THE CAT RETURNS
aka NEKO NO ONGAESHI
Year: 2002
UK: Optimum Releasing
Cast (English version): Anne Hathaway, Cary Elwes, Judy Greer, Andrew Bevis, Tim Curry, Eliot Gould, Kristine Sutherland, Kristen Bell, Rene Auberjonois, Jason Harris, Greg Berg, Peter Boyle, Erin Chambers, Robert Clotworthy, Katia Coe, Kat Cressida, Terri Douglas, Courtnee Draper, Brian Herskowitz, Mona Marshall, Randy Montgomery, Bradley Pierce, Andy Richter, Diz White
Cast (Japanese version): Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Aki Maeda, Takayuki Yamada, Hitomi Sato, Kenta Satoi, Mari Hamada, Tetsu Watanabe, YOsuke SaitO, Kumiko Okae, Tetsuro Tamba, Yo Oizumi, Youko Honna, Ken Yasuda
Director: Hiroyuki Morita
Country: Japan
Language: English (Dubbed) / Japanese (English subtitles)
UK: 75 mins
UK Certificate: U contains mild peril
UK Release Date: 27 My 2005
UK Distributor
Synopsis
17 year-old Haru (voiced by Anne Hathaway) is not finding life as a teenager in modern Japan to her liking. She finds the rush of the busy school days overwhelming and tiring, a flurry of boring classes and tiring sports.
One day Haru spots a cat carrying a small box trying to cross a busy street against a red light. She impulsively dashes out into the street and saves the cat just as it is about to be crushed by a truck. That night an unusual thing happens. The Cat King (voiced by Tim Curry) accompanied by his royal retinue pays Haru a visit. The cat she has saved turns out to be the King's son, Prince Lune (voiced by Andrew Bevis). Haru is presented with a list of gifts the cats are preparing to thank her, including an invitation to visit the Kingdom of Cats.
The cats' gratitude turns out to be too much for Haru and she seeks help from Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (voiced by Cary Elwes), of the Cat Business Office. The Baron introduces his associates - Lune, an enormous rough-and-tumble white cat, and Toto, a giant black crow - and together they do what they can to help. But it is not enough to keep Haru from making an unexpected visit to the Kingdom of Cats. When Haru discovers that the king's plan is to marry her to Prince Lune, she vows to escape, but yet something holds her back. Being fussed over by an entire kingdom, Haru begins to think that being a cat might not be so bad, and the more she thinks so, the more she begins to lose herself and to look like a cat.
Can Haru return to her own world? Can she manage to be herself?
This is a story of an ordinary 17 year-old girl who learns to be herself through a strange experience in the Kingdom of Cats.