MartinHafer I have seen just about every Studio Ghibi film released in the US and must say that "The Cat Returns" is unique among them. Sure, it's strange...but so are most of the rest of them (especially "Spirited Away"). But it manages to be very different and a bit different from the Miyazaki films when it comes to the animation but especially the story. The film begins with a young girl, Haru, racing into traffic to save a cat from being squashed. Have you ever heard the expression "No good deed goes unpunished"? Well, this is sort of what happens next. Late at night, a strange procession of cats walking on two legs is carrying a litter with their fat king. They stop to announce to Haru that she is going to receive many wonderful rewards for saving that cat, as it's their Prince!! When she awakens the next morning, she thinks it's all been a dream...until weird presents start arriving. But the weirdest part is yet to come...the cats are going to honor her by allowing her to MARRY the Prince!!! What!?! So, after hearing a voice telling her to find the Cat Bureau, she ends up meeting a cat Baron and going in search of the cat kingdom!!Mega-weird...but also mega-charming and fun. I loved this film because it dared to be so different and it really hooked me. I have no idea why this one was released here in the States with zero fanfare...just a direct to DVD release a few years ago. Well worth seeing.

SnoopyStyle Nothing is going right for Japanese teen Haru. She saves a cat from getting run over by a truck. The cat walks upright and thanks her. Later, a procession carrying the Cat King formally thanks her with promises of gifts for saving his son Prince Lune's life. The cat gifts are numerous and not necessarily to Haru's liking. The boxes of live mice are especially bothersome. The King's minion Natoru offers to take her to the Cat Kingdom and have her marry Prince Lune. Haru objects too late. A voice tells her to seek out the Cat Bureau. The Bureau consists of dashing cat figurine Baron, chubby cat Muta, and crow Toto. Haru is taken to the Cat Kingdom where she is slowly turning into a cat.This is a follow up to 'Whisper of the Heart' where Baron was introduced. This is a much more fanciful fantasy and more fun. It is funny to fat shame Muta. The whole idea of a real fantasy cat world strikes me as hilarious fodder. I find this better than the original and more compelling. There is a drawback with the Cat King. It's never really explained why he wanted to take Haru to the Cat Kingdom other than it simply struck his fancy. Nevertheless, this is light charming fun.

Dominik528 Last year around August, I rented this on DVD. Since my sister and I are "cat people," I wanted her to watch this with me. But when she said that her friend had seen this and told her it wasn't very good, my expectations weren't so high then. After all, I mostly have mixed feelings for Ghibli movies: My Neighbor Totoro and Castle in the Sky were okay to me, while I adored Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service!Thankfully, I ended up really liking this movie! It's a cute, fun, wondrous coming-of-age story. Some people have accused this for having bestiality, but I definitely didn't read it like that: for one, the main character only started having a crush on Baron after (Spoiler)she started becoming a cat herself(/spoiler). But with that aside, I highly recommend this!

Will Parry This movie is very difficult to accurately review. On one hand, it is horrifying how cheesy, poorly scripted and rushed the movie is, but on the other, we know from "Whisper of the Heart" that this story is supposed to be written by Shizuku (it is NOT however the same story she was working on also named "Whisper of the Heart", which from the few details given in the movie, was more akin to a sort of epilogue for the Baron), and presumably while she was still an amateur writer.Although the story is supposed to be lighthearted, I personally found it went wayyyyy to far in that respect. Sure, it was a good approximation of what you'd expect a story from a young girl to be, however that does not change the fact that the plot is so frequently filled with scenes that even young children would find cheesy, terribly infantile "jokes" (sooo many chicken jokes D:), and worst of all, feels incredibly rushed.I'd like to say that I have nothing against lighthearted movies (I loved Whisper of the Heart), however this movie is at best a kid's movie through and through. The storyline takes Ghibli-cuteness and blows it completely out of proportion. Even "My Neighbor Totoro" feels serious compared to "The Cat Returns". Unless you're the giggly type, you'll want to punch yourself in the face at times due to how sickeningly sugary it can be. The thing about Studio Ghibli's signature cuteness in some of their films is that there is always some depth, some contrast. "My Neighbor Totoro" had the sick mother trope to play with, "Whisper of the Heart" had the uncertainty and dramatic ups and downs of an adolescent girl falling in love and finding her place in life, etc, etc. This film has positively no depth. It's constantly silly, which would work if the lines were funny, but they're not. About the only time I laughed during the film was when Haru first saw Prince Loon ("Eh..... eh... you-... eh :O").Just as bad as the film's cheesiness is it's rapid pace. The actual movie is reasonably long, however it just flies by due to the fact that none of the scene's feel important. They all feel like they are leading up to the next, without ever coming to fruition. Haru spends most of the film getting shuttled from place to place by various characters, such as to the "Cat Bureau" at the behest of a mysterious feline voice, exits that scene being dragged away by "evil" cats, arrives in the Cat World and is immediately picked up by the Kingsguard and is escorted to the castle, where she is dressed in a wedding gown. She is then forced to attend a party, and from there is rushed off in an escape orchestrated by the "mysterious" *cough* obvious *cough* "stranger". Without exaggerating, I can tell you that really the only choice as to where to go Haru made in the entire movie was to listen to the strange voice and go to a "Cat Bereau". After that, all of the supporting characters just whisked her from setting to setting, with her doing nothing along the way other than making astute observations about each setting she's in. She has a minimal interaction with the characters (never once does she ask any questions regarding the psychedelic world she is suddenly dragged into, 10 minutes after having a cat talk to her the first time, her inquisitiveness is limited to asking the names of each character), and we learn very little about her, other than that she's a high school student who has a crush on a popular guy. Oh yeah, and her Mom makes quilts. That's about all of the character backstory in the movie. Which brings me to my next point.The characters remain extraordinarily shallow, even for a children's movie. We never learn anything about the regular duties of the "Cat Bureau", or where the statue/cat came from. Why is the King so obsessed with marrying Haru to somebody (it doesn't seem to matter who)? Where was Prince Loon in-between his first appearance (as the first talking cat carrying the present) and his final appearance at the end of the film? Why did it take him so much longer to return to his world, whereas Haru only took about 10 minutes? Why did Haru act at the end as if the entire bizarre experience had taught her some lesson of maturity (she spent the entire film being dragged around a magical kingdom by cats bent on marrying her)? The film makes no attempt to answer these questions (and many more).The quality of animation was also far below Ghibli standards, though for normal anime I'd say it was usually good, and had some moments where it was definitely well done. There were a lot of scenes with characters remaining static in the background, or worse, repeating the same animation over and over again while the "center" character was talking (i.e the King's neverending dizzy expression). A lot of the scenes were fairly drab too, having none of the excellent shading I've come to expect from Studio Ghibli.In short, this might be a good Ghibli movie for very young children, however don't expect anything even remotely meaningful from it. If you want a real "coming of age" tear jerker, watch "Whisper of the Heart" instead, which is excellent.