Monday 27 May 2013

'Studio Ghibli' season continues with 'The Cat Returns'.

'Studio Ghibli' season.


After watching 'Whisper of the Heart' I looked up some stuff about it, there was some wonderful little  gems.  These included one or two  little Easter eggs which allude to previous 'Ghibli' films. However the most interesting nugget of information was that  there was a sequel, well there was a spin-off dealing with one of the most interesting characters from 'Whisper of the Heart', The Baron. This is a review of a very unique element to 'Studio Ghibli', a spin-off.

#5 'The Cat Returns'

Director- Hiroyuki Morita
Starring- Anne Hathaway
Cary Elwes
Peter Boyle

Smooth.
Plot
Haru, played by none other than 'Catwoman'  herself Anne Hathaway, is a girl down on her luck. Right now in her life nothing seems to be going right for her. It all seems to  be due to an inability to get off her ass and do anything truly productive  in her life. Sure she has friends and she is  relatively good  at sports, but she has no  direction in her life. Then one day she saves a cat, a really weird  cat, and from that point on things get a little funky.

Good
It was lovely to see 'The Baron'  and 'Muta' from 'Whisper of the Heart' return and in the form of main characters. Cary Elwes has brought a real charm to this  role that will remind people of his character 'Wesley' from 'The  Princess Bride', if  you don't know what  this film is  you have seriously missed  out. The set  pieces and characters are both outlandish and fantastic. The 'Cat Kingdom' is very much a 'Wonderland' to Haru's 'Alice'. The greatest part of this whole piece was 'The Baron' himself who was charming, dashing and  suave and  many other adjectives that my  girlfriend kept listing out.

Bad
Cats are not a particular subject that I enjoy, I've always wondered why  the 'Ghibli' team have such  a fascination with  cats and unless I  ever  meet one of the lads from 'Ghibli' I  don't think I will ever find out. While  the setting and characters were wonderful the dialogue was  a bit dodgy at times, some of it was very corny and the dubbing sometimes did not  match what the characters seemed to be emoting. One  particular issue of the film which kind of irked me was the animation style, it was slightly different  to some of the other films from the 'Ghibli Collection',  there was just something about it, I don't know what there just was.

A stairway  full of crows, very cool.
Ugly
It's a film that builds on a character  who was a fan favourite, it works well, to a point. In the end it comes down to one thing, are you a cat person or a dog  person, I'm a dog person.
7/10 

A bunch  of friends falling from the sky, what could be more  fun.
Anne Hathaway has been a catgirl then a catwoman, interesting.

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