Ohayo!
Welcome back for the shortest of the Ghibli films. that being said, being short is usually a detriment. (I'm 6'4, so that's not a problem)...(I'm also not Asian, so, well, yeah) anyway onto the review!
Pros:
I really enjoyed the first 20 minutes or so. I love seeing japan in a normal light and the oddity of having the cats as walking and talking was cool. and having black cats with white collars as security guards was cool and unique. I really liked the first half or so, it set up a lot of potential and took its time establishing Haru,
another, cute, spunky young girl.
I also really liked the few callbacks to Whisper of the Heart. The Baron who's a small character in Whisper, and Muta, the fat lazy cat that the main girl follows in Whisper only to end up finding the Baron's Statue. I like that kind of thing. I also enjoyed a lot of the tongue in cheek humor
Cons:
The second half felt rushed, like 'gun to your back get it done' rushed. it felt like the animators and storytellers just gave up, they had plot points they needed to get out and they did it, then a fast fade to black, ok next plot point, fade to black. it felt so damned rushed. so much potential with the cat world and the Baron and her getting forced into it.
The climax was very lackluster, I mean, let's look at it critically. They had the big looming marriage, yet they decide to drop it when the prince gets back, and he randomly proposes to this random cat that just happens to be the one Haru fed cookies to when she was a child. then the king tries forcing himself on Haru, she says no, he backs down. the princes men and the kings men start fighting, we see no fighting, just the king randomly scaling a wall, then fighting the baron, who beats him with one hit, they end up back in the human world and every thing's fine. there's so much potential for a sweeping story and it just gives up. and you have them enter a Maze, but it's one of the blandest mazes I've seen, just rock walls, why not just climb the walls and walk on them, oh it's cheating, right, like that matters in a perilous situation, that really doesn't seem to perilous.
One thing i did like is after the pathetic scene of kicking the fake walls and them all coincidentally falling in a row the adviser cat says it was a bad idea to position them like that, that was good.
the animation was also very lame, most Miyazaki helmed films have shadows and moving cameras and good shot composition, and the beginning of this had that (this isn't miyazaki but instead a one off director who never did another movie). but once they got into cat land they dropped it all. it became a very rushed movie and only regained any momentum at the very end when she ends up back in the real world, after the lazy crows scene.
All in all the movie would have been a fun short, but as an actual feature it felt too short and not remotely as good as it could have been.
FINAL VERDICT: 47
Great start, but horribly rushed and executed in the second half.
Wow, the first negative review. uh oh, I found the Cars 2 of Ghibli. dont get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but it really fell apart during the second half.
Oh and sushi loved it, she laid on my chest and staired at the screen through all of it.
Welcome back for the shortest of the Ghibli films. that being said, being short is usually a detriment. (I'm 6'4, so that's not a problem)...(I'm also not Asian, so, well, yeah) anyway onto the review!
MOVIE REVIEW: The Cat Returns
I really enjoyed the first 20 minutes or so. I love seeing japan in a normal light and the oddity of having the cats as walking and talking was cool. and having black cats with white collars as security guards was cool and unique. I really liked the first half or so, it set up a lot of potential and took its time establishing Haru,
another, cute, spunky young girl.
I also really liked the few callbacks to Whisper of the Heart. The Baron who's a small character in Whisper, and Muta, the fat lazy cat that the main girl follows in Whisper only to end up finding the Baron's Statue. I like that kind of thing. I also enjoyed a lot of the tongue in cheek humor
Cons:
The second half felt rushed, like 'gun to your back get it done' rushed. it felt like the animators and storytellers just gave up, they had plot points they needed to get out and they did it, then a fast fade to black, ok next plot point, fade to black. it felt so damned rushed. so much potential with the cat world and the Baron and her getting forced into it.
The climax was very lackluster, I mean, let's look at it critically. They had the big looming marriage, yet they decide to drop it when the prince gets back, and he randomly proposes to this random cat that just happens to be the one Haru fed cookies to when she was a child. then the king tries forcing himself on Haru, she says no, he backs down. the princes men and the kings men start fighting, we see no fighting, just the king randomly scaling a wall, then fighting the baron, who beats him with one hit, they end up back in the human world and every thing's fine. there's so much potential for a sweeping story and it just gives up. and you have them enter a Maze, but it's one of the blandest mazes I've seen, just rock walls, why not just climb the walls and walk on them, oh it's cheating, right, like that matters in a perilous situation, that really doesn't seem to perilous.
One thing i did like is after the pathetic scene of kicking the fake walls and them all coincidentally falling in a row the adviser cat says it was a bad idea to position them like that, that was good.
the animation was also very lame, most Miyazaki helmed films have shadows and moving cameras and good shot composition, and the beginning of this had that (this isn't miyazaki but instead a one off director who never did another movie). but once they got into cat land they dropped it all. it became a very rushed movie and only regained any momentum at the very end when she ends up back in the real world, after the lazy crows scene.
All in all the movie would have been a fun short, but as an actual feature it felt too short and not remotely as good as it could have been.
FINAL VERDICT: 47
Great start, but horribly rushed and executed in the second half.
Wow, the first negative review. uh oh, I found the Cars 2 of Ghibli. dont get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but it really fell apart during the second half.
Oh and sushi loved it, she laid on my chest and staired at the screen through all of it.
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