Oh my, what a watch! This is definitely not for everyone who is either very fond of cats or just expecting animation to be for kids. It is littered with disturbing images, explicit sexual content and complex and harsh themes from reality. The animation is terrific with great detail added to enhance the mood of whatever it is trying to get across. The effort put into it astounds me, and it could easily have been a Don Bluth project on par with The Secret of Nimh. But that's taking it a little too far, because to be honest it has some flaws which takes down a notch. The character movements were almost always constant, and it was distracting and exhausting to watch at times. It is not ruining the film at all, but made my thoughts wander once in a while. The film is driven by dialogue most of the time, and the voice actors were good, but sometimes the lines seemed like filler and were at times awkward. You may sometimes wonder why they said that particular line, that's how I felt. The discussions they have about the mystery going on is engaging, but can get a little tedious when not much is going on around. But the atmosphere added by the bleakly sounding musical score and the top-notch animation which added the most disturbing nightmare scenes and gory images I have seen yet in an animated movie make this a standout in the world of animation. But watch it at your own risk. You have been warned!

This may be the first animated German movie I've ever seen and it certainly shows with how weird it is. This is quite an impressive movie, if only because of the main character, Francis. I really do feel for this character and I appreciate how he's the most rational and decent character in the whole movie. I like how the cats in this movie are represented more realistically. I couldn't help but think this was kind of a ripoff of "The Secret Of Nimh". You know, a dark animated movie about genetic experiments on talking animals. Many of these scenes are quite intense.The animation in this film is very well done. Many people will be turned off by the violence. I couldn't find a rating for this movie, but am fairly certain it would at least be PG-13 if it received mainstream theaters. I've heard of a popular book series called "Warrior Cats" which is similar to this. I really do feel bad when things go wrong for Francis and I like how he interacts with the much more dysfunctional characters. While not as good as "The Secret Of Nimh" this is still a fairly unique movie that I recommend. Don't let the animation fool you. It's very adult, so please don't think children should see it. ***

What a peculiar film. Its a cartoon mostly with cats, but I'd never show it to a child. It samples many X-rated themes: cults, sex, homosexuality, violence, castration. But its played perfectly straight. Its a mystery, with elements of horror and science fiction. Its a unique movie. My closest comparisons would be Watership Down and The Plague Dogs.Its alright. For a lesser-known German animation, the animation is surprisingly well-done and fitting. I think the English dub is pretty good, too. Sadly, noir movies that focus on mystery alone don't work well for me. There's no character arc, and the revelation is bizarre enough to scratch my head, sane enough for me to shrug it off. Its an interesting sit, though. And not in a so-bad-its-good fashion. I'd lightly recommend it if it interests you, although I don't think its as good as others say.

I learned about this film on YouTube while watching "The Plague Dogs" (apparently I'm not alone) and decided to give it a watch. I read some information about it beforehand, so I was more or less prepared for the adult content when I saw it, and I was pleasantly surprised by the level of violence and darkness in an animated film. I always enjoy films that challenge the concept that animation = for kids. Animation is an art style, not a genre, and can be just as much for adults as for children.In short, Felidae is not a children's film. It contains sex, gore, violence, and so on. I find it surprising, though, how so many people comment on the mating scene--which lasts only a matter of seconds and is done quite subtly--but I have seen hardly any mention of the sexual artwork displayed on the wall in several scenes--artwork that clearly shows the genitals of nude humans having sex. I would have expected the latter to get more attention for "inappropriateness." There are a lot of other sexual references throughout the film, but as I said before, this is an adult film and so the sexual content is both acceptable and reasonable within the story.On a different note, speaking as the owner of four cats and someone who has had occasion to observe cat sex in real life, I can say the scene (and the film in general) is a rather accurate portrayal of cat behavior (the human-like qualities aside, of course.) Although I did think the gore in some parts was a bit excessive, but I like how the makers of the film went for a more realistic look instead of "dumbing it down." When an animal is ripped open, there's going to be a decent amount of blood and possibly guts showing, and drawing minimal gore would give the image less of an impact. I don't think any part was really too extreme or upsetting for the what the film was trying to do. There were only two scenes that were particularly disturbing to me personally: the experimentation scene because I know it's a real thing and the second nightmare with the puppet corpses because of the surreal appearance.The voice acting matched the characters and tone of the story quite well (I watched the German version with subtitles which, since I'm trying to learn German, had the added bonus of being good practice material). I did look at some clips of the English version, and although Francis' voice is a little too squeaky for my taste, the English voices were also pretty good.I have not read the book, so I can't speak about the effectiveness of the adaptation, but by itself, I enjoyed the appearance and plot of the film, and I don't see how it was easily predictable like some reviewers have said. I am someone who usually solves mystery stories before the characters do, and I didn't figure this one out until after Joker was killed. There were plenty of twists that kept the mystery fresh and interesting. The only thing I wish the film did better was the portrayal of animal lab experimentation. While the one scene that shows it does so in a wonderfully horrifying way, I feel giving the animal cruelty aspect a larger role in the film would have made the message stronger.Unfortunately, since animation films are generally expected to be child-friendly material, films like Felidae that do not fit into that box are often pushed aside and forgotten. It's a shame because, when approached as an adult film, Felidae is really an excellent and intriguing mystery thriller.