Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
xraaki
This review does *NOT* contain spoilers.
Watched in Sub/Dub: Dub
Story: 4/10
High schooler Haru Yoshioka makes the grave mistake of saving a cat from becoming roadkill. It turns out that this cat happens to be a prince in a magical cat kingdom. To reward her, the King essentially terrorizes Haru and demands that she marry his son (the prince she saved). As she panics, a voice speaks out to Haru and tells her to find the Cat Bureau. The Cat Bureau is made of exactly one suave cat figurine named Baron, a grumpy cat named Renaldo, and a snarky crow named Toto. During their first meeting Haru is kidnapped by the kingdom’s henchcats and the Cat Bureau rushes to her rescue. The story is extremely simple. While I wouldn’t describe the setup as bad, it’s also not particularly attention-getting ei…
Read at the sourcemingyingli
I watch this movie right after Whispers of the Heart, and I can not express how disappointed I am.
The plotline is not very complex and is relatively easy to follow. Although it is not delivered very well, the message is very meaningful ("be yourself").
The art is distinctive compared to other Studio Ghibli movies, which can be quite refreshing if you're binge-watching the movies.
The worst is probably the characters, especially the protagonists. Some of my favourite characters are the crow and Muta which are only comic reliefs. There's no character development and the characters hardly ever struggle to reach their goal. Throughout the movie, the main fem.character proceeds to be a damsel in distress dreading to be save by her prince Charming. You can hardly feel any chemistry betwee…
Read at the sourceLightScaryRobo
Story - This has to be my favourite Studio Ghibli film so far - it is so engaging in every aspect. Unlike most movies, you never properly feel like the characters are in danger, and this movie ends up being more of a relaxing film to watch due to how soothing and cute it is. I am a big fan of action, and although there was not a lot in this, I still found this to be an AMAZING movie.
Art - If you compare this movie to the rest of Ghibli's works (other than My Neighbours the Yamadas), it stands out as odd. It isn't bad by a long shot, but it just felt a tiny bit lacklustre at times as sometimes it can look a bit goofy.
Sound - The music in this film was phenomenal and engaging. The sound quality is a bit old and there a couple of Natoru's lines which seem a bit too far from the microphone…
Read at the sourceKrunchyman
“I f—king love pussy, I don’t know how I’d live without it. Reiko! Write a movie about pussy!” — Hayao Miyazaki
“Already done, sir.” — Reiko Yoshida
“Oh, well….ummm. You know, yeah, this is probably, uh, this probably better than what I had in mind.” — Hayao Miyazaki
The Cat Returns is a simple film, so simple that it flies over the head of a sizable segment of the viewing audience. At first glance, it appears to be an innocent, unsophisticated “kid’s” movie about bipedal cat’s who live in a feudal system of sorts, mimicking the behaviors of human culture. Their permanent residence (i.e. the Cat Kingdom) is a sanctuary for them to live freely and detach themselves from captivity of being domesticated. Of course, when a young girl named Haru saves their Prince, they return the favor by e…
Read at the sourceAustinMorganMMA
NOTE: I did not see "Whispers of the Heart", since I recently found out this movie is a spin-off of "Whispers", and I watched this as an average movie goer, while still keeping an open mind. So forgive me if I say something that's not correct about the movie in this review.
Despite a misleading title, "The Cat Returns" is still a film that I'm glad I saw. It has a lot of charming and quirky moments throughout and has a cast of characters that's hard not to appreciate no matter you love or hate them. Which is very typical for a Studio Ghibli film.
The story centers around a young high school girl named Haru, who one day comes across a cat who's just about to get run over by a truck, but Haru rescues it, and amazingly finds out can stand and talk. Later that night, a group of cats come tog…
Read at the sourceBowlingJD
Studio Ghibli was strong in the early 2000s. This particular film is a bit of a divergence from the studio’s norm. The Cat Returns is actually a spin-off from a previous Ghibli film, Whisper of the Heart. The other way this diverts from the norm is a different director was chosen, and he was Hiroyuki Morita (animator in Akira, Lupin III). Fun fact, Miyazaki actually tested others to come up with a story featuring three key elements from Whisper of the Heart: the cat Baron, big fat cat Muta, and a mysterious antique shop. Morita took the challenge and past thus creating his own story which turned into this adorable film.
Our story focuses on the lonely-esc girl, Haru, whom is going through the usual teenage angst thought process of life is dull and needs a change. She ends up saving a cat…
Read at the sourceyotsubafan23
Studio Ghibli generally use a little more heavier themes in they're movies, or usually try make the viewer drop a tear or two. It seems to me that this film is an exception.
Schoolgirl Haru saves a cat from getting hit by a truck. Surprisingly, the cat thanks him. The next night, a strange line of cats thank Haru, and invite her to The Cat Kingdom. The next day, cats cause chaos in Haru's life. Through many random consequences, Haru ends up in the kingdom,with Muta, The Baron and his eagle companion Toto.
In general, Studio Ghibli mixes fantasy and realism to movies and remains to stay reasonable. Here they relaxed, lose the rules, and created a completely absurd world, where there is no rhyme or reason. But actually, I'm glad that they did so. The film goes crazy when they get to the ki…
Read at the sourcebennitori
Studio Ghibli has the reputation of making nothing but classics that will forever be remembered. Even as I've started marathoning through some of the lesser known titles in the Ghibli library, even the obscure ones were surprisingly good. This is the first Ghibli film to disappoint me. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. It was just a vanilla story.
Story (6/10) The concept was very good. But the way it was handled felt too easy. The fact that the cat happened to be a prince was a funny coincidence. But then the fact that Haru just happened to have a voice tell her where she needed to go was too easy. The fact that they were willing to help her for no explained reason was too easy. Even after things start going wrong, there's just a deus ex machina that comes in and solves the probl…
Read at the sourceJarrbearr
Studio Ghibli has a long history of film making and is known for its great producers. They've made a name for themselves as one of the best studios in the past few decades with all the movies that have risen to fame quickly and cultivating fans throughout their entire run. Everyone has probably watched a Miyazaki film or heard his name. His movies are always top quality and tend to outshine the other films Ghibli makes.
Neko no Ongashi or The Cat Returns is one that has received both good and bad opinions over the years. I discovered this movie due to watching a marathon of Ghibli films and at first this movie seemed quite bland and boring, but it entertained me with the concept and I unexpectedly enjoyed it.
The story follows Haru, a girl who has an ordinary life and is nothing too spec…
Read at the sourcektulu007
The Cat Returns is a bit of an odd one. It's connected to another Studio Ghibli film, Whispers of the Heart, but they don't have any of the same characters nor are their plots connected. Basically, the protagonist in that film writes a story as part of a subplot and this is supposedly that story. The connection is very loose and pretty unimportant, which is why I'm reviewing this one before Whispers of the Heart.
The Cat Returns follows a young girl named Haru. One afternoon she's heading home from school when she sees a cat about to get run over by a truck. Acing quickly, she saves his life. The cat wipes itself off in a very humanoid way, thanks her and goes about its way. That night Haru is visited by a procession of cats walking on two legs and the king of cats thanks her for saving…
Read at the source5camp
Cat Returns is a bit of an anomaly Ghibli movie. It isn’t directed by Miyazaki or Takahata, but instead by Hiroyuki Morita, dude who went onto direct Bokurano. It’s a spin-off story from Whisper of the Heart, and was originally only supposed to be a 20 minute piece, but for various reasons kept spiralling up and up in length until we got this full blown movie. Not that you need to know any of this going in. It’s about a girl who saves a cat from being hit by a truck. The cat hails from the Cat Kingdom, who promises to repay her by being a huge nuisance. A bit like how cats cough up dead animals on your chest and expect to be congratulated.
Cat Returns doesn’t get a whole lot of publicity next to its Ghibli movie compatriots. It’s not a sprawling epic fantasy, nor a deeply personal human t…
Read at the sourceoctoberstormxx
The Cat Returns is my ultimate favorite Studio Ghibli film. Of all their work I honestly think this is their finest. Everything from the character development down to the music is just right. But now let's get into more of the nitty-gritty details.
Story:
The story is about a girl in high school, Haru Yoshioka, who saves a cat from being hit by a vehicle on the street. Haru had unknowingly saved the cat prince, Prince Lune, of Cat Kingdom. As thanks, the Cat Kingdom showers Haru with many "fabulous" gifts like cat tails in her lawn and mice in her locker! She demands they stop, but they refuse, informing her she will be taken to Cat Kingdom and married to the cat prince! Haru is greatly distressed hearing this, but not long after she is told this information she hears a voice in her head…
Read at the sourceLucena
Studio Ghibli. Mention this studio to any anime fan and they'll instantly think of either Hayao Miyazaki or rattle off any of his movies. In that list of movies, there will be a slim chance that a fan will mention The Cat Returns, one of Ghibli's more light-hearted efforts. I have to admit that I've avoided this title for a long time due to Miyazaki's lack of involvement with this project. This, however, is a decision that should be regretting at the moment because, surprisingly enough, I liked this film. I liked it a lot.
This movie's story couldn't be more straight-forward. It's a simple fantasy tale that, despite not being a two-hour epic like Miyazaki's movies, tells an incredibly coherent story that's easy to follow for anyone. I think the key to enjoying this movie lies in the fact…
Read at the sourcexKaorux
This is one of the great works of Studio Ghibli and It is a side story with Whispers Of The Heart which is another great Ghibli production.
The story takes place when a young girls saves a cat from getting ran over. Little did she know that she saved a Prince and now the whole cat kingdom wich to meet her and thank her for saving their Prince. But she gets more than a thanks, she searches for another cat who can save her from the cat kingdom and return to the human world.
This is a very cute and funny anime which I enjoyed very much. The art is very beautiful and the characters will make you fall in love with them. This is a great film for all the family on any occasion. I would recommened watching both Whispers Of The Heart and The Cat Returns.
The Baron is the character that links both…
Read at the sourceKiiroiCho
This is only my second review, but I'm hoping it will be of some use to someone somewhere...
Story:
Okay, well the story is pretty basic. If you've seen other Miyazaki flicks, you know that usually the story is a little like this: There's a female protagonist in some strange situation because she saw or did or interacted with some type of otherwordly thing. Basically, Haru, who is completely normal, saves a cat and gets WAY more than she bargained for. It's really short, and there aren't too many plot twists, but it's a nice story. It's pretty relatable because Haru is so average. I liked it, but it wasn't Miyazaki at is finest or anything.
Art:
I can't complain. It's distinctive and you can tell right away that it's a movie done by Miyazaki. It isn't very intricate or outstandingly elega…
Read at the sourceUsagi-long-legs
Great anime film by studio ghibli and it's not too long so you won't get bored.
The film has some of the same characters from 'whisper of the heart' but that doesn't mean you have to go and watch that becasue the film will still make sense.
It's a very simple story to understand and it's very enjoyable.
The main charater has problems with being herself and making choices which puts her in abit of a situation in the film.
However there are people there to help her.
I won't give any spoilers because I'm sure you will want to find out for yourself.
I noticed that the art in this film is different to other studio ghibli films but it's still good.
Overall a great film to watch
Hope this review is ok as it's one of my first ;)
Read at the sourcegraceleewon
This movie is like a Miyazaki movie. The story is a very well thought out and creative, i think it might be enjoyable to most ages. The animation is very good and that just adds to it's charm. Not much romance but thats what makes it even more better. These days it's hard to get ppl to read stories, mangas, or watch tv shows, anime without romance involved. This one just has several cute scenes that just makes you say 'aww' or squeal a little. Recommend to everyone, if you see and dont like it then forget about it but i'd highly doubt anyone would actually hate the movie. Pretty much you'd enjoy it^^
Read at the sourceRangFlash
A pretty good effort from Studio Ghibli, here.
The story here is very similar to many other Ghibli movies. A character is thrust into a magical land, or sees something out of the ordinary. However unoriginal it may be, it's well done. It's well written, and it's well paced.
The art style is a bit mediocre for a movie. The characters are drawn very simply, and lack shading to make them look more three-dimensional. The background paintings are very beautiful, though.
Soundwise, it is very well done. The music is high quality, and the stereo sound is mastered well. The English dub is done pretty well, no complains there really.
The character is very relatable, especially if you are a girl. My sister and one of her friends were watching this, and fell in love with the movie. I believe the…
Read at the sourceJTurner
There are a group of fans who believe that Ghibli can do no wrong. Yet even the studio who gave us classics such as Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, and Spirited Away, are capable of turning out a second-class effort. The Cat Returns, a curious entry to the Ghibli library, is one such movie. Directed by newcomer Hiroyuki Morita, this film is a spin-off of Yoshifumi Kondo's magical Whisper of the Heart--almost unheard of for a studio that strives on original productions.
The story, which involves Haru, an unlucky high school student, whisked away to the Cat Kingdom after saving a feline from being run over by a truck, is serviceable but uninspired and predictable in a Disney-ish sort of way--a trait that Miyazaki and Takahata's works never shared, a…
Read at the sourcekahlua_coco
This is my first review, but hopefully it is of some use to the community here.
Story: The Cat Returns is a side story to the Studio Ghibli film, "Whisper of the Heart'. In essence, it is a separate story within a story, which makes the concept quite clever. It brings back old characters from the original showing, into a plot that has a similar atmosphere to The Nutcracker or Alice in Wonderland. It is a fantasy, in a which a shy girl is carried off into another land, and in the process learns more about herself. The moral behind the story is a touching one, and it is delivered well. Perhaps the only drawback that someone might find, is that it all ends too happily [or that the story is too predictable].
Art: The art was decent, considering it came from a studio that is well known for i…
Read at the source