The Cat Returns - What I Think

First Things First:

So before getting down to the serious business of reviewing the 2002 Ghibli film "The Cat Returns" I thought I would just take a moment (or a bit longer!) to talk about how amazing some of the selection of voice actors used in the English dubbed versions of the films are. 


I mean the dubbing has always been top quality but i never expected the voice actors to be such big Hollywood names with there being at least 2 huge names in every ghibli film I've researched about so far! for example here is a list of ghibli films, and the people who voice some of the many main characters and where you might know them from!

Nausicaä of The Valley Of the Wind:

Patrick Stewart

Shia LaBeouf

Uma Thurman

Mark Hamill (A.k.a LUKE SKYWALKER!, Also one of my favorite joker voices!)

Howl's Moving Castle:

Cristian Bale (Howl)

Billy Crystal (Calcifer)

Blythe Danner (witch of the waste) (originally set to play charlies mother in two and a half men)

Kiki's Delivery Service:

Kirsten Dunst (Kiki)

Janeane Garofalo

Kath Soucie (fun fact, Kath Soucie did the voices for Master Viper From Kung Fu Panda, Jessie in Red Dead Redemption and also Phil and Lil in Rugrats!)

Phil Hartman (troy McClure/Lionel Hutz from "The Simpsons" and Ted From "Jingle All The Way" :D)

Tales From Earthsea:

Willem Dafoe 

Timothy Dalton (BOND)

*those two speak for themselves*

Susanne Blakeslee (Wanda from "Fairly Odd Parents"!! also in Bioshock 1 & 2 as "Lady Smith Splicers" and many more) 

Kathryn Cressida (Dee Dee from "Dexter's Lab" oh god! ahahaha)

Jeff Bennet (The voice of JOHNNY BRAVO,  Drix from "Ozzy and Drix", Clay from "Xiolin Showdown" trust me the list goes on...)

Ponyo:

Cate Blanchett

Liam Neeson

Matt Damon

Tina Fey (legend)

Noah Lindsey Cyrus (Miley Cyrus' Little Sister)

frankie Jonas (yes, The youngest jonas brother, eugggh)

and one final film :D, today's blog (eventually!! i know) 

The Cat Returns - The Actual Review Now...... Finally

Anne Hathaway (Haru, the main Character)
Tim Curry (The Cat King) (Legend)
Gary Elwes (Baron) (Dr Lawrence Gordon from Saw 1)
Kristen Bell (Haru's Best Friend Hiromi) (Elle From Heroes)
Peter Boyle (Muta The Fat Cat) (also played frank in "everybody loves raymond")
Elliott Gould (Toto The Crow) (this guy is a legend! rueben from the "Oceans 11-13" films, Jack Geller From "Friends", 

                                               The Cat Returns Trailer

The Cat Returns is a 2002 Japanese animated movie directed by Hiroyuki Morita of Studio ghibli based on a manga of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi. The movie follows the story of a shy Japanese schoolgirl named Haru (Anne Hathaway) who's life is turned upside down after saving a cats from being run over while walking home from school one day. As it turns out the cat is Lune, Prince of the cat kingdom.

Prince Lune of The Cat Kingdom

For saving Prince Lune Haru is "hailed " with "presents" from the entire cat kingdom in gratitude including: all the mice she could eat, a garden full of cat tails (the plant, the film isn't sadistic), a good supply of Catnip and eventually Haru is shocked to discover they even want to "reward her" by making her Lune's bride.


It's at this point in the story a mysterious voice tells Haru to "find the large white cat at the crossroads (doesn't say which streets though, hope the city only has one crossroad!) he will take you to "The Cat Bureau". And so we are introduced to one of my Top characters of the Ghibli films the head of the cat bureau "Baron Humbert von Gikkingen" or Baron for short. Baron is a thin ginger cat who wears a white suit with a white top hat and cane, i mean how cool is that!!!

An Artists Drawing of Baron, very accurate to the movie

The Baron is voiced by Gary Elwes (who i'd never heard of until researching the film for the blog) is great in this film the voice for the character is just great, like some kind of high class bond type dude best character EVER. so as Haru is talking to baron and the gang the messenger of the cat kingdom appears and with a huge flock of cats kidnaps Haru taking her to the cat kingdom. so here is where we get our first full introduction to the cat king voiced by the LEGENDARY TIM CURRY with lines like "Hey Babe" and "Looking Gooooood Babe") the cat king is one hell of a pimp! but doesn't have enough lines for Tim Curry to show off his voice acting :D. 

The Cat King, What a Pimp

The longer Haru stays within the cat kingdom the more she starts to notice her appearance change to look like a cat like her hands turn into paws, she grows whiskers and even gets cat ears! when it starts to look like all is lost and Haru will be stuck as a cat forever the baron shows up and saves the day (like a BAWS!) and basically a long chase scene, everything works out. and all is awesome!. Haru's life has even been changed for the better because of the experience. just before they part for the last time Haru even tells Baron she has a crush on him! lol. 

Summary

this has got to be one of my top 2 34 5! lol, top 5 ghibli films. its too hard to pick top films from ghibli aha. i thought this film was brilliant when i first saw it a few years back, and i still think its brilliant now! its a real feel good happy film and if you come out of it with anything but a smile on your face i would be surprised. and although there are one or more ghibli films i prefer this is definitely a high scorer in the top 5. 


All of the characters have such a well defined personality with such a great story line behind them. it always surprises me how much i like the Haru character for being so believable and such a realistic character always having a believable reaction to situations such as when the cat she saves thanks her, standing on 2 legs. Absolutely dumbstruck that a cat could speak and she could understand.

                               Haru, hearing the cat speak

The Kingdom of cats is pretty well designed but i would think that a kingdom of cats would look a lot different to the human world? or is that just me. lol. all in all my favorite characters, in order are: 

The Baron: The coolest cat in any film I've ever seen :D

Muta: The grumpy fat cat who turns out to be a hero and a loyal friend. great character.

Haru: The shy school girl who always sleeps in. but by the end of the film is up before her mum and loving life.

So yeah its a great film, and if it sounds good to you, hey why not give it a watch? if you liked this VEEEERRRRYY long review then make sure and check back soon for the next one. if you really liked it why not follow me :D aha, but hey. no matter what you think why not leave a comment at the bottom? anyone can comment and you dont need an account for it. but you maybe do, lol i dunno :D.     see you later!       Emmet