Cat Soup

Wow. A truly fantastic 'trip' movie that has tons of super-surreal imagery, dark intent and a black, pretty strange sense of how cartoon animals must see the world. It's populated with a very cute off-world bunch of characters that bend and flow with warped backgrounds.As with all cool fantasy, the wandering plot is secondary to the eye-popping visuals and we follow a little cat and his zombie sister as they encounter death, deluge, water elephants, samurai swordsmen and pigs that fish. I'd never heard of it, but now I love it - probably because it reminded me of the surreal pencil-work of American cartoonist; Bill Plympton. It's a demented delight for fans of odd, pretty things and it had me glued to the screen for fear I'd miss something amazing. Simply put, it's 'Hello Kitty' without the 'o'.

One thing film can do is trigger the imagination in ways impossible elsewhere.

What we apparently have here is a film based on a comic. There's what I call an "excuse story" about a half-lost soul. Such stories allow the filmmaker to simply noodle about as he or she wishes. It worked for me in "Mirrormask." But not here. I think its because I'm especially sensitive to coherence of image. If the images let me enter a world, I do deeply. But if they come from different minds and sketch different worlds, it just seems as if I am seeing unrelated billboards.

That's what happens here. Oh, there are many things to appreciate; the unexpected turns of reality which at first seem novel but soon become repetitive, mere chapter headings. Some of these are clever.

The one thing that absolutely hypnotized me wasn't in the film proper but was a small inset on the left as the credits rolled by on the right. An animated scene of perhaps two or three seconds is repeated over and over again, sometimes starting a bit earlier or later. Sometimes its backwards. Its of the two kitty children posing with their mother on the beach. The father is the photographer and we sometimes see his arm as he pushes one of the children into the shot where it stays for only a moment before grabbing the mother.

The music tinkles underneath as if automated. We watch this thing cycle and cycle, modulating in the cycles. Its so much more engaging; you develop a backstory that relates to the movie and is so much richer in depth and engagement than anything in the film.

A rather amazing experience, and it was worth watching the movie as setup for that.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I recently discovered this short, and knew it was a must see. Cat Soup is something that can't be described in words. It focuses on 2 cat siblings who end up in a bizarre journey in the surreal earth they live on. This includes freezing time, dried up oceans, and many other unexplainable events that occur.

There's no dialog used in this film. Only Japanese text which is translated. The whole story wasn't meant to make any sense. It was made intended to make the viewer image the whole universe to this story.

For a short this bizarre, it made me wish it was longer. Cause an idea like this can be unlimited to create. Cat Soup would most likely fit in the category of random animation.

Cat Soup is more than a short random anime film. It's a work of art and imagination.

"Nekojiru-so" ("Cat Soup") is based in the manga of the same name by Nekojiru. I can't compare both for I have not read the manga, and only found out it was based on a manga after popping the disc in the DVD and watching the short.

This is described as "Hello Kitty on Acid", but I would describe it more as "Psychotic Lynchian Hello Kitty". Yes, that's more fitting. Plotwise, the short doesn't explain much, and it doesn't need to! With no dialogue what-so-ever, random cat noises here and there, and some pop-up speech balloons like in a comic book, the short needs nothing but its imagery to be understood. And this is supported by the fact that, "Nekojiru-so" is supposed to be understood differently by everyone. There's so much interpretation to be had, so many symbolisms and abstract imagery. And this is where it succeeds the most, it's such a personal experience!

The animation is amazingly fitting, sometimes very weird and abstract. The art and backgrounds are also equally superb. Sound is top notch, the soundtrack is so fitting it enhances the feeling of doom, despair and just down right weirdness. And happiness too! Even though it's a very weird happiness...

Opposite to what you may have thought from the cute-sy art, this is absolutely NOT a film for kids. Don't even think about popping this on for a kid. There are some very disturbing images / actions in these amazingly brilliant 30 minutes of art.

Only downside? Too short... but it's like Tatsuo Sato says in the interview, if it were any longer, people might go crazy! But hey... I just wanted this crazy experience to last a wee-bit longer. That's it. The only downside.

This is an absolutely incredible, stunning and dark short surreal animation that hooked me up from the beginning to the very end without letting go. It spoke so much to me, I had to watch it a second time almost immediately.

So, if you're into surreal / abstract animation / film / art, you should be watching this right now, getting freaked out and developing your own interpretation.

An amazing experience!

9 out of 10.

Best animated movie ever made. This film explores not only the vast world of modern animation with absolutely boggling effects, but the branches of the human mind, soul, and philosophy. The story features a family of cats, where in the big sister dies, the younger brother sees this and rescues her body, but when she awakens she is left without a soul. So, the two sibling cats embark on a journey to find it. I have related this journey to many things. The history of the world, the bible, the cycle of life, and every time I watch it I discover more and more hidden themes and metaphors. If you aren't so into the physiological aspect of it then, you will still adore it. The animation is superb, and the creative scenes will have you attached to the screen. For example, the ocean freezing in time, god eating soup out of the earth, a strange and slightly SNM retelling of Hansel and Gretel. To conclude, Cat Soup is an absolute treat for anyone.

PS- Not for kids, gratuitous violence included.