Studio Ghibli Works The Cat Returns

One of the not so well known Studio Ghibli films.

It is also one of my favorites.

Storyline

The story follows a girl called Haru, a quiet and unassuming schoolgirl who has a long-suppressed ability to talk to cats. One day she saves a cat from being hit by a truck on a busy road. The cat turns out to be Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom. In return, the cats shower her with gifts and inform her she is to be wedded to the Prince of the Cat Kingdom.

Immersed in desperation over this unwanted development, Haru hears a kind female voice which tells her to seek out the Cat Bureau. Haru meets Muta, who leads her there to meet the Baron and Toto. Soon after meeting them, Haru and Muta are taken to the Cat Kingdom by force, leaving Toto and the Baron in the human world; but the two follow them and finally find the entrance to the Cat Kingdom on Earth - five lakes forming a cat's paw.

Haru is invited to a feast at the castle of the Cat Kingdom and she begins to slowly turn into a cat. At the feast, the Baron (in disguise) dances with Haru as part of the entertainment, before being discovered. They are helped by Yuki, a snow-white female cat who works as a servant in the palace and who had tried to warn Haru to leave the Cat Kingdom. Haru, the Baron and Muta's escape leads them through a maze to a tower, which contains a portal back into Haru's world.

Lune and his guards return to the Cat Kingdom to discover the King was not acting on his behalf and he has no desire to marry Haru, having instead planned on proposing to Yuki; also, Muta is revealed to be a notorious criminal in the Kingdom (having devoured a whole lake of fish in one session), and Yuki as being the strange voice who'd advised Haru to go to the Cat Bureau. In her childhood Haru had saved Yuki from starvation by giving her the fish cookies she was eating, and Yuki has now repaid her in kind.

Eventually Haru, Muta and the Baron escape, with the aid of Prince Lune and Toto, and Haru discovers her true self and her affection for the Baron. Wiki

My thoughts

I think this movie is so cute. I could also fall for Baron like Haru did. It is such a wonderful movie. It is a shame that it isn't as widely known as other Studio Ghibli movies are.

 

maybe one day it will get its day
i like it too ^^ i wonder if she goes to see baron now and again hmmmm
it was totally different to what i thought it was going to be about when i brought it
i thought it was going to be about a girl who dreamt of being a cat because she thought they have it too easy and turing into one and finding it totally different to what she thought :sweat2: (hmmmm maybe i can make that:blush2 i guess i should read the back but i'm happy nevertheless

hey so you mentioned before it was a sequeul to whisper of the heart?
so is that just the main character from there daughter?

 

It's called a sequel. But its a spinoff. The Cats Return is the one the girl, forgot her name, is writing in Whisperer of the Heart

 

oh i thought it was daughter because the mother was a writer....
well she's a good story writer then
whats your favourite bit? and character?
i think mine would be her journey to the place she sees baron or maybe it was when she first arrives at that cat place
i think that yellow cat was my fav....what was his name?

 

Buton? or something like that...

I liked when she danced with the barron. SO cute. She fell for him. Which is strange.

 

yeah since he is a statue....and a cat
i get how its her written story as you know that whole pathway to the shop where she follows moon is turned into a more harder way to get there when the girl from cat returns follows muta
kinda looks the same where they are led too
and some other points which i wel forgot

 

It happens.

The story itself is very cute. Young girls will love anything. Rather depressing and nasty if you think about it.

 

what do you mean love anything?
where you comin from?

 

Not love. Develop stange crushes. Like the cat in this one. TMNT...other cartoons.

 

I think its probably because most societies (Japanese and Western alike) believe that women fall for whats inside a person more then whats outside of them. This may be a completely unfounded stereotype but I do believe that's the general perception of alot of people. This belief being held, its easier for us to understand a girl falling for a magic cat or a Ninja Turtle then a guy falling for one.

Just a thought.

 

LOL

true. My bro did like April though.