The Cat Returns (猫の恩返し) Review – A middling but sweet fairy tale.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

A decent fairy tale with a story that’s surprisingly plain for Studio Ghibli’s standards, The Cat Returns has the dubious distinction of being the only film from the studio to require some suspension of disbelief.

Seven years after his debut in 1995’s Whisper of the Heart as the statue that inspires that film’s protagonist Shizuka to pursue her writing dreams, the Baron appears once again in the sweet but surprisingly shallow fairy tale that is The Cat Returns. A project created in part to foster further directorial talent at Studio Ghibli, it was handed to first-time director Hiroyuki Morita, and it definitely shows. While it’s a promising debut that’s sure to please young kids with its easygoing charm and relative simplicity, for adults, and even for those hardcore Ghibli fans looking to complete their collections, a certain suspension of disbelief is required. Regardless of subject matter or story, the studio’s films should sweep you away. This film has the dubious distinction of being one of the few Studio Ghibli films that doesn’t quite manage to do that.

Its relatively simple tale revolves around a schoolgirl named Haru whose life changes when she saves a cat from being run over in the road, only to find it bowing to her and thanking her for her assistance. As it turns out, this cat is a prince of a fantasy feline Alice in Wonderland style otherworld and Haru soon finds herself the recipient of numerous unwanted favours and gifts from the Cat King, who wants her to marry his son. Naturally, she’s not too keen to join the cats in their magical realm on a permanent basis, and hijinks ensue as she tries to escape her involuntary engagement.

It’s a light-hearted and entirely inoffensive affair whose narrative just so happens to be lighter than air. Clocking in at one hour and fifteen minutes long, it’s perfectly serviceable but rushed and its overarching message about believing in yourself, while still wholesome, leaves something to be desired. It doesn’t help that it’s quite literally spelled out for the audience rather than implied. Its characters are fun and likeable enough; the film’s lead Haru is inherently watchable as the good-natured girl next door figure who happens to be both awkward and extremely clumsy. But even then, it’s hard not to notice that the film feels oddly empty. The writers deserve credit for having Haru develop over the course of the story, but almost as often as not, that development isn’t really her doing. She doesn’t have a lot of personal agency, even if her klutziness is endearing. The fantasy world it creates is lush and pretty, but I never quite got over having to actively disregard my thoughts about how bizarre and ill-explained its existence was. It’s sorely lacking in the themes and strong messaging that round out the picture of films like Spirited Away and give them that vital extra power.

But I couldn’t bring myself to actively dislike The Cat Returns despite its lack of emotional depth. As a cat owner myself, I found myself enjoying the competent animation, and the cleverly designed feline characters whether they appeared in the foreground or in the background. Every so often, it earns a genuine laugh, and there are occasionally moments and sequences, like a shot of a young Haru feeding a stray kitten a whole box of fish-shaped cookies, that do succeed at capturing that precious Ghibli magic. Cat lovers and kids might get a good kick out of this, but the trouble is that the studio’s other movies set the bar pretty high, and simply being nice and cute doesn’t quite put this film on par with the rest of them. It is genuinely adorable though.