The trailer above is in Japanese, however the film will screen with English subtitles during the Festival.
It’s pleasing to see the Japanese Film Festival hasn’t forgotten the young ones, with this delightful CGI animated cartoon about a kitten who gets lost far from home. The difficulty however is it’s the one film in the Festival that won’t suit its western target audience. Adults and teens should enjoy this comedy but early ages will need to speak the language to follow along. For those kids, prepare for some squeals of delight.
Rudolf is a house cat under the care of his loving owner, Rie, but he gets frustrated when Rie leaves the house every day without him. When the gate is left open one day, Rudolf strays and a series of misadventures puts him on a truck to Tokyo, almost 400km from home.
Stranded and suddenly aware that he knows nothing of the world, he’s taken under the care of tough street-wise stray cat Gottalot and the hyperactive tabby, Bucchi. Together, this unlikely trio learn about love, friendship and the importance of a good education.
Writer Yōichi Katō is a bit heavy handed in his messages sometimes, particular about the importance of reading and writing, but the mini-lectures are put into context of teaching Rudolf to survive and they pass soon enough. While Rudolf is learning those lessons, Bucchi learns about appropriate behaviour in public. They’re all good lessons for kids to learn and the story teaches and demonstrates through Rudolf’s adventures.
There’s a lot of comedy and cuteness in Rudolf the Black Cat, and it’s run time of 90 minutes isn’t too taxing on children. The visuals are very well realised, with lots of colour and enough detail to get lost in Rudolf’s world. The preview copy of this film was in 2D, however the Festival screening will be in 3D.
Overall, an enjoyable animated feature for those who speak Japanese or an older audience than targeted.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
Rating out of 10: 7
Rudolf the Black Cat will screen on 23 October only, as part of the 20th Japanese Film Festival, which runs 21-30 October 2016 exclusively at the Mercury Cinema. All films screen with English subtitles.
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