MovieChat Forums > Felidae (1994) Discussion > What's so great about it?

What's so great about it?

posted 17 years ago by Zred
20 replies | jump to latest

I just watched this movie with high expectations from reading some of the comments. I was referred from the message board of "The Secret of NIMH", this allegedly being one of the great adult animated movies of the 80's.

What I found in this movie was:
-A pretty boring plot. I couldn't really care less who did or did not kill 400 cats in that slum neighborhood. As a cat, if I lived in that neighborhood, I would take my own life fairly quickly anyway.

-Unpleasant scenes.. you know, things you just don't expect to see in a cartoon. A cat banging its head hard on a celing.. a super creepy cat chase where the 'main kitty' is being chased by the brotherhood of electricity execution or whatever their name is. Scientists dripping some sort of acid on cats' shaved heads.

-Just generally a dark and creepy atmosphere. No joy or funny moments. Though it is funny how strange the movie is.

I don't mind watching a gory, dark, creepy movie as long as it delivers some real horror and/or a cool plot. This doesn't seem to deliver either, though it does manage to deliver gore by the truckload.

[–] mfettema777 17 years ago

So you don't appreciate the movie for what it is. That's okay. It's a breath of fresh air for most because it doesn't adhere to the misconception that an animated film involved talking animals has to be all fun and games. It's a murder/mystery with a somewhat deep psychological and philosophical message (but not as well presented as in the novel). The subtext of the whole movie is basically a commentary on human behaviour in general and the questionable motives for religious faith, amongst other things.

[–] dead_doll00 17 years ago

Amen mfettema777! Just because a cartoon has levels of violence or blood that usually adheres to live action movies doesn't make it a bad cartoon. Rather, as the previous poster mentioned, it's a breath of fresh air, a grimmer cartoon with a strong message, rather than crap with wide-eyed cutesy cartoons that convey no meaning.

[–] wolfofmoonandsun 16 years ago

It's not supposed to be funny or pleasant or joyful, although there are moments that have a subtle humor to them (most of them involving Bluebeard in some way.) It's supposed to be a murder mystery with some social commentary on human nature to be found, all of it involving cats.

Every time you read this signature, an orphaned puppy gets fed into a meat grinder.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] KAarman 14 years ago

I think you guys are missing the original post's point. He is well aware that an animated film doesn't have to be for children only. He just does not feel that this was a successful attempt at something like that.

I agree with him in the sense that the visual style and content do not match up and come off as pretty jarring and the level of violence does go completely into the exploitative. Reminded me of the more violent anime films like "Genocyber" and its intestine fetish. And of course the organs are the best animated of all the objects in the movie. Gross for the sake of being gross and not really in service to the plot

While I did enjoy the movie, in comparison to a movie like "THe Plague Dogs" which often comes up as similar, this film cannot match the emotional brutality of that film because it ends up being much too concerned with pushing the 'boundaries' of talking animal films. "Dogs" allows us to connect with its characters much more (smaller cast) and its overall style matches the story being told.

[–] simpsongirl 14 years ago

Yeah...I hate to say it, but Plague Dogs moved me a lot more than Felidae. While the animation is top notch, the voice acters very good and the theme an "admirable attempt", I had figured the end well in advance and found it cliche; and it overall left me feeling dirty instead of provoking thought.

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[–] Tastentier 9 years ago

... it overall left me feeling dirty instead of provoking thought.

That's what the film noir genre is all about. Film noir, literally "dark film", depicts a depressing world full of cruelty, corruption and depravity. There is no message or moral to these films, other perhaps than one of cynicism. You're supposed to marvel and gasp at the evilness and utter selfishness of mankind. The entertainment value comes down to voyeurism.

Felidae was written in this genre tradition. It's supposed to thrill and shock you, not make you think or teach you life lessons about the value of friendship. I don't know why people have come to expect as much from movies in general and animated films in particular. It's all just entertainment in the end. Why turn everything into an ethics lesson?

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[–] scyza 9 years ago

Oh damn, I never even knew that The Plague Dogs was made into a film.. I totally need to watch it!

[–] KAarman 13 years ago

Felidae is pretty damn grotesque, and the amount of organ spilled in the nightmare scene with the 'puppet cats' is rivals the hospital scene in Genocyber 1 in sheer guts-ness, even though this film does it in a less pornographic way, it can even come off as worse to me

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[–] PeachHamBeach 9 years ago

This movie seems extremely polarising, with an incomprehensible amount of people actually proclaiming it to be "genius" "edgy" "hardcore" and other really ridiculous adjectives. I think of it as a crappy hate child of THE SECRET OF NIMH and WATERSHIP DOWN or just a straight up ripoff of the 2 as far as trying to copy the animation/storytelling styles/adult scary stuff? To me, the more "adult" it tried to be, the more stupid and childish it was. I just laughed my a$$ off at the sex scene. HEAVY METAL: KITTIES RATHER THAN TITTIES!!! RATED R NOW PLAYING! It had a complete lack of credibility where the Claudandus guy was concerned. Scar tissue is supposed to be tougher than regular skin, and yet Francis rips open Claud's stomach like he's @#$%@ Freddy Krueger??? I think the fanboys who love this tootsie roll need to clean out the litter box and just admit that they are gorehounds who added this to their collection with SAW and THE HUMAN CENTIPEDES!