Movies

From the creators of the Academy Award winning Spirited Away comes the visually stunning The Cat Returns.

Haru, a schoolgirl bored by her ordinary routine, saves the life of an unusual cat, and suddenly her world is transformed beyond anything she ever imagined. The Cat King rewards her good deed with a flurry of presents, including a very shocking proposal of marriage to his son! Haru then embarks on an unexpected journey to the Kingdom of Cats, where her eyes are opened to a whole other world and her destiny is uncertain. To change her fate, she'll need to learn to believe in herself and, in the process, she will learn to appreciate her everyday life.

Featuring the sensational voice talents of Anne Hathaway, Cary Elwes, Peter Boyle and Elliott Gould, The Cat Returns is a magical animated adventure that will delight and inspire everyone.

Another film from Studio Ghibli, The Cat Returns is a fun little film about believing in yourself. With that as the theme, the movie spent surprisingly little time portraying this lesson and focused more on the rest of this far-fetched, if not enjoyable, story.

A young girl saves a cat from being run over by a truck. This unusual cat turns out to be son of the Cat King. One of the many generous gifts she receives from the king is the offer of his son's hand in marriage.

Before she knows it, she finds herself enlisting the aid of another unusual cat, known as Baron. Baron, with the voice of Cary Elwes, is a very distinguished and daring gentleman (gentlecat?) who goes the extra mile to save young Haru.

Bored by her "normal" day to day life, Haru struggles to believe in herself. It is this change within herself, coupled with the help of the Baron, which saves her from the Cat Kingdom.

Like Kiki's Delivery Service and others, The Cat Returns has a low rating (G, PG). I will not necessarily go so far as to say they are children's movies, though they are geared more towards children. They are fun to watch and are cute stories. There is not much more than that to take away, even though as with everything Studio Ghibli has given us, The Cat Returns was very visually pleasing. The animation was beautiful.

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