Like I said in my review of Whispers of The Heart, there was a character known as The Baron (voiced by Carey Elwes) would feature a more prominent role in this film. Much like Whispers of the Heart, this was a very pleasant surprise.Though, this had a bit more fantasy to it, it was still a very likable film that made me feel really cheerful after I felt it. The characters are all very likable. The main character, voiced by Anne Hathaway, was very innocent and in a lot of ways, was one of the most relatable characters I have seen in a Studio Ghibli film, for me. Shy, needs lessons in confidence that she gradually learns over the course of the film to stand up for herself after being thrown into precarious situations. She's curious, polite and very wide eyed.The rest of the cast does very well, Carey Elwes was great as the Barron, charming yet he clearly always knew what he was talking about. The other cast did well too, Peter Boyle was great and Tim Curry, over the top as always and I loved it. The writing for this film was very clever and it things that don't seem to have that much relevance all seem to add up in the end. And add up quite well in the end I might add.Overall, The Cat Returns is a great film. It's funny, touching and has great characters, what more could you ask for.

A spin-off of Whisper of the Heart & the only second Studio Ghibli feature film of its time to be not directed by either Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata, The Cat Returns is 75 minutes of fun-filled, light-hearted adventure-fantasy from the legendary studio that's delightfully engaging, highly entertaining & largely satisfying for the most part.The Cat Returns tells the story of a young girl named Haru who one day saves a mysterious cat from getting run over by traffic only to later find herself being the recipient of many gifts from the King of Cats who also wants her to marry his son. To get herself out of this mess, she enlists the help of Baron but before he can help, she is forcibly taken to the Cat Realm.Directed by Hiroyuki Morita, The Cat Returns brings back two characters from Whisper of the Heart, first being Baron; the cat figurine & the other being Muta; the large white cat. Unlike the previous feature, however, The Cat Returns presents a highly imaginative world that's finely animated, briskly paced, nicely scored & benefits greatly from its short runtime.On an overall scale, The Cat Returns is an impressive spin-off that presents an interesting take on the two cats that didn't have much to do in the last picture but it's the character of Haru who keeps this narrative glued together. Brilliantly directed, solidly written & radiating charm n wonder, The Cat Returns is another quality addition to Studio Ghibli's filmography & is definitely worth a shot.

I wish, I really wish I liked it better. I mean, I know from the synopsis that it's not that much original or innovative storyline but yet I still have hope for it. It is still good because of the duration, it's not dragging... but I think it could be better. The elements are just way too "familiar" and therefore I felt like nothing new is presented by the movie, I must say it feels a little bit of "Alice In The Wonderland" and then some other fairy tales at the other scenes, like... 'hey, it reminds me of...' moments keep happening to me. I thought at least there'd be anything new. But there's none...The characters also, are not so memorable... , I mean I can get a grasp of their personalities but there is nothing like, impressive... it's like each character personality are adopted from some other characters produced before in another movie.I'm sorry, but I really think it could be better. Or, I'm just not the target audience for this movie. Maybe...

This is a quite good film. It is not nearly as good, however, as other Ghibli efforts. Just compare it to Spirited Away, released one year earlier, and it easily blows it away (though Spirited Away blows pretty much _anything_ away). Overall, one of those "filler" films by the Studio. However, even though it is worse than about 15 other films by the Studio, it is still quite excellent. It is a testament to the quality of Ghibli films that even their weakest efforts compare favorably with most Hollywood products.However, it was still a highly entertaining film and it had many funny moments. Overall, a very good film. I would not recommend this film, however, to adolescent males, they might think it is "too feminine" or too cheesy. It is indeed exceptionally cheesy. But sometimes huge volumes of cheese is good for you, if you are "capable" of handling it.