It went on to receive the Excellence Prize at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival as well as favourable reviews. The Cat Returns originally opened in Japan in 2002 becoming the seventh highest-grossing film of that year earning, ВҐ6.46 billion nationwide.

The voice cast, made up of Anne Hathaway, Tim Curry, and Cary Elwes (returning as The Baron), is charming and adds pizazz to an otherwise confusing plot. The supporting feline characters are reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz mixed with The Princess Bride but in cat form. While the protagonist Haru is certainly a relatable and likeable character, she is not strong enough to carry the film to the truly captivating level that it deserves. However, the muddled development of The Cat Returns is evident in its muddy execution. The content, brought together by Morita in a storyboard, was approved by Miyazaki and Takahata and therefore commissioned to be extended to a feature-length film as part of Studio Ghibli вЂ“ and subsequently became its 75-minute story. Originally a manga written by artist Aoi Hiiragi, titled Baron: The Cat Returns, it was intended to be adapted into a 20-minute short for a theme park in Japan, which, inevitably, was never used. The Cat Returns is undeniably a film that one would not initially associate with the Studio Ghibli universe. Haru is brought to the Cat Kingdom, where she starts to develop feline features, brought to life by cat statues Toto and The Baron вЂ“ which many viewers will recognise from the beloved Whisper of the Heart вЂ“ and must soon discover her fate.

Unknown to her, the cat she rescues is Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom, run by the obnoxious Cat King вЂ“ who demands Haru to marry his son as a thank-you for saving his life. The Cat Returns follows teenager Haru, who one day rescues a cat from being struck by a car in the road. However, animator Hiroyuki Morita takes the directorвЂ™s chair for 2002вЂ™s The Cat Returns, marking what would be his first and last film for the Japanese studio. Its celebration of nature and motif of making the impossible possible makes its animations some of the most beautiful and imaginative in cinema, with its most celebrated and recognised being the works of Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away) and Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday). Studio Ghibli has become a force to reckoned with over the decades, accumulating millions of fans around the world. With Studio Ghibli films now available on Netflix UK, we look at what makes them so magical.

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