Review of The Cat Returns / 猫の恩返し, directed by Hiroyuki Morita

For so many years, I’ve been telling myself that I am going to watch all of the Studio Ghibli movies. Have I ever gotten around to watching them? I’m a master procrastinator when it comes to the movies and books I really want to watch, and it has become more of a problem as I entered my adult life and have to do things for money.

That said, my sister and I used to have nights during COVID, as there was nothing else to do, where we decided to watch movies every night—or the closest to every night that we could get. We would alternate the films we would watch, and it was her decision one day to watch The Cat Returns.

As life gets more complicated and we approach our thirties, I was thinking about this. Studio Ghibli movies also help us think about our youth and childhoods, so I decided to come back to this movie as I was thinking about it, too.

I feel like I could ramble a lot in this blog post, but I want to keep the introduction more to the point. We have a lot of ground to cover throughout this post! If you’re interested in movies, books, or theatre, definitely read more on my blog after reading through this one.

Let's get into this review now.

A high school girl finds herself sucked into the world of cats, and is now betrothed to a prince.

The main character in this movie is Haru, who is a high school girl with the ability to talk with cats. She’s shy in her daily life, but she has a set of morals, as one day she spots a cat about to get hit by a truck, and then she saves him. Turns out this cat was Lune, who was a prince of the Cat Kingdom.

He is smitten with his savior, and then the cats offer her a bunch of gifts for saving their prince. She is then given a marriage proposal, and she is shocked. Unable to respond properly, the cats interpret her response as something that actually means yes.

Haru doesn’t actually want to marry the cat though, and she hears a voice that says she needs to seek out the cat Muta. She get the directions to the Cat Bureau from Muta, and they head there together.

It’s at the Bureau they meet Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, a cat figurine that was blessed with life. There’s also Toto, a stone raven that can come to life.

However, not too long after their visit, Haru and Muta are kidnapped and taken to the cat Kingdom. Toto and Baron follow after them from the air, and find the portal that leads to the Cat Kingdom. At the same time, Haru is pampered by the cats at the castle, and slowly begins turning into a a cat herself.

The Cat King seems to be quite confident in her as a choice for his son, and starts a dance at a feast. The Baron, having snuck into the castle, dances with Haru and tells her that she needs to believe in herself, as she will slowly begin to turn more into a cat as she loses faith.

The Baron is then found out and the guards come after him. A cat maiden named Yuki tries to helop them, and Haru, Baron, and Muta escape into the human world. The Cat King then tries to figure out a way to trap Haru long enough that she turns into a cat.

The Prince, however, has a different idea. He brings his guards back into the kingdom and delcares his intent to propose to Yuki. We also discover the voice that Haru heard earlier was Yuki, as she saved Yuki when she was younger from starving on the streets. Muta, who was apparently a big criminal here, helps Haru escape again.

With the help of the Prince, Haru and crew escape from the kingdom. She accepts who she is, but also tells the Baron she really likes him. He says in response that the Cat Bureau will be open for her, and when she returns to the real world, she is more confident and doesn’t even care about her old crush.

Overall Thoughts

This is such a cute movie. My sister loved it because of the fact it is centered around cats, although the King of the Cat Kingdom is a bit of an evil cat who wants to trap an innocent human.

The plot in itself isn’t revolutionary, and doesn’t seem as good as some of the other Ghibli movies, but I think this is a good movie in itself. It doesn’t need to elevate its messaging, and the ultimate theme that it ends with is something that is very important for growing adults to learn.

It’s fun, the characters are lovable, and the animation is pretty nostalgic. I say watch this one if you haven’t and are interested—don’t let any negative reviews tinge your opinion before you’ve even consumed the movie/book/etc.

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