Die neun Leben von Fritz the Cat

I think that I went into this film expecting something completely different from what the film actually represented because I was expecting something completely raunchy and funny. While I appreciated the animation, I was left pretty flat by most of the social commentary/satire. There were images and messages that I of course understood (Hitler, Kissinger, etc.) but the majority of the subject matter was fairly relevant to the present time.

Unfortunately, especially during the bizarre psychedelic freak out moments I found myself looking at the clock which is actually kind of sad considering the film was only just over an hour to begin with. Having said that however, I am glad that I finally saw this film so that I know what it was actually about, and I give the filmmakers a lot more credit for having created something that transcended novelty smut.

--Shelly

Just a couple of thoughts after watching nine lives of fritz the cat.

First of all i think it's nothing more than a cash-in on the first movie. Second the animators are not the same, the director is not the same, actually quite a lot isn't the same as the first one, which is a bad thing, since this second fritz movie doesn't have a proper story line, or a good script, actually it doesn't have anything of the things that made the first movie so wonderful. The feeling is gone.

Still it's Fritz the Cat and all is not lost, but all through the film i get the feeling that the director just took all the ingredients of the first fritz movie and mashed them together to a lifeless pile, sticking them in here and there, maybe because that's what he thought the fans wanted (and that would make more money). Then he managed to portray Fritz as somewhat of a loser, which he may be, in some people's eyes', but i don't think that's the feeling you get from the first one. This one is more rough. It's almost abusive to the original. So my suggestion is; if you haven't seen any of the fritz movies, watch the first one only, this one isn't quite worth while. Afterwards you could try the second, but don't get your hopes up.

I woke up at a strange time and was flipping channels. I found NINE LIVES OF FRITZ THE CAT on the Showtime FAMILY channel. Anyone who reads this, please go to www.sho.com to complain. I'm no prude, but to imagine a 5 year old tuning into this is horrible.

Anyway, I only watched 5 or 10 minutes of this film. The animation is good for it's era, but the comedy & satire is worn and dated. Here's what the first few scenes entailed. A "big mama" cat with huge boobs is yelling at a stoned Fritz cat, telling him he's good for nothing, goes out all night looking for love, and she doesn't know why, 'cause he's bad in bed. Then we flash over to Fritz walking down the street, grabbing his crotch, lets out a fart and offends Juan, the stereotypical Hispanic Cat. Juan won't talk to Fritz because Fritz farted in his area. Fritz makes a lame comment about why doesn't Juan speak English so he can understand him? They talk about Fritz's plight to cash his welfare check. A few seconds later we see some black "thug" cats outside Fritz's house, talking about robbing this house in 'this' (white?) neighborhood. Fritz is sitting on the couch (yes, he's back home now, I guess? Flashback to earlier years?) about to light up a joint, and he's staring at his little sister's kitty butt. He's trying to get her high so he can "get with her." She smokes some, and we get a psychedelic menagerie of images that tries to be creative, but really, someone needs to take some lessons from "The Wall"'s animators. It was a stupid sequence. Flashback to the big mama cat yelling at Fritz again. Now that I read a few other reviews, I suppose the the whole time Fritz is supposed to be listening to big mama yelling at him, but zoning out to these different places while she's yelling.

Anyway, my description of this is probably as funny as the cartoon itself. I didn't waste anymore of my time, I don't recommend you waste your time either.

To start this off, I love the original, I think it is brilliant social satire, plus I'm a huge Ralph Bakshi fan. So, even though I knew Bakshi wasn't involved with this sequel I'd figured I'd give it a chance. Well it was pretty bad, instead of making a social comment most of Fritz's Nine Lives just degenerate into dumb slapstick, and gross out gags. The film is dumb, lifeless, and not very funny. Oh and just a note if you're going to use live action footage as your background, make it less interesting than the animated foreground(something this film does horribly). Ultimately the whole movie seems pointless and dumb. However the animation is good and the soundtrack is decent, even though the soundtrack of the original is really good. To those "Wizards" fans Bob Holt the voice of Avatar is a number of voices in this film, he's even credited as "Many Voices", look for him with his Avatar voice as a cigar smoking astronaut.

If you forget the original awesome picture, this one stands alone as a neat smorgasbord of fairly cool ideas. The combat between black and white is poignant, and the Hitler send up is frankly hilarious. The style of animation stands the test of time--- the baby seeking a test in the opening piece is cute! And his hectoring mother is as annoying as they planned. The flick really captures the gritty and occasionally gruesome quality of street life in the 1970s. And the machiavellianism of the political crowd is, sadly, reminiscent of too much African history. The soundtrack features some really good jazz, if that is your bag.