Animé and Toons The Cat Returns (2002) By Hervé St-Louis October 30, 2011 - 10:50 Studios: Studio Ghibli Writer(s): Aoi Hiiragi, Reiko Yoshida Starring: Anne Hathaway, Cary Elwes Directed by: Hiroyuki Morita Produced by: Hironori Aihara Running Time: 75 minutes Release Date: 19 July 2002 (Japan) Distributors: Buena Vista Home Entertainment After Haru, a 17-year-old student saves the life of a cat, the cat’s father, the king of the kingdom of cats wants to force marry her to Prince Lune, the stray cat that was saved earlier. But for Haru to marry the Prince she has to turn her back o n the world of humans. Enter the Baron, a magical cat that turns into a statue. He will save Haru from her forced wedding, even if it’s the last thing he does. This story continues the character of Baron Humbert von Jikkingen, first introduced in Whispers of the Heart over seven years before where he was but a small character that just mesmerized audiences. Featuring the same hyper realism as the previous Whisper of the Heart, the film has none of the consistent music track that cemented the earlier film or a female protagonist as worthy and strong as its predecessor. Here, Haru  is an interesting character, but the magical things that happen to her seem a stretch, as if because she is almost a woman, the world of fantasy and imagination is just beyond her. She is also more of a funny character to whom things happens and is never really in control of her destiny even at the end of the film where she claims to have figured out her life. The Baron, however, steps up to the task in this film and is as great as viewers wanted him to be in Whisper of the Heart where he barely played a role. He is the perfect gentleman and I enjoyed seeing him mingle with the cat people in this film. The story was fun but not as fulfilling as Whisper of the Heart because it relied too much on fantasy to establish an identity for itself apart from the other movie. Thus, less emphasis was put on making Haru a stronger character that could carry the film by herself. We never really care about her as it seems she’s just a damsel in distress useful to bring out the Baron. The animation is probably a little bit better than Whisper of the Heart because of the availability of more digital animation techniques which aid in the production. Most of the classical animation is the usual Ghibli standard though and better than most of what is made in the West. © Copyright 2002-2026 by Toon Doctor Inc. - All rights Reserved. All other texts, images, characters and trademarks are copyright their respective owners. Use of material in this document (including reproduction, modification, distribution, electronic transmission or republication) without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.