Reviews

The Cat Returns is a mediocre and forgettable expansion of the fictional world created in Whisper of the Heart. The story told here feels similar to Alice in Wonderland without all the iconic distractions along the way, or Labyrinth but without David Bowie. The introduction of the movie was very cool how the cats lead the girl into the cat world and she meets the cat baron, but from there on it becomes boring. The style of this movie is different to the usual Ghibli style and the characters look strange. This is most similar to a Mamoru Hosoda movie, a director I hate, so I find it hard to appreciate anything from The Cat Returns.
Instead of a weak attempt at a spin-off, a creative new idea should have been animated. This is like a B-movie of Ghibli.