This is a list of characters in the Cool Cat franchise.

open/close all folders

Cat Family

Cool Cat

Played by: Unidentified suit actor (2011), Jason Johnson (body and suit, 2012–2018), Derek Savage (voice, 2019–present; occasional suit^note, 2012-present), Enrique Lugo^note (suit, 2021), Rob Bryant (suit, 2022), Mikel Haggett (suit, 2023)

"I'm Cool Cat, and I love all kids!"

Our hero.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cool_cat_transparent.png

"Cool Cat loves to boogie woogie!"

^{In the book}

All-Loving Hero: He loves everyone. Unless you're Butch the Bully.
Alliterative Name: Cool Cat.
Animal Jingoism: Subverted. Cool Cat is enemies with Dirty Dog, but he has no problem with dogs in general (judging by him telling Butch that dogs are his friends), and their antagonistic relationship is due to Dirty Dog being a total asswipe rather than their respective species.
Angry Eyebrows: When Cool Cat finally stands up to Butch the Bully, his eyebrows are suddenly placed down at the bottom of his forehead. The brows are still in that position in the wide shot before Butch walks up, making it look like◊ Cool Cat is royally pissed off about building sandcastles.
Arch-Enemy: Butch, and then Dirty Dog.
Artistic Age: Cool Cat is clearly meant to be a young child given his high-pitched voice, the fact that he attends elementary school, and his general kiddy behavior. Yet he's played by an adult, meaning he towers over his friends of the same age as well as his father. And in one scene he's shown driving a car, with no comment given on it.
Author Avatar: Cool Cat was essentially created as a mouthpiece for Derek.
Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Cool Cat wears a shirt and shorts but no footwear.
Buffoonish Tomcat: Cool Cat often comes off this way, due to his excitable personality and the many poor decisions he makes.
Catchphrase: "And I love you!". Or anything involving the word "love".
Cat Folk: Cool Cat and his mother both have the head and tail of a cat but the body of a human.
Cat Stereotype: He's an anthropomorphic orange cat who is characterized as a friendly, energetic hero.
Celebrity Paradox: Cool Cat, a fictional character created by Derek Savage, at one point writes a book about Trolly the Trout, another fictional character created by Savage, while also having his father played by Derek Savage.
Character as Himself: Not only does Cool Cat get billed this way,^note he's also credited as an associate producer.
Character Shilling: Cool Cat is cool. Nearly every character says so.
Character Tic: In the original version of Saves the Kids, Cool Cat often scratched himself; according to Jason Johnson, it was meant to be a Furry Reminder, but looked like Cool Cat masturbating.
Cool Cat: It is his name. His personality is different from most examples, though, being excitable and hammy rather than relaxed and collected.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: There are two instances in the film where Cool Cat does this strange action that involves pumping his fist near his crotch and twitching his leg (apparently meant to mimic a cat enjoying a belly rub)...does he need some time alone?
Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Cool Cat slips into this very briefly with this line:
"Because making a lot of friends is su-per gweat! Yay!"
Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: He claims to love everyone, but he hates Butch the Bully.
Expy: Cool Cat appears to be an attempt at "Big Bird meets Barney".
Fiery Redhead: He has orange fur and a very enthusiastic personality.
Friend to All Children: "I'm Cool Cat, and I love all kids!" Though he seems to be a kid himself (or at least has an extremely Vague Age).
Funny Animal: Both Cool Cat and his mother are anthropomorphic cats.
Furry Reminder: Cool Cat scratching himself in the YMS cut is meant to be this.
Gender Equals Breed: Inverted; his father is a human, but his mother is an anthropomorphic cat just like him.
Hypocrite:
- In Saves the Kids, Cool Cat and Maria keep insulting Butch for having no friends and make no effort to try to help Butch redeem himself. Yet Cool Cat also teaches anti-bullying messages. In the same film. And claims to "love all kids".
- In Fights Coronavirus, 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.
- 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, is meant to be an anti-bullying film.
Informed Attribute: Despite supposedly being "cool", he doesn't really come off like that, judging by how immature he tends to be.
Informed Species: Cool Cat's features don't quite come across as feline. In fact, he vaguely resembles a fox. Also, his excitable personality isn't very catlike.
Invincible Hero: Taken to extremes in Fights Coronavirus as not only is Cool Cat shown actually punching giant Coronavirus strains with no issue during the intro, but easily thwarts Dirty Dog's attempt to infect him, Britney and Angela just by swatting away his Coronavirus ball.
Keet: Cool Cat comes off as this in nearly every scene.
Kids Driving Cars: Cool Cat, whose age is implied to be around 8 or so, is briefly shown driving the "Cool Cat Convertible".
Large and in Charge: Cool Cat is the leader of his group of friends and easily the tallest. He even towers over his own parents.
Large Ham: Cool Cat constantly speaks in a very excited way.
Most Writers Are Adults: Zig-zagged. He generally acts like a very young child, sometimes to the point of coming off as unrealistic. On the other hand, it's doubtful that most kids would be as excited as him at seeing cars from Starsky & Hutch, Magnum, P.I., or Smokey and the Bandit.
No Indoor Voice: Cool Cat is constantly talking in a raised voice. (see here)
Cool Cat: "I'm a bully and I'm gonna get you tomorrow?" OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHAT SHOULD I DOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!
Ping Pong Naïveté: Cool Cat bounces back-and-forth between being very dense and giving all-knowing lectures to the other kids about things like safety and bullying.
Platonic Life-Partners: He is best friends with Maria.
Portmanteau:
Cool Cat: "I've got a graaaaandtastic story to tell you!"
Reckless Gun Usage: Averted; when Cool Cat and Maria find a gun lying around, they leave it alone and notify an adult. Butch, on the other hand, takes it so he can threaten his classmates.
Third-Person Person: Occasionally slips into this, mainly in his songs.
Unlimited Wardrobe: He wears different shirts throughout the film.
Vague Age: On one hand, he generally acts like a young child and apparently goes to elementary school. On the other, he's played by a grown man, shows interest in shows and movies most kids have never even heard of, and is even shown driving a car.
Vocal Dissonance: Despite being a child, Cool Cat's voice sounds closer to an adult.
Younger Than They Look: Cool Cat is apparently in elementary school as evidenced by the fact that part of the movie's plot has him running for class president. But he is played by and is the size of a grown man, and he drives a car, so it's hard to buy into his apparent age.

Daddy Derek

Played by: Derek Savage

Cool Cat's father.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/derekcrop.png

Daddy Derek

^{In the book}

Adaptation Expansion: His book counterpart was a Satellite Character to the titular hero.
Adaptational Species Change: In the books, Daddy Derek is a cat. In the films, he's a human.
Adaptational Name Change: He was referred to as "Cool Cat's Father" in the books (though Cool Cat Stops Bullying uses the name "Daddy Derek").
Adults Are Useless: Inverted: Daddy Derek does almost everything for Cool Cat.
Affectionate Nickname: Cool Cat always addresses him as "Daddy Derek".
Author Avatar: Obviously one for Savage.
Canon Foreigner: Played with. While Cool Cat indeed had a father in the books, he was a cat and his characterization differed widely from his movie counterpart.
Carpet of Virility: Like his actor, Daddy Derek tends to wear shirts that show off his chest hair.
Cool Old Guy: Daddy Derek is helpful, very encouraging, and owns a guitar allegedly signed by Van Halen.
Deep South: Daddy Derek's accent implies him to be this.^noteSavage was born in Virginia.
Doesn't Like Guns: Derek Savage makes it clear that kids should not be messing with guns. He actually provides the best advice that you can give when it comes to teaching kids about firearms: don't touch them and tell your parent/teacher if you find one.
Interspecies Romance: Daddy Derek, a human male, is with Cool Cat's mother. This is subverted in the books where Cool Cat's parents were both cats.
Large Ham: Derek seems very excited in nearly every scene he's in.
Species Surname: Momma Cat answers the phone with "Hello, this is the Cat residence" and Maria calls her and Daddy Derek "Mr. and Mrs. Cat", implying that all three family members have the last name Cat. But later in the movie, Derek says his name is "Derek Savage".

Momma Cat

Played by: April Ann Reese (voice, 2013-2015), Jennifer Kersey (suit, 2013), Lisandra Salazar (suit, 2015), Cynthia Rothrock (voice, 2018), Celia Atkinson (2023)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mama_cat.png

Momma Cat

^{In the book}

Adaptational Curves: Her book counterpart◊ was chubbier.
Cat Folk: Her and Cool Cat are large, orange, anthropomorphic felidae.
Flowers of Femininity: She wears a bright yellow flower in her hair in her second appearance.
Happily Married: To Derek. He tends to give her Longing Looks from time to time.
Informed Ability: Tells Cool Cat that if she had $100, she could get her hair done at the beauty parlor. This is despite her cat costume not having any hair (assuming she didn't mean her fur).
Interspecies Romance: To the horrors of many a YouTube reviewer, Momma Cat is an adult-sized cat humanoid married to Daddy Derek.
Limited Wardrobe: She wears a pink dress and a blue dress at different points of the film.
Pink Means Feminine: She wears a pink dress in her second appearance.
Strong Family Resemblance: As pointed out by YourMovieSucks.org, Cool Cat and Momma Cat are both portrayed using the same suit, hence why they're both never seen in the same shot (and when they are, they're clearly edited in together). The difference is that Momma Cat's outfit is accompanied with dresses and a bright yellow flower on the head.
True Blue Femininity: Most of Momma Cat's appearances feature her wearing a blue dress with minor green highlights.
Yandere: Implied by the official Cool Cat Twitter account.

Neighbourhood

Maria

Played by: Jessica Salazar

Cool Cat's best friend.

Maria

^{In the book}

Adaptational Hairstyle Change: Her book counterpart had pigtails.
Flowers of Femininity: She wears flower hair decorations in the final act.
Girlish Pigtails: She wears pigtails in Stops Bullying and the short based on it, as well as the new scenes in Kids Superhero.
Girly Girl: Maria is shown to be very feminine, from hoping she finds a ring during Cool Cat's treasure hunt, to her style of fashion.
Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Maria wears purple shirts in two scenes.
Hypocrite: Kids Superhero adds a scene in which Maria taunts Butch unprovoked before going with Cool Cat to Vivica's house, even though, once again, she also teaches anti-bullying messages.
I Shall Taunt You: In Cool Cat Kids Superhero, Maria taunts Butch about Cool Cat being in the Parade and she and Cool Cat going to Vivica A. Fox's house later. Just earlier, she was complaining about being bullied by him, and now, there she is, doing the same thing to Butch.
Nice Girl: She is very pleasant and friendly to people who aren't Butch.
Pink Means Feminine: Two shirts she wears throughout the film are pink.
Platonic Life-Partners: She is best friends with Cool Cat.
Race Lift: Her book counterpart was a white-passing Latina, rather than the darker-skinned girl she is in the movie.
Satellite Character: Only exists to be Cool Cat's friend and take his advice.
Skip of Innocence: Maria does this towards the beginning.

Madison

Played by: Madison Marie Steinacker

Madison

Canon Foreigner: Madison didn't exist in the books and is a movie-original character.
Nice Girl: Madison is a sweet, easygoing girl who becomes terribly upset once Butch starts terrorizing the neighbourhood and vandalizing her sandbox.
Pink Means Feminine: She wears a light pink collared shirt (which sometimes appears as white due to the lighting).
Satellite Character: Madison solely exists to adore Cool Cat and call him brave when he runs after Butch to stop him from vandalizing his neighbour's wall.

Mikey

Played by: Connor Gallagher

Mikey

Canon Foreigner: Mikey didn't exist in the books and is a movie-original character.
Satellite Character: Much like Maria, he's one to Cool Cat, though he has a smaller role than her.
Too Dumb to Live: Mikey nearly gets hit by a car because he didn't look both ways before crossing the street. While he manages to narrowly miss it; this results in An Aesop from Cool Cat about road safety.

Jamie

Played by: Mikee Loria

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/serge_6.png

Jamie

Abusive Parents: Implied. He tells Cool Cat "his momma whooped his butt" after he was released from prison. This is despite the fact that he didn't do anything out of line, it was Butch who brought the gun to school, and Jamie is arguably a victim of Butch since his intent was to threaten the other kids into giving him their lunch money. Earlier in the film, he stated that he felt like nobody loved him, hence his attention-seeking behaviour.
Canon Foreigner: Didn't exist in the books. In the movie, his character was created to show what a terrible character Butch is.
Heel–Face Turn: Jamie was warmed by Cool Cat's reassurance that he loved him, and with Jamie, decided to clean up the property they vandalized.
Only Sane Man: When Officer Crest demands Butch give him the gun, Jamie tells Butch to not be stupid and hand it over.
Peer-Pressured Bully: When Cool Cat confronts him and Jamie cronies for spray painting a wall, they admit they only do bad things to look cool and stop when Cool Cat explains that's not actually cool. Butch himself, on the other hand, is not reluctant at all about being a bully.
Those Two Guys: He's often seen with Serge.
With Friends Like These...: Butch is supposedly his friend, but he frequently insults Jamie, pressures him to vandalize his property and shows him the gun that he brought to school.

Serge

Played by: Sergio Blanco

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jamie_7.png

Serge

Ambiguously Brown: His actor is half-white and half-Nicaraguan.
Canon Foreigner: While Butch existed in the books, Jamie and Serge are movie-original characters that solely exist to orbit around him.
Heel–Face Turn: He used to be an accomplice of Butch, Cool Cat told Jamie that he loved him, he changed his ways and became a better man.
Peer-Pressured Bully: Much like Jamie, he had a Friendless Background until he fell under Butch's Toxic Friend Influence and began vandalizing property to get attention. However, he later changed his ways.
Satellite Character: To Jamie, though one can say Jamie himself is one to Butch.
Those Two Guys: He barely has any lines of his own, and most of his are usually to echo Jamie.

Butch the Bully

Played by: Connor Dean

The Big Bad from Cool Cat Stops Bullying to Cool Cat Kids Superhero.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/epylzcpueaaq4nj.jpg

"I love being a bully!"

^{In the book}

Adaptational Attractiveness: In the original picture book, Butch the Bully is a particularly nasty-looking character with an ugly, adult-like face. In the film, he's a perfectly normal-looking kid.
Adaptational Comic Relief: Unintentional example. His book counterpart lacks his Large Ham charm and unrepentant sadism.
Butch: "Darn, Cool Cat and Maria are having fun, so I guess my texting didn't bother them too much. Well, la dee da da. Cool Cat wants to be school president, but I think school's for dummies!"
Adaptational Hairstyle Change: In the books, he had short, frizzy hair. The movie gives him longer straight hair.
Adaptation Dye-Job: Butch the Bully has brown hair and green eyes in the original picture books. His movie, on the other hand, has blonde hair and blue eyes.
Arch-Enemy: Cool Cat is Butch's arch-nemesis.
Axes at School: After finding a gun, Butch brings it to school with the intention of stealing lunch money with it. Thankfully for all involved, a cop shows up before he blows anyone away.
Barbaric Bully: While he was no peach before, he truly turns into this when he kicks sand in Cool Cat's face. When Cool Cat stands up to him he immediately starts crying and runs away.
Big Bad: He harasses Cool Cat and his friends (both in-person and through text messages and emails) and commits petty crimes. His final act is planning to use a gun to rob people of their lunch money, before he's arrested.
Big Eater: His big plan after finding the gun is to steal everyone's lunch money so he can have "fat time."
Butch: "I can take this to school and steal everyone's lunch money! Ha ha ha! It'll be fat time for me!"
The Bully: Butch the Bully likes to send mean texts and emails, and kicks down sandcastles, all for the fun of being a bully.
Butch: "I don't care because I'm the bully!"
Card-Carrying Villain: His lines frequently remind you, the viewer, that he's a bully. He's a young Dastardly Whiplash in the making.
Evil Laugh: Butch has one. Sometimes it makes one wonder if it's a vocal tic that he can't control.
Butch: (sees Cool Cat running towards him) "It's Cool Cat! And he's fast! I be'er run—HHHHA-HA-HA! This candy will trip 'im and he will fall flat on his face!"
Evil Is Hammy: Butch's mannerisms, from the Evil Gloating and Hand Rubbing, make him more reminiscent of a supervillain than a bully. Connor Dean (the child actor playing him) clearly enjoyed every second of the role.
Evil Is Petty: His terrible crimes include kicking over sandcastles and literally stealing candy from babies.
Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Butch, on the outside, looks like an innocent child (at least in the movie), but he takes pleasure in tormenting others and has no redeeming qualities.
Fantastic Racism: In his phone call with Cool Cat, he taunts him by saying "cats and dogs stink!", implying that he's at the very least willing to use species-based insults in his bullying.
Fat Bastard: He starts off as a mere candy thief and vandal, before evolving into a near-school shooter by bringing a gun to school to get kids to give him their lunch money. He's also one of the chubbier characters.
Flat Character: Butch is a cliché bully with no reason or backstory for doing the things that he does in the movie^note.
For the Evulz: Simply does things because he's a bully, and finds great joy in bullying others.
Friendlessness Insult: Cool Cat repeatedly points out how Butch has no friends, implying that's why he bullies Cool Cat and company.
Friendly Enemy: Is shown in the cast at the end of the credits.
Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Instead of actually swearing, he says things like "dag nab it!", "shoot!" and "that darn Vivica A. Fox and Erik Estrada messed it up!"
Hand Rubbing: He does this quite frequently, in case you couldn't tell he was the villain.
Hated by All: Cool Cat and Maria taunt him for not having any friends, his various accomplices have to be intimidated or blackmailed into helping him, and nobody is shown to be on friendly terms with him. Whether this is the cause of his bullying or the result of it is up for interpretation.
Jerkass: He has a reputation amongst the other kids for being a theiving, vandalizing, recklessly violent little bully.
Kids Are Cruel: Sends hateful texts to Maria, cyberbullies Cool Cat, kicks sand in his face and literally takes candy from a baby.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: It's implied Butch was going to go from petty crime to threatening his classmates with a gun to get their lunch money.
Poke the Poodle: This being a kid's movie about bullying and gun safety, Butch the Bully's antics are...not very threatening. He laughs maniacally after every major sentence and as he's announcing his plots, says mean things to Cool Cat and Maria over the phone, spray-paints some signs, cyberbullies Cool Cat, literally takes candy from babies, and kicks sand in Cool Cat's face. Even when he finds a gun, his big plan is to use it to steal everyone's lunch money, and he doesn't even follow through with it - he just shows the gun to another kid without even attempting to use it. And yet he still goes to jail.
Reckless Gun Usage: He picks up a gun Cool Cat, Maria and Mikey spot, takes it to school, and waves it about to show it to Jamie. Unsurprisingly, he's arrested.
Serious Business: Everything he does is treated like this, to the point where he's shoved into the back of a police car for literally taking candy from babies. Even the act of stealing candy is bad enough to warrant the news reporter to refer to the perpetrator(s) as "bad guys". It's also more-or-less implied that the various newspapers shown in the intro were reporting about him.
Villainous Glutton: Between stealing candy from babies and planning to use a gun to make kids give him their lunch money, it's safe to say he qualifies.

Vivica A. Fox

Played by: Vivica A. Fox

A friend of Momma Cat's.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vivicaafox.png

"Better not be a bully, because I don't like bullies."

Adults Are Useless: While Vivica notices Cool Cat and Maria being bullied, she doesn't intervene until later.
Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear if Erik is her husband.
As Himself: Vivica is referred to as such.
Bullying a Dragon: She stated that people used to bully on her until she learned how to fight back.
Canon Foreigner: Vivica didn't exist in the books. In the movie, she appears As Herself.
Composite Character: The scene in the movie where Vivica talks about how she was bullied as a child was adapted from the part of the book where Momma Cat does the same.
Cool Old Lady: To Cool Cat and Maria. They took her advice on how to repel bullying and it worked.
The Friends Who Never Hang: She's said to be good friends with Momma Cat, and Derek mentions at one point that the two went to the beauty parlour to get their hair done together. However, they're never seen in the same scene, not even in the famed barbeque one.
Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Vivica wears a purple top and pants.

Erik Estrada

Played by: Erik Estrada

Vivica's friend/partner. He's also seen as a co-host of the Hollywood Christmas Parade.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/erikestrada.png

"DERE HE IS!"

Adults Are Useless: When he sees Butch bullying Maria and Cool Cat, he does absolutely nothing apart from condemn it. When Butch returns for a second time, he does this again.
Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear if he's married to Vivica in the film.
As Himself: Erik is referred to as "Erik Estrada" by everyone else in the film.
Beware the Nice Ones: Erik is a chill guy, but he really loses it at Butch bullying Cool Cat and Maria.
Canon Foreigner: Erik doesn't have a book counterpart.

Officer Crest

Played by: Steve Crest/Jack Lawrence

A police officer that helps keep the neighborhood safe.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stevecrest.png

"Now I know why all the kids love you, Cool Cat."

The Bad Guys Are Cops: Unintentional example. He witnesses a child being chased by an adult-sized cat and instead of trying to get the details, he arrests the child instead. He also arrests Serge when Butch brings the gun to school, but to be fair, that could have been because he wanted to question him and get his view as a witness.
Canon Foreigner: Like most of the cast, he's a movie-original character.
Police Are Useless: Averted. He's more than happy to throw Butch at the back of the cop car.

Angela

Played by: Angela Lugo

One of Cool Cat's friends, and the sister of Britney. She is targeted by Dirty Dog, who wants to infect her and her sister with coronavirus. His attempts to make her sick are futile.

Angela

Expy: Of Maria from the first movie. They're both young, excitable, girly Latina friends of Cool Cat.
Female Misogynist: Angela insults Dirty Dog by saying that he "throws like a sissy girl".
Flat Character: Angela and Britney only exist to be Cool Cat's friends. The film doesn't even tell us which one's Angela and which one's Britney.^note
Gendered Insult:
Angela: "You throw like a sissy girl!"
Large Ham: Angela tends to shout out most of her lines.
No Indoor Voice: Almost every line of hers is spoken with over-the-top zeal and hand gestures.

Britney

Played by: Renata Lugo

One of Cool Cat's friends, and the sister of Angela. She is targeted by Dirty Dog, who wants to infect her and her sister with Coronavirus. His attempts to make her sick are futile.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brittany_1.jpg

Britney

Female Misogynist: She insults Dirty Dog's aim by saying he throws like a girl, with zero self-awareness.
Flat Character: Like most of the kids in the neighborhood, Britney is this. Even her lines are near-identical to Angela's.
Gendered Insult:
Britney: "Dirty Dog throws like a girl!"
Large Ham: Britney yells out most of her lines, like her sister.
No Indoor Voice: Like her sister, she's incapable of forgoing the Large Ham whenever she's speaking. It seems to run in the family.

Other animals

Dirty Dog