The Cat Returns 2002

     Haru is walking with her friend Yuki and she sees a cat crossing the street in front of a truck.  She races to scoop up the cat with her lacrosse stick and move him out of the way.  Unusual things start to happen with cats because the rescued cat is Prince Lune, the son of the King of Cats.  The cats want to repay her and she finds herself in a Cat Kingdom as the soon-to-be bride of Prince Lune.  She gets help from an elegant cat statuette that has come to life and his very fat cat friend. 

     This is very interesting and funny!!  Cats begin talking to Haru and she doesn’t know what to think?  Baron von Gikkingen from the movie Whisper of the Heart of 1995 is a featured character.  The Cat’s Repayment is a more accurate translation of the original Japanese title, Neko no ongaeshi.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

75 min, Animation directed by Hiroyuki Morita with the voices of Anne Hathaway, Cary Elwes, Judy Greer, Andrew Bevis, Kristen Bell, Rene Auberjonois, Andy Richter, Peter Boyle, Elliott Gould, Kristine Sutherland, Tim Curry, Katia Coe.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10, 89% critic 82% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 375 reviews, Empire Online 2* out of 5*, The Guardian Peter Bradshaw 2* out of 5*,

Special Note:  The idea for this film came from a proposal received from a Japanese theme park to make a 20-minute animation short starring cats.  This film was originally going to be a straight-to-video project until the storyboard was reviewed and plans changed.  Three years were required to finish this film.  All the cats in the human world and in the Cat Kingdom have paws.  The Baron has human-shaped hands covered in gloves.  He has long fingers and visible thumbs.  He is about two-thirds the size of an average cat.  He has these same attributes in Whisper of the Heart.