THE CAT RETURNS * (Theatrical Release Japan 2002)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 4.0|5.0 Starsìììì

The Cat Returns—spinoff of Whisper of the Heart—is very well told and takes the audience to a magical place of civilized cats that speak human language and where people turn into cats to marry cats. The content may not be very appealing to many viewers because unlike Beauty and the Beast or Princess and the Frog where the beast is a human and temporarily a beast or the prince is a human and temporarily a frog until someone comes along to break the spell and make them human again, this story has a human becoming an animal rather like the Shrek series, but without the appeal of the Shrek series. Besides that, the acting is well done, the portrayal worthy, the storyline solid, the animation a little under par, and the characters well fleshed out.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

A young girl finds herself engaged to a cat.

Additional Thanks

Thank you to Director Hiroyuki Morita for directing effort. Thank you to Executive Producers Hironori Aihara, Rick Dempsey, Kôji Hoshino, Takeyoshi Matsushita, Toshio Miyakawa, Hideyuki Takai, and Seiichirô Ujiie for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Haru (voice of Chizuru Ikewaki), Baron (voice of Yoshihiko Hakamada), Yuki (voice of Aki Maeda), Lune (voice of Takayuki Yamada), Hiromi (voice of Hitomi Satô), Natori (voice of Kenta atoi), Natoru (voice of Mari Hamada), Muta (voice of Tetsu Watanabe), Toto (voice of Yôsuke Saitô), Haru’s Mother (voice of Kumiko Okae), Cat King (voice of Tetsurô Tanba), and Additional Voices (Yô Ôizumi).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. If you are following the, Whisper of the Heart, story then this may be a good watch for you. But, Beauty and the Beast is a better watch within the storyline of young girl gets engaged to beast movies.

* Also Known as: Neko no ongaeshi

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Ben Meyers