Das Königreich der Katzen

'The Cat Returns' is yet another treat produced by Studio Ghibli, the company which brought us masterpieces such as 'My Neighbour Totoro' and 'Spirited Away'.

The story of this film is much simpler than previous Studio Ghibli productions/epics with a typical modern teenage girl Haru as the heroine. When walking home from school one afternoon, Haru rescues a cat from being ran-over by a lorry only to discover she is responsible for saving the life of Prince Lune, the heir apparent to the Cat Kingdom. Lune's father, the King of Cats, promptly decides the best way to repay such a favour is for Haru to marry his son. Naturally, our heroine is horrified at the prospect and must seek protection from enigmatic Baron, founder of the Cat Bureau, for help before she is carted off to the Cat Kingdom by the very determined cats.

As a cat-lover, I found this film utterly adorable. The scene where the cats from Cat Kingdom descend on Haru's street in the middle of the night was had a very wondrous aura to it and the scene where the cats try to make Haru laugh at her feast was hilarious. The characters, as always, are solid from the refreshingly normal teen-aged Haru to the grumpy Muta to the suave Baron (even though he's an animated cat, the charisma of the character will leave many females empathising with Haru's little crush on him!).

Although the plot of 'The Cat Returns' is a simple affair so it will easily appeal to young children, there is much humour in the film that will keep older kids and adults amused. Also, those who love cats can't help but fall in love with the many feline characters we come across in the film. Now, I'm off to track down 'Whisper of the Heart', which is a 1995 Studio Ghibli film that features the character of Baron.

Short but sweet- is probably the best way to describe this movie. Unlike other epics created by studio ghibli, such as Nausicaa of the valley of the Wind and Spirited Away, this movie has a very simple story and feels more like a really long episode of a TV show rather than a movie. The characters are somewhat developed but there just wasn't much time to do so since the story felt rushed. However, this is still a very entertaining film full of subtle humor.

The only gripe i have with this film is that the Disney DVD is DUBTITLED. Disney forgot to translate the movie and tries to pass the script for the English dub as the translated subtitles.

I wish, I really wish I liked it better. I mean, I know from the synopsis that it's not that much original or innovative storyline but yet I still have hope for it. It is still good because of the duration, it's not dragging... but I think it could be better.

The elements are just way too "familiar" and therefore I felt like nothing new is presented by the movie, I must say it feels a little bit of "Alice In The Wonderland" and then some other fairy tales at the other scenes, like... 'hey, it reminds me of...' moments keep happening to me. I thought at least there'd be anything new. But there's none...

The characters also, are not so memorable... , I mean I can get a grasp of their personalities but there is nothing like, impressive... it's like each character personality are adopted from some other characters produced before in another movie.

I'm sorry, but I really think it could be better. Or, I'm just not the target audience for this movie. Maybe...

Not their best work. The story gets pretty boring halfway through, despite the fantastical world that it is set in. The source material "The Whisper of the Heart" is more interesting than this one despite having a more mundane setting.

I watched this for the fourth time today, and enjoyed it just as much, maybe more than the first. For the best experience, I recommend watching in Japanese, with subs if you need them. The original script and voice talent doesn't need the Hollywood treatment.

Such a beautiful story! I'm a cat lover, and I'm sure that helps me enjoy the movie more, but it's just great as a tale and you could apply any animal to the basic plot and get a similar result.

Every time I watch it I have a big pile of hankies nearby, as it never fails to move me. If you like the emotional feed-off you get from a nice sentimental feel-good film, you should really give this a go! Probably my favourite animated film ever.