is, of course, everything and his sister shows him a book of spells that she found in his bag. As he goes through it, he finds one to change the personality of those you don’t love into those that you do. Trevor and his helpful little sister carry out the gooey rather disgusting spell but when it comes to the magic word, Trevor doesn’t know it. Later that night as Trevor listens to his sounds, he hears the one he followed that day to the trailer park. He chants it over the spell ingredients, checks out his parents who look the same, throws out the ingredients and goes to bed disappointed.
The next morning the success of his spell slowly becomes apparent – his mother and his father are not sure how to walk on two feet and are surprised at their ability to speak. His cats are equally confused. Trevor realizes that the spell has worked and his cats, Chester and Lady Paw, now occupy the bodies of his parents and his parents are now trapped in the bodies of the cats. Mayhem and craziness ensue as Trevor tries to take charge of the situation and the household in which his parents, really his cats, run around, pounce, and wrestle believing they are still in their feline bodies. His parents of course must do their own adapting to their actual feline forms and their now very real inability to communicate with their son and daughter.
The fun and the action speed up as Trevor begins to realize the consequences of his spell. He has to find a way to communicate with his parents (now cats) and he has to teach his cats (now his parents) the basics of eating and human interaction. Most importantly, his father has an important review at the dog food company. He has been working hard on a report to revolutionize the production of dog food and save the company millions of dollars but a bullying associate has his eyes on the report and the accompanying glory. Add to this these cats, these parents, and a little boy having to function in the real world, from eating breakfast to taking the dog to the vets to being at work to having unexpected visitors. Trevor’s attempts to fix things end up putting his father’s job in jeopardy. As the events pile on top of each other, Witch Kelly whisks in takes back the magic book. When they finally happen upon the idea of reversing the spell, the missing book leaves them with no other option than to do something they have not done in the longest time – work together toward a common goal. They must find the witch and get Dad to his meeting.
In this search, a magic of its own begins to happen as Dad starts to assert himself in his new impulsive feline form and mom loses her fear of the unknown. Lady Paw and Chester learn that being human is much more than “taking off a fur coat.” But it is not as easy as it seems. The family still needs to find the bravery to communicate and listen to each other because the message that will save them is hidden in the strangest place. Even when they do find Witch Kelly, it is not over. Trevor is stunned to learn that the spell’s power hinges on his continuing love for his father and he is uncertain that he has that and that this reverse spell will work. As it turns out, a muddy kiss, some engineering heroism mixed with karaoke, a false kidnapping and a cat’s undying need to chase moths all combine to make a 10-year-old boy remember what propels plastic airplanes to get lift and to fly. Witch Kelly was right when she says, “the strongest magic in the world is a child’s love.’
