Le Royaume des chats

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 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...

Let me start by saying that The Cat Returns is not the best of Ghibli and Miyazaki had almost nothing to do with it. If Miyazaki had directed or even written it, the film would have been as great as Totoro or Kiki. This movie is pretty much Whisper of the Heart as a Spirited Away style fantasy.

The story is as follows: A normal girl named Haru is transported to the world of cats to marry a cat prince who she saved from a speeding truck. That's basically all that I can tell without giving away the film. For those of you who loved Whisper, Baron is back big time. It was great to see Baron have a much larger role as a hero. The `stray' cat from Whisper is also back and fatter than ever.

Though some Ghibli fans will be disappointed, those who are cat-lovers will fall in love with the film. The film's flaw lies in that the story moves along a bit too fast for my taste. Just don't go expecting a film on the same level as Spirited Away or Mononoke and you'll have a great time. Grade: A-.

Rated PG for frightening scenes, brief sensuality, and language. Suggested for ages 10 and up.

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.

(This review focuses on the English-dubbed version of the movie)

What do you immediately think of when the words "Studio" and "Ghibli" are said together? For most, it's overall the works of "the Japanese Walt Disney" himself Hayao Miyazaki, who brought us such modern animated classics such as the delightful "My Neighbour Totoro", the imaginative and enchanting "Howl's Moving Castle" and of course Ghibli's Western-market breakthrough, the Oscar-winning "Spirited Away". For some others, the name "Isao Takahata" comes to mind too, who brought us films such as "Grave of the Fireflies" and "Pom Poko" (those two films I'm still yet to see). Of course, every now and again, a new director comes along and contributes to Ghibli's colourful and increasingly popular catalogue of animated classics. Sadly, not all of their movies are noted as much as the more widely-known Miyazaki or Takahata movies before them and what a shame to say that a movie like "The Cat Returns" has to be one of those lesser-known movies in question. The director Hiroyuki Morita, who worked on well-known Japanese "anime" titles such as 1988's "Akira" and "Lupin III", started his career at Ghibli as an animator for "My Neighbours the Yamadas" and boy, what a great directorial debut he's made with "The Cat Returns"!

In a nutshell, the story is about a girl named Haru who quickly manages to save a purple cat just as a truck was about to run over it as it was crossing the road. The cat then turned out to be Prince Lune who's Prince to a place called "The Cat Kingdom" and in light of this, cats rewarded Haru with gifts of catnip and mice and she eventually gets taken to the kingdom herself to marry Lune. The two prominent cat characters from "Whisper" return in this movie, the overweight, grumpy white cat Muta and the dashing and charming Baron who is the cat that the title says has *returned* in the first place.

The animation and artistry of the movie is exceptional and arguably one of the most enchanting efforts in animation and artistic direction you'll see from most non-Miyazaki Ghibli movies. Why? Because it may be really simple but everything still enchants you greatly on a subconscious level. You just watch the movie and it feels like a really wonderful dream but unlike most dreams which never come again, you can go back to it many times over on home video. In short, the artistry is so incredible that if your dreams were like that, you'd be excited to go to sleep every night! Well, I would think that anyway.

Most of the characters are well developed, even though a few of them still should have needed better character development, Prince Lune himself is a good example. They've made Haru into a wonderful, truly believable character and Baron and Muta are perfect as her trusted feline companions.

The English dubbing of the movie is perhaps one of the strongest and most entertaining dubs for any anime film so far, let alone any of Disney's previous dubs of Ghibli's films. Cary Elwes portrays Baron with such perfect charm and charisma that suits Baron even more than perfect. Anne Hathaway delivered a surprisingly terrific portrayal of Haru, making an already-believable character even more believable in what I feel is her best role yet! The late Peter Boyle delivered a hilarious and suitably grumpy performance as Muta. But the real surprise came from Tim Curry , an already well-known and highly respected actor who simply just re-invented The Cat King, it was a terrific performance and I'm really happy Tim Curry was chosen!

However, even with all the positives, there is only one big flaw with the movie: the movie was shorter than it really should be! I'm serious here, the movie was only about 1 hour and 15 minutes long and this slightly harmed the development of the story and the development of some characters (is the word "Lune" a clue?). This is a movie that deserves the full 90+ minutes so it's a real shame to see such an enchanting movie end so soon, though once you get over how soon the movie ends, you'll still enjoy the movie anyway.

So overall, "The Cat Returns" is a hilarious and enchanting movie from Studio Ghibli and a promising start for first-time director Hiroyuki Morita. Weather you're a fan of Studio Ghibli, a cat lover or someone who just loves animated films, this movie will blow you away in new and unique ways that are still rare in animation today. Trust me, you will not regret it!

I rate it, 7 out of 10!

• Eric B.