Anthropomorphic mice are terrorized in their city by a crime cat syndicate led by mafioso Teufel and his boss Gatto. After the cats rob a mouse bank using a tank, the mice send their special agent Nick Grabowski to go to Professor Fushimishi in an oriental country and get a secret microfilm from him that will save the mice. Teufel, who has wiretapped the secret mouse headquarters, dispatches four rat gangsters to stop Grabowski. Upon finding Fushimishi, and the microfilm hidden in his beard, Grabowski takes his female assistant Seno San with him, but both are caught by the cats and sent to Gatto during a special cat party. However, Grabowski and San are saved by mouse police officer Dick who befriended bats who flew and helped them. The microfilm has a plan that gives the mice a secret weapon: a giant robot dog that catches all the cats and transforms them into peaceful animals.
One of the most popular animated films by the Pannonia Film Studio, "Cat City" (also translated as "Cat-Catcher") enjoys cult status in Hungary, but outside its borders, its appeal and enthusiasm doesn't quite hold up. It is a blend of James Bond-style spy films, gangster films and comedy, which is uneven, but has its bizarre moments of charm. The protagonist is supposed to be secret mouse agent Nick Grabowski, but he is featured surprisingly little, only for about a third of the film, while the cat villain Teufel is given too much screen time, almost overshadowing him. A third subplot, revolving around a mumbling mouse police officer Dick who got lost in the jungle and met some Mexican bats, is superfluous and could have been cut altogether. Nonetheless, "Cat City" has a good amount of jokes and luckily doesn't go into too abstract-surreal territory. The "Star Wars"-style opening credits are already amusing, depicting the setting as "80 AMM (Anno Mickey Mouse)", whereas someone can enter the mouse intelligence headquarters only via a "tail scan" machine, and in there a committee member complains about Grabowski: "After the King Kong situation, he told everybody that he is the 13th reincarnation of Mickey Mouse". There are themes of a stronger nation trying to dominate a weaker one, but the director Bela Ternovszky is mostly only interested in crafting a simple action comedy. It is a chaotic patchwork, but some ideas have that coveted creativity and inspiration (after jumping from the plane, Grabowski is falling from the sky holding San in his arm, but then comments that it is raining, so he ejects a parachute from his backpack, which works conveniently both as an umbrella and a softener for their landing).
Grade:++
