The Cat Returns (2002)

One day Haru, a down on her luck school girl with poor self confidence, uses her lacrosse stick to daringly rescue a cat from getting hit by a truck. Haru is informed that she has unwittingly saved the Prince of Cats which she thinks is a hallucination until suspiciously cat-friendly gifts start showing up everywhere she goes (e.g. hordes of mice, a field of cattails, stores of catnip). She decides to travel to the Kingdom of Cats to stop the well meaning but often embarrassing gifts, but once there Haru finds herself engaged against her will to the Prince of Cats! Serious weirdness ensues.

This movie’s strength is definitely its tremendous oddness. From Haru’s unpredictable interactions with feline royalty to the crazy chase scenes involving rivers of cat minions that pick up characters and carry them away, everything from the plot to the imagery of this studio Ghibli production seems to be inspired by extreme stretches of the imagination.

Unfortunately any potential for greatness this crazy weird adventure has is dashed to bits by the poor quality of the animation. Characters change size and scale constantly leading to confusion regarding basic spatial relationships. Haru’s face is unexpressive to a problematic degree—there is little difference in her appearance when she is happy, scared, or angry. Continuity errors abound, backgrounds look cheaply done, and there are some serious issues with the way the animators handle changes in lighting.

However, despite the shoddy quality of animation I still definitely recommend this movie for its sheer whimsy. At the end of the day The Cat Returns is a delightful flight of fancy that will make you laugh and feel lighthearted, even while scratching your head and exclaiming “What?!”