Top Cat

Top Cat is a seriously lame and lackadaisical attempt to revive an animated program from the 1960's that is probably a very miniscule pile of nostalgic dust in the minds of those who watched the show in its original run. The film was released in Mexico under Warner Bros., who handed the distribution rights over to Viva Pictures in the US and Vertigo Films in the UK, who wound up seeking out the talents of Rob Schneider and Danny Trejo for the releases outside of Mexico. Quite a lot of effort for an animated film that doesn't look good enough to sit next to the throwaway direct-to-DVD efforts and Asylum releases crowding a lonely Redbox machine at a grocery store near you.

Not since the legendary animated disaster Foodfight! has there been such a lazy, affront to the wondrous medium of animation. In such a colorful, limitless medium, Top Cat reduces itself to what looks like characters animated using hand-drawn animation placed over real-life backgrounds and ordered to function normally. However, the backgrounds are indeed animated; they just look blocky and bland enough to be considered real, especially seeing as the film looks like the colorful characters exist on a crystal clear camera lens while the backgrounds appear to be captured on a filthy, damaged lens.

To compliment the fourth-rate animation is a story barely fit for a short film. Sadly, it's stretched out to eighty-two minutes, making its narrative slimness make such a short runtime feel astronomically longer than it really is. The story follows Top Cat (Jason Harris Katz) and his gang of other cats that work to take money and power from those who don't deserve it and give it to those who hurt the other common animals of the neighborhood.

So this wacky gang of socialist felines get entangled in a messy circumstance involving a controlling villain who tries to take down Top Cat and his buddies. That's as deep as I'm willing to read into the story.

The issue here, however, isn't so much the narrative simplicity since it's outshined by the dreary animation. The issue is that the story moves at a glacial pace and the jokes in the film are anything but frequent. They feel as if they're rejected jokes from sitcoms gone past, involving puns, cheap references, and goofy toilet humor with no wit or soul.

Top Cat also appears to have a serious identity problem in the regard that it doesn't seem to know who it's catering to. Is this show geared to the adults who grew up watching the show? If so, this film had far too modest of a release - at least in the US and the UK - to even get their attention. If it's catered to the new generation, the film fails to give them something even in the same realm as a work by Pixar or Dreamworks, rendering this film even further down the later of bottom-barrel fare. It's a film that effectively pleases few and irritates many.

Voiced by: Jason Harris Katz, Rob Schneider, and Danny Trejo. Directed by: Alberto Mar.

This movie has really a really rough beginning that might make most people stop wanting to watch it, but if you sit through it to the end, you'll probably get some mileage out of it.

The first 20 minutes resemble an episode of a basic 70's TV show redone for the CGI era. Here we're introduced to all the characters. Don Gato (Top Cat) is an unethical scoundrel of an alley cat who's the leader and smartest member of a group of other extremely dim petty criminal cats.

There's Officer Matuto, the police officer who wants to keep order, a female cat who is the love interest, and the villain who's simply a caricature of an ugly and neurotic man who is also very vain.

Don Gato goes through a CGI New York City obstacle course, meets a really dumb dog who fights with him, flirts inappropriately with the female cat, and then tries to rob jewels from a rich guy while Matuto tries to catch him.

The film then jarringly transitions into a very elementary apocalyptic science fiction, reusing the characters from the first part. Matuto wants to become chief of police but his position is usurped by the the villain from the first part who is now a technocrat and the female cat from the first part is his secretary. Although Don Gato met all these characters by happenchance at the beginning of the film, they happen to become extremely important to his life. Coincidences, coincidences.

The second part is a really elementary apocalyptic satire about the villain trying to take over the city (or world?) with police robots made in china. I think the first part was made to appeal to original viewers and the second part was meant to bring in new viewers by appealing to more current trends.

This part has some really funny jokes and poignant social critiques, but it's all seeped in playground comedy and I can't say that everything is funny or clever.

Stock happy resolution with every favourable character getting rewarded and every bad character getting his comeuppance.

If you have to sit through it, you'll probably find it mildly entertaining and it's more adventurous than a typical US film (I think it's actually a Mexican film), but it's nothing special.

Honourable Mentions: Recess: School's Out (2001) Like Don Gato, which is about larcenous alley cats and becomes an apocalyptic AI movie, Recess: The Movie also starts out with an equally humble roster of elementary school students on the playground and it expands to become a government conspiracy action thriller.

Definitely the worse film of the year and struggling to think of one ever. I was a massive TC fan when I was little so was excited at being able to take my 2 boys to go and see the film. Really wish I hadn't bothered. In the interest of fairness I should point out I watched the 2D version so the 3D version may be slightly better if this was done well but based on the rest of the film I doubt it. No story and terrible animation, do yourself and your children a favour and spend your money on something else. If people go and watch this rubbish then the film companies will continue to churn out this dross knowing that parents will still take their kids.

Top Cat is by far my favorite Hanna-Barbera cartoon. The humor was clever, especially the verbal stuff between T.C. and...who ever he was tricking at the moment, the gang of cats was fun (my favorite was Cho- cho) and I love the mood it had. It's one of those kids show I actually found myself to appreciate more as adult just for how smart it was.

While the first few five-ten minutes made ma go "Meh" , as soon the gang was reintroduce the movie actually become quite good. It's a very basic story but it those an excellent job of recapturing the spirit and the humor of the original show. All characters where… well, in character, and some of the English voice actors where dead-on perfect (especially T.C., Dibble and Benny) There where some great absurd jokes, some good Simpson-style gags that take you off gourd and play with a viewer expectation, as well some small twists and in-jokes for the fans of the original TV show (I especially love the part In the middle where Cho-cho become new leader of the gang and they spoof the opening credits with the gang recapturing all of the Top Cats tricks and felling miserably)

Yhe, the animation in this movie is far from cinematic standards but it was it's still enjoyable to watch (to be honest I was having flash-backs from computer game "UFO'S" which had identical bland of 3D and flash animation) What surprise me is the fact I actually liked the villain. When I saw this guy in the trailer for the first time I was sure I will hate this character. He was just so generic… But no! Most the jokes about how vain and angry he was actually worked an I liked how over the top he got with his plot.

I only have few nitpicks with the movie :

– I wish there where more Top-Cat/Dibble interaction. For me the hate/love relationship between the two was the heath of the show and while here their both 100% in character there's not that much dialog between the two. I wish they would had a longer scene where T.C. somehow tricks or scams Dibble. I guess it doesn't matter if your fan of the show since your already know their history together but if your new to these characters you will won't fell any friendship or relation between this two. – The show had a wonderful New York atmosphere (mainly thanks to the jazzy sound track and great backgrounds) Here It could take place in any other city. I just wish they would kept the background closer to resembling those on the show. – Cho-Cho's voice didn't sound like the original character… I wouldn't even bother to bring this up if not for the fact that they did such a great job of recapturing all other characters voices so well. – Trixie was a very generic/cliché sympathetic girl and a love interest for Top-Cat which makes here very bland comparing to the rest of the cast. This is more of personal pet pea. I just hate when they introduce a main female character and have no idea for her personality other then the fact she's a female, especially since all the feline fame fatal's from the show usually hat a lot of character. Heck! Fancy's girlfriend who appears in two short scenes appear to be way more funny and interesting… – There was one or two grow-out jokes that didn't felt in the spirit of the cartoon;

But those are just nitpicks. Over all – if you a Top Cat fan and you would love see those characters again in action then this movie should be good nostalgia trip for you, and to be honest this movie was made ONLY for Top Cat fans and you can sense the passion script writers had for the original show. Heck! I found it better then "Top Cat and Beverly Hills Cats" which felt like 20 minute of plot stretch to hour and a half. Here ad lead they had ideas and jokes to feel this time. However if your not a Top Cat fan… It's just a OK cartoon but It will entertain you . Watching this I actually wish the same guys would do another Top-Cat remake show, as the movie did manage to add some fresh light without making it too modern.

8/10 should be a fair score

Took my 4 year old to watch this today, he loves going the pictures, as do i. This was awful, so boring my boy wouldn't sit still through it and couldn't wait for it to finish, all i can say is i was happy to leave. Wouldn't sit through it again, even if it was free. We didn't laugh once, barely even smiled. Most of the children in there didn't seam to happy with it either. It just felt like a extra long episode of top cat. All in all spent about £40.00 to watch something that neither of us enjoyed or will remember. Asked my little boy if he enjoyed it he said "it was OK, but i don't want to see it again" for him who watches the same cartoon over and over again says it all.