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The Cat Returns Actors: Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada Director: Hiroyuki Morita Number of Items: 2 Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Running Time: 75 minutes Studio: Buena Vista Home Vid Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-02-22 Buy from Amazon |
 "WOW!"I wonder if it's OK to have a temporary crush on a cat. Not a real cat, an animated cat that dresses in a grey suit, drinks tea, and is voiced by Cary Elwes. I'm talking about none other then The Baron in The Cat Returns. The Baron is this really neato cat that helps save the heroine from having to get married to the Cat Prince. When Haru saves the Cat Prince from getting run over by a car the Cat Kingdom is eternally grateful. They send her presents like mice in her locker. The cat ambassador of sorts thinks that she agrees to marry the Cat Prince and stay in the Cat Kingdom. The cats are going to take her away that night when she hears a voice telling her to find a white cat and ask him to take her to the Cat Bureau. There she meets the dashing Baron, the crow voiced by Elliott Gould, and gets to know more about the white cat, voiced by Peter Boyle. As she is whisked away to the Cat Kingdom and faced to marry the prince, the Baron, Toto the crow, and Muta, the white cat have to save her. During her time in the Cat Kingdom she begins to turn into a cat making it all the more important that she leave the Cat Kingdom before the change is permanent! Also of note: Tim Curry does the voice of the evil Cat King! Anne Hathaway does the voice of Haru. It took me a while to get used to Anne Hathaway's voice because I recognize it from some of the other films she has been involved in. It was SUCH a cool movie! Of course I would think so because it involves cats but still! The director, Hiroyuki Morita, is sort of a protegee of Hayao Miyazaki and Nozomu Takahashi (the two directors that alternate directing Studio Ghibli films as I learned in the Special Feature section :) ). I really liked this movie and hope that Hiroyuki Morita continues to produce more great movies. "The Cat Retrns is really Meowth-ful!(No Pun Intended!)"You know, this film kept me laughing on and off all the time, espectailly in several scene when Haru (played by Anne Hathaway), the main character, freaks out and screams aloud, like the one when she found out she become a half-cat! It was very funny, ha ha ha! And the waltz part was so classic too! Anne Hathaway and the rest of the cast have done a superb job in their work! Meow! The only problem that it's kind of short in the story part; otherwise, it's all perfect in every aspect. Therefore, The Cat Retrns is really Meowth-ful!(No Pun Intended!). I'll give this film 4 out of 5 stars for Meowth-ful performance! Meowwwth!  "perfect (no pun inserted)"How often is a movie sweet without being emberassing? How often does a teenage girl go on a magical journey to a land of talking cats without making the teenage boys in the audience sneer? At least once that I can think of. The cat returns is airy and fresh story telling. It is visually inventive, good hearted and ultimately fun. It always stops just at the edge of triggering the primal grimace factor that boys cultivate listening to stories about princesses. A reaction that we learn to disguise as something more sophisticated but remains little more than a fear of getting cooties. This is pleasent sophisticated fluff and if you can watch it all the way through without so much as a smile then perhaps you should rent out the space where your heart should be to someone with a use for it. "Enchanting"The Cat Returns is an extremely enjoyable film. It's as simple as that. I picked up this movie about two years ago, after reading a brief synopsis: A girl is magically transported into the world of cats after saving the live of the Cat Prince. Because it was done by Studio Ghibli, and I am an avid fan with a current collection of 13 of their movies, I was eager to see this. Not to mention I adore cats. I was delightfully surprised by how wonderful it was. It's not deep and spiritual like Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away (I seem to be one of the only ones who is not a fan of this particular movie). Instead, it sets out to bring you a light, charming tale of Haru and her cats. The Cat Returns is perfect for that hour and a half you have of free time. It is fun to watch and I can bet the smile doesn't stray from your face for too long. For the director's first movie, it's wonderfully done. The art is crisp, plenty of memorable characters light up the screen, and the music and ending theme made me buy the soundtrack. For feline lovers and anyone who likes to watch a fun movie where people's heads don't get blown off every other shot, you should pick up this magical film and watch it with those you love. (Please note that this review is based on the original Japanese with English subtitles.)  "Okay but mixed"Fans of Miyazaki-san and Studio Ghibli will appreciate this release, even though, once again, the Guardians of American Culture at Disney have tinkered with the dialog and plot line to suit their agenda. The release seems ham-handed and rushed. Quite annoying and unforgivable is the use of so-called "dubtitles" to accompany the Japanese dialog. Thus we get the altered meanings, extra conversational clutter and hip dialog revisions of the English dub, instead of a literal translation of the Japanese script. Why no true subtitles? Probably a budgetary/profit margin decision. Anyway, it's not too bad, even though, as other reviewers have noted, the release to the N. American market suffers from lack of antecedent -- just who is The Cat, and why should we be excited at his return? Return from where, exactly? |
