Neko no ongaeshi (2002)

Director:

Hiroyuki Morita

Writers:

Aoi Hîragi (comic "Neko no Danshaku, Baron") and
Reiko Yoshida (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 July 2002 (Japan)

Genre:

Adventure | Animation | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

Journey to another land.

Plot:

After helping a cat, a young girl finds herself involuntarily engaged to a cat prince in a magical world where her only hope of freedom lies with a dapper cat statuette come to life.

Plot Keywords:

Cat | Anime | Tower | Manga | Love

Cast

Chizuru Ikewaki	...	Haru (voice)
Yoshihiko Hakamada	...	Baron (voice)
Aki Maeda	...	Yuki (voice)
Takayuki Yamada	...	Lune (voice)
Hitomi Satô	...	Hiromi (voice)
Kenta Satoi	...	Natori (voice)
Mari Hamada	...	Natoru (voice)
Tetsu Watanabe	...	Muta (voice)
Yôsuke Saitô	...	Toto (voice)
Kumiko Okae	...	Haru's Mother (voice)
Tetsurô Tanba	...	Cat King (voice)
Yô Ôizumi	...	Additional voice (voice)
Youko Honna	...	Additional voice (voice)
Ken Yasuda	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Anne Hathaway	...	Haru (voice: English version)

Also Known As:

The Cat Returns (International: English title)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | French | Portuguese | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Australia:G | Germany:o.Al. | South Korea:All | Canada:G (Manitoba/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:S | Ireland:G | Singapore:G | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U | USA:G

Company:

Hakuhodo

Trivia:

The English-language title of this movie is "The Cat Returns". There are a number of possible reasons for this title. The character of the Baron is recurrent: he originally appeared in Mimi wo sumaseba (1995) as a statue, but was nonetheless one of the main plot-points of the film. The title could also be a reference to Muta, the large cat who reveals himself to be "Renaldo Moon" who has returned to the cat kingdom after many years. He is a notorious criminal in the Kingdom as he devoured a whole lake of fish in one session and the story of his "crime" has been written on the walls of the tower in which he reveals his true name. Another possible reason for the title is the return of the cat prince at the end of the feature, his return sets everything back to the way it should be.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: The flags in the 'Crossroads' area say CROSSLOAD, in some scenes.

Quotes:

Muta: That's enough, Baron. Turn it off. No one's impressed with your cheesy light show, okay?

Movie Connections:

References Labyrinth (1986)

Soundtrack:

Kaze Ni Naru

Simple but entertaining

Short but sweet- is probably the best way to describe this movie. Unlike other epics created by studio ghibli, such as Nausicaa of the valley of the Wind and Spirited Away, this movie has a very simple story and feels more like a really long episode of a TV show rather than a movie. The characters are somewhat developed but there just wasn't much time to do so since the story felt rushed. However, this is still a very entertaining film full of subtle humor.

The only gripe i have with this film is that the Disney DVD is DUBTITLED. Disney forgot to translate the movie and tries to pass the script for the English dub as the translated subtitles.