MovieChat Forums > Neko no ongaeshi (2005) Discussion > Similarities to 'Labyrinth'

Similarities to 'Labyrinth'

posted 20 years ago by alh85
12 replies | jump to latest

Don't get me wrong. I greatly enjoyed this movie, both the original and dub, but, watching it, I saw references to the 1986 cult movie "Labyrinth", the maze being the most blatant.

Other references I could see:

*The night visit of the Cat King to Haru's world, offering gifts - The Goblin King visiting Sarah at night, offering gifts.

*Both kings had two mismatched color eyes.

*Both kings watch heroine with the aid of a crystal ball.

*Ballroom dance (though then again, they greatly differ)

*Heroine has to finish maze in a certain amount of time. (Sarah would lose her baby brother to the goblins; Haru would be stuck as a cat)

*Heroine confronts King and rebukes his offer of "love" in the end.

This doesn't have an actual point to speak of. Just the musings of a bored girl.

If I told you, you would not know; you simply would have been told.

[–] meowingkindly 20 years ago

Yes, I noticed these two. My friend bought me this movie for my birthday and we watched it at her house and I kept thinking, "I wonder if these people have ever seen the Labyrinth?" But they weren't like direct plot stealings, just a few similarities. I like both these movies, so nothing wrong there!

A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense, not to himself.

[–] dballred 20 years ago

The movie is a pretty close rendition of the original comic written by Aoi Hiiragi. It's kind of difficult to explain just how convoluted this is, but the original author copied materials from the movie Whisper of the Heart. Even though she wrote the comic that Whisper was based upon, some of the details in Neko, such as Muta being a large fat white cat, only appeared in the Whisper movie.

Neko is nowhere near as good as Whisper is in my estimation, so she may very well have thrown the piece together from various things she saw. As for Whisper of the Heart, I think the comic is a little better than the film.

[–] ljusalv 19 years ago

Honestly, I could think of nothing else.... Very, very much like labyrinth!!

[–] trinity-destler 18 years ago

Both kings had two mismatched color eyes.

Jareth has two blue eyes. David Bowie was in a fight with a friend over a girl when he was young and his eye was damaged; his left pupil is permanently dilated, but the iris is still blue. It just looks dark.

The similarities are sort of superficial... Haru did something good and was kidnapped. Sarah did something bad and needed to redeem herself. The relationship with the King isn't quite the same, either. ;)

[–] alh85 18 years ago

I know. As I have said before, it's not that big of a deal but merely the musings of a bored person.

If I told you, you would not know; you simply would have been told.

[–] dementiah 17 years ago

I wondered why I randomly kept thinking about labrynth when i was watching it... not so random!

Oooh another one to add to the list:
* People changing round parts of the maze

[–] adriennemdavid 17 years ago

Explains why I love both of these movies. haha

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] sarky 16 years ago

Just watched this movie for the first time and had to check IMDB that I wasn't alone in thinking there were a lot of similiarities to Labyrinth. Goodo, not just me then.

[–] thereseuphemiaabernathy 15 years ago

Ditto that!
Especially by the maze part, it was definitely putting Labyrinth in my head a lot. =)

[–] nobody_nameless 15 years ago

What about the false walls in the maze?

[–] TalesfromTheCryptfan 12 years ago

Maybe the director was "inspired"

You killed Captain Clown, YOU KILLED CAPTAIN CLOWN-The Joker on Batman TAS