Can he and Muta the fatso come to Haru’s rescue before she loses herself? He’s a dashing gentlemanly-type who prepares to come to her aid before she’s kidnapped by a horde of cats to be carried off to the Cat Kingdom so she can be betrothed to a feline prince. The fat cat is a cranky Muta from Whisper of the Heart. He takes her to the Bureau and she meets the Baron Humbert von Gikkingen. A large white cat at the crossroads will take her there. Haru hears a voice which tells her to seek out the Cat Bureau for help. But that’s not all! She also has earned the “reward” of marrying the Prince herself and a one-way trip to the Kingdom of Cats. She wakes up the next morning to find cattails growing in her yard, neighborhood cats chasing her down, and wrapped boxes of live mice stuffed into her locker. The cats vow to offer her gifts as tokens of their gratitude. Borne aloft on a palanquin, the king of Cat Kingdom the Cat King bestows his thanks upon her for saving his son, Prince Lune, from certain death. Haru doesn’t think much of it until she sees a procession of cats outside her house. It expresses its humblest thanks to her and scurries off. One day she rescues a cat from being hit by a truck on the road and it turns out the cat can talk. Haru is an ordinary young schoolgirl who’s a little plain, impulsive, clumsy and easily distracted. The English title may refer to the Baron but the Japanese title, Neko no Ongaeshi, means “The Cat’s Repayment”, which you’ll see doesn’t refer to the Baron from Whisper at all. It rubs the shoulders of giants and it can’t see beyond their shoulders. On its own, it stands as an okay animated movie, but it doesn’t stand on its own.
The cat returns tv#
The Cat Returns is a delightful but insubstantial Saturday morning TV show for kids without much of the depth of Ghibli’s other works. Studio Ghibli isn’t one to milk franchises for sequels (*cough cough* Disney *cough*) but this isn’t exactly a sequel. Two films based on two works by the same writer and they couldn’t be more different. It is an adaptation of a manga by Aoi Hiiragi, just like Whisper was. To me, The Cat Returns is much more like typical anime than most of the other Ghibli films.
While fantasy elements and an adolescent female lead are present, which characterize a lot of the Ghibli films, The Cat Returns stands out as a different film than the rest, given Miyazaki’s lack of involvement. Hiroyuki Morita took up the challenge and directed this film. Originally intended as an amusement park short before the project was cancelled, Miyazaki converted the basic ideas into a test concept for future directors in his studio. And it is far from the worst Ghibli film ever (oh, that one’s coming, rest assured). Parts of it are fun as an adventure and it has a few endearing characters. Now that’s not to suggest it is no way delightful, or that it’s uninteresting or dull. Taking the quote above and others like it in the film about the trite mantra of “believing in yourself” or “trusting your heart”, which Disney has been spoon-feeding generations of moviegoers without explanation, you get the barest sense that The Cat Returns has not much to add and nothing to say. It appears to be a film which says little in the little time it runs.
The cat returns movie#
It seems as if the quality of the animation took a step down, and takes steps down as the movie goes on, especially in comparison to Spirited Away. This film is short and parts of it are forgettable. Haru, the protagonist, isn’t as compelling as the other Ghibli heroines. Unlike Whisper of the Heart, which was directed by Yoshifumi Kondo but written by Hayao Miyazaki, Hiroyuki Morita’s Cat Returns lacks the length, appeal, message and pull of the movie it spins off of. Neither Hayao Miyazaki nor Isao Takahata had practically anything to do with the production of The Cat Returns and it shows. Shizuku and Seiji do not appear and the story has nothing else to do with Whisper, not even thematically. These characters return here in different forms and with much different personalities. This film is a very loose spin-off of Whisper of the Heart, featuring the Baron statuette from Shizuku’s stories and Muta the cat she chased around town. The Cat Returns may be the closest thing to a “cartoon” that Studio Ghibli has produced. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear.”
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