Give it up for a titular animated character who screams, “MEDIOCRE!” WOO! That’s quite a bold choice, movie. “What we’re gonna do is make a film about a giant cat who walks and talks like a human.’
“Cool. Does he have super powers?”
“Ummm, no. Not really”
“But he does really cool things, right?”
“Ummm, no. Not really”
“But he wants to help, right?”
“Ummm, no. Not really.”
“But he’s there to restore the balance of good and evil, right?”
“Ummm, no. Not really”
“Well, what does he do?”
“He mostly hangs out with other fantastical creatures … to drink beer and party.”
“That’s …. Wonderful.”
“Ummm, no. Not really”
11-year-old girl Karin (voice of Noa Gotō) is dropped off at gramps by her deatbeat dad. He’s in hock to loan sharks and doesn’t want her to be part of what comes next. So he just kind of leaves her at grandpa’s. And then a giant cat-human hybrid shows up driving a vespa.
OK, so far this seems very Miyazaki: Titular nutty creature, some non-violent parental abuse and abandonment. And then we meet Ghost Cat Anzu. He’s a little aloof, a little indifferent, and laughs awkwardly like he missed a cue. This part plays like somebody in junior high tried to recreate a Miyazaki character from memory. Or maybe as if the fantastical creatures of the cinematic world were mundane and off-putting – imagine the Caterpillar from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland abandoning his hookah in favor of a case of Coors and 
a pack of Marlboros … or Gollum retained his multiple personality disorder, but was now an entire newscast:
“That was Sméagol with the Weatherses, and now to Gollum with Sportses”
“Thank you, Precious. The Las Vegases Raiderses … winses, they did.”
Luckily, the story was about Karin and not really about Ghost Cat Anzu (Mirai Moriyama). Eventually, Karin travels to the Land of the Undead to retrieve her mother. I must say, the Land of the Undead is surprisingly accessible and has a number of cheap apartments. The afterworld is so affordable, you’ll be dying to get in. Maybe Heaven is just one big hotel.
Ghost Cat Anzu was far from Miyazaki, far from genius, and I have no idea why the producers would make such a blasé fantastical creature, BUT the story was enough to get me through to the end. Blasé thumbs down.
There was once a cat named Anzu
Who forgot to die when he was through
So he haunts his old house
With a Vespa and a grouse
Seems he’s too lethargic to offer a “boo”
Not Rated, 97 Minutes
Director: Yôko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita
Writer: Shinji Imaoka, Takashi Imashiro
Genre: Miyazaki wannabe
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: If you love any anime, I suppose
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Your fantastical creature is kind of a jerk”
