Who directed The Cat Returns?
The Cat Returns was directed by Hiroyuki Morita, who had worked as an animator on My Neighbors the Yamadas in 1999. It was his first and only feature film as a Studio Ghibli director.
Questions about The Cat Returns
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Is The Cat Returns a spin-off of Whisper of the Heart?
The Cat Returns is an official spin-off of Whisper of the Heart, the 1995 Studio Ghibli film. It borrows the character Baron Humbert von Gikkingen from that earlier film and also reintroduces the cat Muta, who appeared in Whisper of the Heart under the name Moon as an antagonist.
When was The Cat Returns released in Japan?
The Cat Returns was theatrically released in Japan on the 20th of July, 2002. It became that year's highest-grossing domestic film at the Japanese box office.
Who voiced the characters in The Cat Returns English dub?
The English dub of The Cat Returns, produced by Walt Disney Pictures, features Anne Hathaway as Haru, Cary Elwes as Baron, Tim Curry as the Cat King, Peter Boyle as Muta, Elliott Gould as Toto, Judy Greer as Yuki, and Kristen Bell as Hiromi.
What is the plot of The Cat Returns?
The Cat Returns follows Haru Yoshioka, a shy high school girl who saves Prince Lune of the Cat Kingdom from an oncoming truck. The Cat Kingdom offers her marriage to the prince as thanks, and she is eventually taken there against her will. Inside the kingdom, she begins transforming into a cat and must assert herself to escape.
How did The Cat Returns originate as a film?
In 1999, a Japanese theme park commissioned Studio Ghibli to make a 20-minute short about cats, but later cancelled the project. Hayao Miyazaki repurposed the material as a training exercise for future Ghibli directors, and Hiroyuki Morita produced 525 pages of storyboards over nine months. Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki then decided to expand the project into a full feature-length film.