![]() ![]() Other good examples that aren’t quite on the same level are things like the cat soldiers, and the different party-goers in the Cat World. There are certain stand-out examples however, the Baron, of course, looks fantastic, and as I mentioned before the Cat King’s design is really fun and interesting that looks dynamic as the character moves around. While there isn’t a ton of room when almost half of the characters are anthropomorphic animals to really show off different character designs, but still the limited range of designs really hurts the film. Once the film moves into the Cat Kingdom, the animation looks a lot better, and especially the movement of the fur on the Cat King himself was done really well, but Haru almost always looks out of place due to her animation, and the same goes for when you see cats standing up (again more so in the Human World but it does happen in the Cat Kingdom too). There are other films that use a similar scratchy style in their character designs, the first example that jumps to mind would be Masaaki Yuasa’s Mind Game, but even in that, the style feels much more integrated with the overall tone and style of the film, whereas in The Cat Returns the animation is jarring and looks out of place against the, admittedly, beautiful background art. I appreciate that Morita and his team were trying to go for a more realistic style for the humans and their world, but it just feels cheap and unpolished. In terms of the animation, I really disliked most of The Cat Returns. It’s a simple story, but doesn’t try to be anything deeper, and it does succeed in being a fun kid-friendly fantasy-adventure, but for me it doesn’t carry the same charm and personality as Miyazaki’s early films like My Neighbour Totoro or Kiki’s Delivery Service, which manage to not only create these kid-friendly fantasy worlds that also carry strong underpinning messages. The rest of the film follows the group’s adventure in the Cat Kingdom, from the lavish banquets and parties, and ultimately their escape from the King’s grasp. Who agrees to accompany Haru after she and Muta, a large white cat, are forcibly taken to the Cat World. This leads to Haru being introduced to the Baron, who is the only character who returns from Whisper of the Heart. And so after saving a cat from being run over, the cat reveals itself to be Prince Lune of the Cat Kingdom, which leads to the Cat King asking Haru to marry the Prince, which Haru’s flustered answer is taken as a yes. She also, in typical anime fashion, has the suppressed ability to talk to cats. The film follows high-schooler Haru Yoshioka, a teenager who retains the clumsiness of her childhood she oversleeps, she’s shy and generally doesn’t have her life together. ![]() But unfortunately I ended up finding The Cat Returns to be a limp and unworthy sequel that feels rough and unrefined. Also I knew that the film was the sole Ghibli film directed by Hiroyuki Morita, and with such a short run-time of an hour and fifteen minutes, I was eager to see if I had slept on this as much as I had its predecessor. Elton John was an executive producer on It's A Boy Girl Thing, and songs from his back catalog appear on the soundtrack.I really didn’t know what to expect when I watched The Cat Returns all I knew about it was that it was a fantasy-focused spin-off of Whisper of the Heart, which already seemed weird due to how grounded Whisper of the Heart, mostly, is. Neither is comfortable with their sudden gender switch or having to assume the other's personalities, but they quickly realize that until they can find a way to reverse the spell, they have to work together if Nell is to go to Yale and Woody is to get his scholarship and move away from this loutish parents (Sharon Osborne and Maury Chaykin. Nell and Woody are not at all friendly and normally have nothing to say to one another, but one day during a class field trip to a historical museum, the two fall under the spell of an Incan icon and when they awake the next morning, Woody's mind is in Nell's body, and vice versa. Nell (Samaire Armstrong) is a pretty but hopelessly geeky teenage girl who loves Shakespeare and wants little more than to study literature at Yale when she graduates from high school in a few months Woody (Kevin Zegers), who lives next door, is the quarterback on the school's football team, and seems like a sure bet to land a lucrative football scholarship despite the fact he isn't especially bright. Two kids with nothing in common are brought together in a very unexpected way in this comedy.
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