It turns out that this is no ordinary cat, but rather the Prince of the Cat Kingdom! The Cat King (voiced by Tim Curry) insists that Haru be rewarded by marrying the Prince (voiced by Andrew Bevis), which is exactly what she doesn’t want. Haru (voiced by Anne Hathaway) is a scatterbrained high school girl whose life is turned upside-down when she rescues a cat from an oncoming truck. Still, I made a pact and I wanted to have an open mind, so without further ado… meow. Then with the US versions we’ve got Elliot Gould who provides the voice of a bird. The lack of facial features or the fact that all of the voices (in the Japan versions, obviously) sound alike. I don’t know if it’s the somewhat crude animation. I’m sure that my comments might raise a question “Ok, so why don’t you like them or what is it about them that you don’t like?” Good question. So that’s why when I requested two of the Studio Ghibli titles (this and the grand-daddy of them all, Spirited Away) I made a pact to myself that I’d watch them and try to appreciate them. I will also say that my experience with the genre is certainly limited and I do realize and recognize the mass appeal. That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate it as a style of film, but it’s just never really been my cup of tea.
I’ve never really cared for Japanimation.