The Cat Returns (Neko No Ongaeshi) (Studio Ghibli Collection) (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer Multiple Angles-Alternative Angle Storyboards Featurette-Making Of Trailer-Studio Ghibli Trailers (3) Reversible Cover
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	74:54
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Hiroyuki Morita
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Chizuru Ikewaki Yoshihiko Hakamada Aki Maeda Hitomi Sato Tetsu Watanabe Yōsuke Saitō Tetsuro Tamba Peter Boyle Tim Curry Cary Elwes Elliott Gould
Case	Amaray-Opaque-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Yuji Nomi Naoya Tanaka

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Haru is your typical teenage girl with a life consumed by mountainous problems. You know, huge problems like eating and getting up in the morning. How I wish my life was that complicated! One afternoon while walking home from school, she rescues a cat who has a close encounter with a passing truck. To her surprise, the cat stands, brushes itself off, thanks her for the helping hand and scurries away. Not surprisingly, she is left a little baffled as to what happened and relates the story to her Mum, who reminds her that this isn't the first time she has heard a cat speak. Even more troubled and now fearing she has lost the plot, she puts the day's events to rest and tries to sleep, only to be woken by hoards of felines congregating outside her house. It seems the cat she rescued is in fact the Prince of the Cat Kingdom, and his father the King wishes to thank her personally. Led by an impressive entourage, the king bestows on her a showering of gifts which is nice at first - if you consider boxed mice and cat-tail weeds pleasant - but the Cat King has ulterior motives.

    Much to her bewilderment, a wedding has been arranged for herself and the Cat Prince that she has unwittingly consented to. Escaping from the wedding without seeming ungrateful proves to be a challenge, so she receives a referral to The Cat Bureau, which is operated by the mysterious Baron Humbert von Gikkingen. The Baron tries to help, but she is quickly whisked away to the Cat Kingdom and the matrimonial wheels are set in motion. She'll have to use her own self will and the help of her new friends to escape the bizarre land of Cats and return home.

    Although the film's original language is Japanese, the English soundtrack is surprisingly good and includes many recognisable voices, none of whom are credited on this DVD. Carey Elwes (Saw) is instantly recognisable as the Baron, while the hilarious Peter Boyle (Everybody Loves Raymond, Young Frankenstein) voices the fat, grumpy cat Muta. Elliot Gould is similarly obvious in his voicing of the stone crow Toto, and Tim Curry is outstanding as the Cat King. All of the extra material focuses on the Japanese side of the production, so the contribution from these actors isn't touched upon at all.

    You may be wondering about the meaning of the film's title. Is it a sequel? Why is the cat returning, and which cat is the title referring to? The Baron character first appeared in the Ghibli production Whisper of the Heart, a story that featured several cat characters. Studio Ghibli commissioned the writer to compose another story focussed more closely on the cats, and what eventually became the cat project was shelved while a suitable director was sought. Hiroyuki Morita represents the new blood of Studio Ghibli, this being his first feature as director after many years as an animator on films such as Akira and My Neighbours the Yamadas. With Ghibli's founders aging fast and the future of the studio resting in the hands of animators like Morita, it certainly looks like this famed studio is destined to live on long after its founders are gone, which must make a lot of fans happy.

    The Cat Returns is a strange but magical tale similar to the children's classic Alice in Wonderland. At first the world we know and the Kingdom of cats may appear greatly different, but in time they reveal the same class separation and greed with which all societies struggle. Director Hiroyuki Morita has succeeded in making a film that is both entertaining for the whole family and at the same time harbours intriguing metaphors for the thinking viewer.

Video

    This video transfer is good for such a recent production, but unfortunately this appears to be an NTSC conversion. Fast action and pans across the screen appear a little jerky, and the level of detail isn't quite up to the level of a PAL source. Also, if you step frame by frame there is interleaving present between frames. This is a little disappointing, as I for one would much rather a native NTSC transfer that my progressive system can process itself.

    The transfer is presented in the film's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, complete with 16x9 enhancement. The image frame is windowboxed on all sides, presumably to compensate for the overscan applied by most CRT displays. Via my projector the image is surrounded by a thick black border and remains centred.

    The level of sharpness is great considering the transfer source, with plenty of detail evident in the animation. There was no low level noise evident in the transfer.

    The colour palette in this film is generally pastel-like, but maintains a great deal of vibrancy. I didn't notice any inconsistencies or faults in colour rendering at all.

    MPEG and film artefacts are completely absent from the transfer. I was very impressed to find the constant MPEG bitrate set over 11Mb/s. As I mentioned above, the only artefacts that appear to have been introduced in this DVD transfer are those associated with an NTSC conversion.

    There are two English subtitle streams available; one normal and another geared towards the hard of hearing. Both are in a yellow font with a black outline, and are very easy to read. The hard of hearing subtitles were activated by default on my player, along with the English soundtrack. The English subtitle stream and the English soundtrack differ quite a bit in their translation of the original Japanese.

    This disc is dual layered (DVD9 format), however I didn't notice any layer transition during the feature on my system.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two soundtracks accompanying this film on DVD, both English and Japanese language soundtracks presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s). The default soundtrack is English. Both are excellent, but aside from the vocal talent are slightly different.

    The dialogue in both soundtracks is consistent and easy to hear. The audio sync is as good as you could hope for in an animated film. In fact, I was surprised by how well the English dialogue matched the characters' lip movements.

    The surround channels are used constantly and very effectively in these soundtracks for all kinds of effects, ranging from your normal weather atmospherics to footsteps and movement of off-screen characters. Some elements of the score also find their way into the rear channels, making this a wholly immersive and natural experience.

    The English soundtrack has been mastered at a considerably lower volume in comparison to the Japanese option. Once you compensate for the difference in level, it is obvious that the soundtracks contain the same surround activity. The English option includes narration in the opening scene to translate the Japanese text that acts as a kind of prologue. It is difficult to say which soundtrack I prefer, because they both have their merits. Personally, I prefer the English voice talent in this Ghibli film - I know that will be denounced as sacrilege by some.

    The film's score, composed by Yuji Nomi, is performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and for its time was the most ambitious Ghibli score to date. Nomi also worked on the score for the Ghibli film Whisper of the Heart. In fact, he duplicated one of its themes in this film to achieve a common thread between the two. The film's theme song in the closing credits is written and performed by popular Japanese singer and Ukulele player Ayano Tsuji.

    The subwoofer is used sparingly to give bottom end to the score, and provide a little rumble effect now and then. The subwoofer is most notably used during a sequence involving a large tower crashing to the ground towards the end of the film. There isn't a lot of call for it, but it is used effectively.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Theatrical Trailers (4:41)

    Seven trailers for The Cat Returns are played back-to-back, some of which are brief. All are presented in 1.85:1 without 16x9 enhancement.

Multiple Angles-Alternative Angle Storyboards

    A great feature this, the entire film is able to be viewed in storyboard form via the angle button on your remote control. A lot of the sketches are simple, but they give an insight into the early stages of production.

Featurette-Making Of (34:09)

    This is an excellent look at the film's production. The coverage is in-depth and includes contributions from many of the film's cast and crew. We see the voice actors recording their lines and the score being recorded by the Tokyo Philharmonic. I was intrigued to find that the Muta character is based on a stray cat that frequents the Ghibli offices! English subtitles are available, and the featurette is presented in 1.33:1 full frame.

Trailer-Studio Ghibli Collection (3:12)

    A promo piece from Madman, covering the three most recent titles in the Studio Ghibli Collection; The Cat Returns, Porco Rosso and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Reversible Cover Slick

    As with past Studio Ghibli titles, the cover can be reversed to display an alternate cover picture with a Japanese title.

• Two Disc set
• An additional Making Of documentary (not subtitled)
• Animated short Ghiblies Episode 2 (with alternate angle storyboards and English subtitles)
• Japanese dts audio
• Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 audio
• Subtitles in Japanese, Mandarin and Cantonese

    The Region 1 two-disc set includes a French dub but misses out on the Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes. English, French and Japanese soundtracks are all presented in Dolby Surround 2.0. One interesting feature they do have however, is a featurette titled Behind the Microphone (8:58), introducing the English cast and showing them in the studio.

    I would like to recommend the Japanese package, however the making of documentaries aren't subtitled. A cheap Hong Kong version of the Japanese release is available, but I'm not certain of its contents.

    The video transfer is sourced from an NTSC master.

    The audio transfer is excellent.

    The extras are worthwhile and pertinent to the feature.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall