Cat City

One of the best movies I've ever seen. The interesting thing about it is that you can watch it again and again (I've seen it at least 50 times) and never get bored with it. The reason for it is probably the complexity of the theme: adventure in a James Bond style combined with romance, comedy, philosophical issues and more.

The action takes place on an imaginary Planet X, about "100 years from the birth of the emperor Micky Mouse I" and yet the city of Pokyo is clearly identified as Tokyo, the "Alpha-Julia" car model needs no explanations, the vampire bats resemble the Mexican bandits and so on.

Clearly it brings up a lot of political as well as moral issues of the modern world, but, despite that, it doesn't get less fun: rich with first class action, hi-tech car chases, massive battles and in the same time - incredible humor, combined with excellent animation and music makes it a perfect entertainment for both children and adults from all around the world.

This movie is my favorite cartoon of my childhood. It is still my favorite, and is best viewed in it's original Hungarian version (if you speak the language, or course). It is basically a James Bond style cartoon, where the cats and mice are at war. It is up to Grabovszky and the help of his friends to stop the cats. This cartoon has many memorable characters, such as the musical Mexican bats, led by Maxipocak, the meddling gangster rats Pissy, Cookie, Buddy, and Billy, the bumbling police officer Lusta Dick, the evil Mr. Teufel and his meek assistant Safranek, and the "don" of the gangster cats, Mr. Gato. This cartoon is a classic. It should be on the Top 250. I have seen the English translation, and it isn't nearly as good as the original, but it is still great.

I've seen this movie as a small kid, yet I just can't believe it has been made in the 80's at the time of Hungarian Goulash communism. At this time communism was still present, but it was the most liberal regime of them all, thus movies/cartoons like this one were created. Because of this you can feel the atmosphere of that era throughout the movie.

The story is quite a grotesque one: On Planet X, occupied by mice and cats, there is year 100 A.M.M. (after Mickey Mouse), and the conflicts between the cats and mice are rising. However, there is one last hope in Pokyo, the success of which lies in the hands of an Intermouse secret agent Grabovsky...

I haven't seen the english version yet but i am sure that it will never reach the hungarian level of humor or the use of the tone of voice, simply because it was written in hungarian for hungarians who are able understand the password to the mouse base for that matter and appreciate the cleverness behind it, which goes like this: egy aprocska kalapocska, benne csacska macska mocska. roughly means: a tiny hat, in it the filth of a silly cat. See the difference?

There are lots of games with words in the original, like the password at the mouse hq, or almost every characters name... the names are playing with words in hungarian, english, and german, but you must know hungarian to understand those.... like the evil cat "Teufel", witch means 'devil' in german, but sounds almost like "sour cream" in hungarian... and everyone knows, cats like sour cream ;)

Movies like this are not very available to the American public. American films are available around the world because we apparently have a corner on the entertainment market, and if a film wants to find real widespread love and recognition, it must, more often than not, make a transition into the American market.

And I think that is sad.

Naturally, our language barriers keep us from appreciating this wonderful "Cat City" as do the Hungarians who so finely produced it, but still, this movie is a witty satire, a spoof of great film genres, and surprisingly political in how it deals with names and the skin color of the rats. It's a film about your place in the big picture, about who's in control and why.

A great film find, one of animated brilliance. This animated film was thousands of times better than many animated American films I have grogged my way through over the years. I just really really hate that more people cannot see films like this and appreciate them for what they are: true pieces of art in the highest form.