Anime Eiga Review: The Cat Returns

Film Synopsis

Haru (voiced by Chizuru Ikewaki) is like any high school girl. Her life isn't horrifically exciting and nothing unexpected ever happens. However, one simple act of kindness can have some pretty unimaginable consequences.

A strange cat with a small gift in its mouth passes Haru on the street. Suddenly the cat cross the street and mindlessly walks right into in the path of an oncoming truck.

Without thinking, Haru rushes in and manages to save the helpless feline. Relived to have made it in time, what happens next is beyond anything Haru could have imagined. The cat (voiced by Takayuki Yamada) gets up on two legs, brushes himself off, and vocally thanks his savior; with actual words and everything. Completely taken aback, Haru tries to rationalize what just happened as her imagination. But it was all too real.

The cat Haru saved is actually the crown prince of the Cat Kingdom and they couldn't be more grateful. Haru's quiet life is now filled with a bunch overly thankful cats. Though their intentions might be coming from a good place, these fur balls have a very poor understanding of boundaries.

At a loss of what to do, Haru learns of someone who might be able to help. In a place parallel and similar to ours, lives Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (voiced by Yoshihiko Hakamada), a mysterious cat who was born of someone's strong determination, and his assistant Muta (voiced by Tetsu Watanabe)

What’s about to happen is anyone's guess, but whatever it is Haru most likely isn’t ready. With the Baron's help though, everything should turn out alright.

Haru

Film Positives

The Baron (left) and Muta (right)

The Cat Returns gets its roots straight from Whisper of the Heart, as the Baron was the main character of Shizuku’s story. Yet this is a spinoff not a sequel. Other than the Baron, the two films are completely independent from each other. Therefore, you don't have to watch them in a some sort of order.

But you should most certainly watch them both.

The Film’s Tone

Whisper of the Heart was definitely on the lighter side of things, but it did set out, and succeeded, in creating meaningful and emotional moments. While watching, you could feel the struggle the characters, particularly Shizuku, were going through.

The Cat Returns doesn't care about that. Whereas Whisper of the Heart was much more interesting and enthralling, this one’s a lot more fun. It’s silly, it’s cute, and where its predecessor was about an author writing a fantasy story, this is an actual fantasy story and it takes advantage of that.

There were never any low points, there were no moments which were meant to invoke any kind of emotion other than amusement. Even in the film’s climax, the entire tone stayed easy going and laid back. There’s never any sense of urgency, even though there probably should've been at points.

I’ve been debating whether or not to discuss a crucial detail to the plot. While The Cat Returns' story is very predictable, how it goes about it and the journey between beginning and end caught me by surprise. So I’m going to remain vague.

The Cat King (voiced by Tetsuro Tanba) is trying to get Haru to marry his son. Since he’s a cat, Haru isn’t completely sold on the idea and tries to get out of it. That and some other things are going on which are making her feel pretty (or should I say feel-ine...ha ha...ah I f@#$ing hate myself).

The Baron comes to Haru’s rescue and after a long chase it looks like the Cat King has got our group cornered. This is a tricky situation, but there's no danger or threat. In fact, Haru is more than happy to throw about a good deal of sarcasm.

In the past, I’ve seen stories underplay the severity of a given situation which has resulted in me getting annoyed. This didn’t happen this time because although their predicament was bad, it was never out of our hero’s control. That and the fact our “villains” were not villainous. They were simply unable to understand why a human might have some reservations about marrying a cat.

The Baron

In Whisper of the Heart, we got an explanation of the Baron’s origins as well as Shizuku’s use of him in her story. The Cat Return gives its own take of his backsground with a single line that sort of connects the two films.

The Baron says he was born from someone’s great will and determination. To those who have seen Whisper of the Heart, it’s easy to see who he's referring to. To those who haven’t it will probably only sound like fantasy speak.

Regardless of where he comes from, the Baron is a fun character.

He always knows exactly what to do and is always the one in command. He’s never in a panic and doesn’t let the stress get to him. Here's a smooth talker who's able to give a lot of comfort and reassurance.

However, what I like about him the most is he knows all this too and has no problem showing off. Whenever he's in a room, he's aware he can instantly become the coolest guy present at any given moment.

Film Negatives

While I do like Haru as a character, there are times where she does come off as a little too ditzy. That plus she has a tendency to drift between emotions. There are instances where you’re not quite sure what she's thinking at a particular moment. While in the Cat Kingdom, for example, she constantly goes through a state of awe, distress, and acceptance.

She also moves pretty damn slowly. Like I said, none of what happens in The Cat Returns is all that threatening, but that's not an excuse to move along at slightly brisk pace. There were moments where she had to hustle a bit and it didn’t seem like she was putting in the appropriate amount of effort.

Pacing

This movie’s fast. There isn’t that much time spent on establishing what's going on. And by not much time spent, I mean like none at all.

The movie starts and it’s your typical urban setting. Then in what feels like ten minutes there’s a parade of cats walking down the street; making a ton of noise, which apparently no one notices. You’re just going to have to accept the fact that a Cat Kingdom exists in this universe.

It feels like we meet the Baron quite early, but the moment we do the movie's ready to move into its final act. We never get to see much of the Cat Kingdom; only what can be noticed while passing through. There's stuff happening, but the film doesn’t pause to explore any of it.

Oh and if you’re not one of the absolute main characters, you’re going to have very little to do with this story. For instance the Cat Prince, you know the one that started all this nonsense, only has like ten lines in the entire film.

For how detailed this world looks, it’s kind of a shame we don't get to see more of it.

Final Thoughts

Going into this film, I thought we were going to see the story that Shizuku wrote in Whisper of the Heart. Or at the very least, I was hoping we were going to get some insight into who the Baron is. Neither of these were the case and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed.

I can get over this since The Cat Returns is a good enough film on its own. The story is straightforward, but still funny and entertaining. Though the end result is on the predictable side, the journey to get there was unexpected. And while he remains a mystery, the Baron's a great character.

It may not have been the follow up I was hoping for, but The Cat Returns does manage to be a lot of fun.

Ghibli Month will continue tomorrow with 2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle.

               Google+                          Facebook                            Twitter