Club Ghibli #3 - The Cat Returns (2002)

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Diddy

愛してるって 言わなきゃ殺す
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Time for this voyage to take a TURN! @Gangsta Nancy Lam kindly lent her services to select the third in our ongoing mission to enjoy the canon of Studio Ghibli together.

"The Cat Returns", or "Neko no Ongaesi" (lit. The Cat's Repayment) is a bit of an oddity in the Ghibliverse. It's one of only a handful of movies not directed by Hayao Miyazaki, his son Goro, or Isao Takahata, and I think it's the only sequel - in the loosest possible sense. Let's call this a spiritual successor to 1995's Whisper of the Heart, just taking place in the Whisperverse and a curious cat statue being the only throughline.

"The Cat Returns" was the unlikely follow-up to the uber-hit "Spirited Away", and while it couldn't take the title of biggest grossing movie of all time from "Spirited Away", it still respectably landed on its feet in the top 10 of 2002.

It follows the story of schoolgirl Haru, whose life is turned upside down after saving a cat from an accident. She is forced to decide whether her ordinary life is worth trading for a life of fantasy.

And hey, if you hate it, it's only 75 minutes long.



HOW THIS WORKS


In a semi book club format, the films will be announced, and over the course of about 2 weeks we can watch it and let everyone know what we thought. I'll nominate someone to pick the next film each time, but maybe let's try not to blow all the famous ones first!


I was thinking 2 weeks should be enough time for most people to fit in a viewing at some point, but it's not strict so please come back when you have a chance, no pressure!
@Christian @Gangsta Nancy Lam @jivafox @COB @Haiku @ZenGiraffe @Lucille @KindaCool @Queen of the Bay @RaspberrySwirl @RJN @Beverley @big ron @ButterTart @Mats (let me know if you don't want to be tagged any more)
 
I chose this because I've never seen it and I like CATS. Hope it's decent!
 
There’s a good chance I am basic, but this doesn’t get enough love. I mean it’s not exactly oscar bait I’ll admit
 
I've seen it once, don't remember it but don't remember hating it either
 
Oh no WAY! What’s on your mind Chrissy?

We haven’t got to Earthsea yet :gross:
That would be its rival for bottom of the table for sure :D

I was going to write a long post ripping it apart but thought better of it until others have watched it!
 
Arietty is 100 x better than THIS, sorry Didz. It's written by Miyazaki so it's already a lot more thoughtful than whatever they came up here with.

This is a cute and inoffensive take on Alice in Wonderland and as far as animes go, a nice way to pass the afternoon but it's pretty INCONSEQUENTIAL and doesn't quite have the EMOTIONAL DEPTH of Whisper of the Heart, let alone Spirited Away. I wouldn't say it's bad but I have no urge to rewatch and wax lyrical about.
 
Arietty is 100 x better than THIS, sorry Didz. It's written by Miyazaki so it's already a lot more thoughtful than whatever they came up here with.

This is a cute and inoffensive take on Alice in Wonderland and as far as animes go, a nice way to pass the afternoon but it's pretty INCONSEQUENTIAL and doesn't quite have the EMOTIONAL DEPTH of Whisper of the Heart, let alone Spirited Away. I wouldn't say it's bad but I have no urge to rewatch and wax lyrical about.

I was so bored in Arietty - I saw it in the cinema too, I felt the English dub was a bit distracting, I'm sure this is just a me thing, I always find it a bit jarring when the visuals are so Japanese but the voices are so ... usually just some famous person with no voice acting experience. James van der Beek in Laputa was :daf:

This was a manga adaptation too, I guess there's not much to be done about the story

I sound defensive :D I guess this was the latest Ghibli when I first discovered them. I bought a gorgeous and no doubt thoroughly illegal VCD collection off eBay and I got the DVD of Cat Returns <3
 
Oh i've just finished watching, will review soon :love:

Willy Wonka Suspense GIF
 
I have never seen or even heard of this one. Will there be any sync watch?

We’ve been leaving it to people to watch under their own steam, but if you want, go for it - a bit pointless for me because of the time zones.

Mind you, I don’t know who else is really watching these :D peeka and Chrissy are just remembering what they thought years ago, I guess? Thank god for dear QOTB QoL
 
Sorry I meant to review this earlier but had a terrible day at work and after that I tried to self-register myself on the census, which was pointless cause they had posted me an invalid code, then I tried to guess of a valid one, obviously I couldn't, then I tried to contact the census authority but they were closed for the night and finally I left them a voicemail to call me to sort my code problem, which I really doubt they'll do.

Anyways now that I've got this off my chest, I really enjoyed The Cat Returns yesterday. But at the same time I agree with Peekaboo, it's not exactly on the same level with the other two films. The animation is once again gorgeous and the theme of the film is really close to me, I mean it's about cats, the species I admire the most and in many aspects the film is very relatable ie
the scene where Haru feeds the stray kitten, or the scene where Haru saves the cat prince, or the accurateness of portraying how different and diverse cats are in their character and personality, showing cats having their own societal structure etc
so there is a chance I may be a little biased in my feelings.
Yet while I think cats are generally well captured and developed storywise and almost all of them were adorable, I feel that Haru is not explained as much as I would want her to as a person.
And many substories feel kind of either random or just left half-finished ie
why can't she wake up in the morning? does it really matter in the story? what's her relationship with her mom? does she realize her child is gone? what's with the handsome guy at school? what's with Haru's best friend crush? does any of these characters really matter?
but maybe am overthinking this now cause it's the next day.
Point is that while watching I had a smile on my face and right after the end I had this sense of feeling good and warm and cosy again that both of the other Ghibli films made me feel. So that's a success in my mind and am giving this a 7.
 
I like the little procession of cats. I'm pretty sure I reblogged a gif of that on tumblr dot com.
 
I'm glad that the fat cat

didn't drown in jelly so he could YEET our heroine out of harms way.

I'm choosing to see the ending and the zippy haircut as implying a lesbian love match with her lacrosse friend.
 
Well I left it to the last minute, but I watched it!

That 70 minutes flew by - I agree with @Queen of the Bells 🔔 , it does sort of skirt over most the character and plot development, but it is a refreshingly light romp. It's not really surprising, given its history. It was meant as a short film based on a short manga, which they decided to stretch out into a full film. I mean that's a choice, and I guess it makes it very hard to sit next to likes like Spirited Away and Laputa.

I was thinking about the point of the story too, I guess Haru was supposed to be a bit wishywashy and passive, so she was constantly reminded not to lose herself - a bit on the nose for Ghibli films that normally show rather than tell.

But it did have that typical cobbled-together resolutions to the cat subplots - the prince and Yuki's relationship, Muta's past - but yeah it's not like any of these things have much of a payoff except entertainment and feelgood endings. btw you think THIS has a lesbian moment? There are better gay moments than that in the canon!

I still mark it high because of my nostalgia for it, and it's always a nice watch for me. I like the sort of screwy physical comedy, like her getting a load of mice in her locker and the cats running into them, or the banquet entertainers, or the maze.

@Gangsta Baby what's your score? @Holly did you watch it?
 

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