Valse de Neko (The Cat Returns (DVD))

Member Name: berlioz II

Product:	The Cat Returns (DVD)
Date:	09/03/07 (167 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun little adventure for the whole family to enjoy

Disadvantages: Too short with rather poor character development and not much depth in plot for a Ghibli film

Keeping an eye on the future, the legendary anime director Hayao Miyazaki knows he’s not getting any younger. Miyazaki, along with associate and co-founder of Studio Ghibli Isao Takahata, have thus far been responsible in creating just about all of Studio Ghibli’s animations and with this in mind knew that some day they would have to be replaced in order for the existence of Ghibli to continue while keeping the quality high as usual. Miyazaki has by now become one of the most recognizable names in animation the world around with his thought provoking and beautifully rendered fairy tales set in the real world or some imaginary dimension where his main protagonists (most often young girls) will have to face enormous challenges and find ways to get over them. In Japan he can be considered as something of a superstar and thankfully awareness of his work has in the few intervening years been getting more and more prominent in the rest of the world as well, particularly after his 2001 feature Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film. Now many of his earlier features such as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Laputa, Princess Mononoke, and others have been released on DVD the world over and his popularity is only getting stronger. But still the requirement for young talent who would later take over the animation duties of Studio Ghibli completely remains there. The first film with this objective in mind came in 2002 with first time director Hiroyuki Morita’s Neko No Ongaeshi, or as the English translation goes, The Cat Returns.

Based on the manga ”Baron the Cat” by Aoi Hiiragi, The Cat Returns was originally devised as a short story that was upgraded to a 45-minute TV-movie. However, the several hundred pages of Morita’s storyboards were so impressive that it was decided to make the film into a full-length theatrical feature. Rather appropriately taking its cue as a sequel (or rather spin-off) to the only other Ghibli film not directed by Miyazaki or Takahata at that time, Whisper of the Heart, it re-introduces us to the suave and chivalrous gentlecat Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (a figurine who has received a soul and become alive). Dressed up in a top hat, a frock coat, gloves, shoes, a vest, and trousers, he pretty much gives the impression of the perfect 19th century gentleman in only having the head of a cat. With no mention of Whisper of the Heart, The Cat Returns makes for an easy stand-alone piece that doesn’t require any background info, although it can give a little bit of extra zing for those familiar with the earlier film.

However, the story in The Cat Returns doesn’t focus on the Baron, but rather on the adolescent and somewhat clumsy Haru, who is your typical, everyday schoolgirl, sleeping late, pining after a boy who is dating somebody else, and not having much spunk or self-assurance to do anything about it. In essence, she is very different from your average Ghibli heroine in that she is not self-assured, nor heroic, nor strong-willed. She would much rather stay out of the spotlight into which she sometimes to her annoyance ends up in. The plot to The Cat Returns is fairly straightforward. While walking home from school with her friend Hiromi she sees a cat walking past carrying a red-ribboned packet in his mouth. The cat soon ends up crossing a road with a truck coming straight at him. Haru quickly jumps in front of the truck and whisks the cat out of harms way. To her amazement, the cat then stands up on his hind legs and thanks Haru, promising to show her his gratitude before trotting off. Later that night a procession of cats arrives at her doorstep, with the Cat King himself coming to reward Haru for saving his son’s life, for it appears that the cat she saved was none other than Prince Lune of royal blood.

The very next day Haru wakes up with all sorts of cattish delights waiting her: the yard of her home surrounded by bluebells, her pockets filled with catnip so that a band of other cats chases her to school, her school locker filled with giftwrapped mice, and even her friend is swamped by lacrosse sticks as replacements for the one that broke while saving the Prince. Naturally Haru doesn’t really think very highly of these little signs of appreciation and after coming face to face with the King’s lackey Natoru she makes this very clear. After Natoru says the King would be very pleased if Haru were to marry Lune, Haru makes the unfortunate musing that it might be fun to go to the Cat Kingdom, which Natoru understands as an affirmation. Realising her mistake too late, Haru ends up panicking that now she has to marry a cat. However, a strange voice suddenly appears and instructs that she must seek the help of the Cat Bureau, the way to which she is to be instructed by a big, white cat. This cat turns out to be the very fat, easily irritable Muta who, somewhat reluctantly, leads her to the Bureau. Here she comes into contact with The Baron who, upon hearing of her problem, agrees to help her. But before she has even had time to really settle down, Haru is whisked away by a group of cats headed by Natoru and taken away to the Cat Kingdom with The Baron and Muta following close behind. Now she must find her way out of the kingdom with the help of The Baron and Muta before being married off by Lune’s father or being transformed into a cat herself.

The Cat Returns is quite a departure from a Ghibli animation. While Miyazaki likes to play around with character relationships, Morita is more settled in keeping the action moving at all times. Instead of having a lot of character building moments, we are almost constantly jumping from one place to the next, often facing such rapidly changing scenes that it feels a little awkward at times. This may have something to do with the short running time of the film, which is only 75 minutes in length. Whether this was due to the rushed production time or the basic thinness of the plot, I find that in the space of the story not enough time is given for the story to grow by itself. Character development is really at a complete standstill and in the end none of the characters seem to be at all different from what they were in the beginning. Sure Haru looks stronger and talks more confidently at the very end of the film as you’d expect, but there seems to be little merit to her transformation so suddenly, despite that the Baron is constantly saying she must ”learn to know herself.”

Likewise it was rather disappointing that by the time Haru enters the Cat Kingdom, the story seems to pick up pace so as to cover as much area before the film ends. This leaves us with sadly little time to reflect on this other dimension, its inhabitants, surroundings, and the main characters that inhabit this world, leaving them more like shallow representations of eccentric personalities viewed from the outside. This is particularly bothersome as the exposition part of the film alone lasts 30 minutes, thus failing to balance out the rest of the story within its limited running time. Also what could have become a nice comic pairing in the cat Muta and the raven Toto (also an inanimate statue with a soul like the Baron) gets dropped almost from the start as we enter the Kingdom, Toto only making another appearance nearing the conclusion of the film. I would much have preferred that the movie had been slightly more expanded in letting everything seep through instead of relying on constant action to keep the story moving. At its worst, this can leave you very uncomfortable and wishing for some added scenes somewhere in the middle to smooth out the transition in some way.

However, that is not to say that The Cat Returns is a particularly bad film. Quite the contrary, I found myself therrelly enjoying it on the whole. The movie is littered with all kinds of comedy and situations that can't fail to make me chuckle: the gifts that the cats bestow Haru, the wordplay with Toto and Muta (the little we get), the black’n’white security cats (Cats In Black), the little jabs of Japanese culture, etc. There is a streak of earnestness and charm in the endeavour that almost makes one forget all of the misgivings of story and film. There are no real moments of horror or overt violence (if you don’t count a couple of cats being thrown out of a palace tower after displeasing the king) so young children will be more than safe, while older viewers can just drift along and enjoy the constant comedy of it all. And, in particular, if you have any kind of liking towards cats like I do, it’s only going to add to the fun of it all.

The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 widescreen transfer and has been enhanced for anamorphic playback. The transfer is very good with no noticeable flaws, the colours blending in nicely and the animation is smooth. The style of animation is fairly simple with not much details cluttering up everything, making it not quite as artistic as Ghibli’s usual fair, but works very well in this more action oriented film. I’ve only listened to the film in its original Japanese language mainly because the Finnish dub that I have is not really something I want to listen to. I usually tend to shy away from all dubs anyway as a matter of course if I have an option to do so, since I just never can get used to listening to foreign dubs. And, since I have the Finnish edition, I don’t have the English dub, so can't tell how that ”big, superstar-led American cast” has done. Everybody seems to say its good though (Andy Richter and Tim Curry obviously being somewhat scene stealers while altering the characters personalities to their own suits maybe too much). As for the original cast it is, as expected, very good. Chizuru Ikewaki is quite delightful as Haru and Tetsu Watanabe as Muta is very funny. Yoshihiko Hakamada as the Baron is perhaps a little too flat, but Tetsuro Tamba is very good as the King, very flamboyant and amusing. The 5.1 mix sounds gorgeous as well as you might expect. The orchestral score of Yuji Nomi is delightfully light and romantic, though I seemed to faze out completely from listening to the music at most times, leaving little impression in the end. The end title song is performed by ukulele virtuoso Ayano Tsuji and is nicely keeping with the overall tone of the film.

As for extras, there were none on my version apart from a couple of trailers, but the American 2-disc version seems to come with a nine-minute featurette ”Behind the Microphone” where the English voice actors talk about their inspirations. Capping off at little over half an hour is the Japanese ”Making of The Cat Returns” documentary that obviously sheds light to the making of the film. And of course you also get the usual trailers and TV spots. On the second disc you have the feature-length storyboards with audio in Japanese or English. I’ve seen similar in Spirited Away and, while interesting in some ways, it may be a little questionable how enjoyable or interesting it is to watch for a longer duration if one is not a real film or animation buff.

Overall The Cat Returns is never going to be one of those classics that are remembered a long time afterwards, but aside from that it is a very enjoyable film that is still pleasing to watch over and over again. The short running time and lack of decent character development are unfortunate misteps that could have been corrected in giving the characters, not the action, a little more playtime. But it’s just so darn charming in its simplicity and the humor is really great that it still makes for a good recommendation particularly to young children. Overall a pleasure to watch and a solid recommendation for all.

Amazon prices the English DVD for £11.99, should you want to know.


CAST LIST (Japanese / English)

Haru: Chizuru Ikewaki / Anne Hathaway
Baron Humbert von Gikkingen: Yoshihiko Hakamada / Cary Elwes
Muta: Tetsu Watanabe / Peter Boyle
Toto: Yosuke Saito / Elliott Gould
The Cat King: Tetsuro Tamba / Tim Curry
Yuki: Aki Maeda / Judy Greer
Natoru: Mari Hamada / Andy Richter
Natori: Kenta Satoi / Rene Auberjonois
Prince Lune: Takayuki Yamada / Andrew Bevis
Hiromi: Hiromi Sato / Kristen Bell

Original Title: Neko No Ongaeshi
Directed by Hiroyuki Morita
Produced by Toshio Suzuki
Concept by Hayao Miyazaki
Based on original manga ”Baron the Cat” by Aoi Hiiragi
Screenplay by Reiko Yoshida
Music by Yuji Nomi
End Title Song Performed by: Ayano Tsuji

© berlioz, 2005/2007

Summary: An enjoyable, albeit too rushed adventure film, aimed most squarely to children.