The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974)

I should perhaps point out at the beginning that, as usual, this review is nothing but my very personal take on things. Normally I would restrain myself to say that this was not my cup of tea. However, that would be an effort and after seeing this drug induced nonsense I decided that this movie was not worth any further effort on my part. Thus I say: What a load of crap! A lot of people say that this movie is not at all as good as the original first movie. Well, I would certainly hope not since this movie is BAD and clearly geared towards hippies that survived into the 70's dreaming of a comeback and wannabe drug addicts. It is an orgy in juvenile nonsense and bad taste. The best thing that can be said about this movie is that it is fairly short, only some 70+ minutes, thank god.I cannot say that I am sorry for watching it since it was a bit of life experience (I have not seen the original and I only knew that Fritz the Cat was a bit of a cult thing when I sat down to watch this one) and, as we all know, a lot of life experiences are not that pleasant. However I am still in a bit of shock knowing that some people actually liked this depraved trash.Even though the general concensus seems to be that the original movie was better I do not think I will make much of an effort trying to watch it. Maybe I should mention that this one was given to me as a gift.

There's an encyclopedia of sequels that people consider the worst-Neverending Story III, Godzilla's Revenge/All Monsters Attack, Son of the Mask-and each of them hold valid reasons as to why they're hated. So why do I consider THIS the worst? Because it's lazy. The original Fritz the Cat was a decent adaptation of the infamous art of Robert Crumb; this, however, is like fan fiction-made worse by the fact that neither Crumb or Bakshi, the director of the first, were involved. There is pretty much no sign of effort, decency, or humor. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a film that contains GAY Hitler RAPE. I am dead serious-watch it and see for yourself. The only thing that this film offers that even comes close to good is the music of Tom Scott and the L.A. Express, and to be fair, there's not much of it.

This film is twisted and dirty. I just wanted to get that off my chest. Now to my review. I was fascinated by the idea of an R rated cartoon, and Fritz the cat seemed the obvious choice. The film begins with Fritz' wife harassing him about the state of his life. To escape the ranting, he lights up a joint and reminiscences how he came to lose many of his lives. The film ultimately shows that Fritz has no chance to improve his life, as every opportunity he gets he sees as another chance to have sex, smoke, cheat the system, and make an idiot of himself. some trippy scenes follow in this dark movie. I would not recommend this to the faint hearted, the violent scenes of murder and assassination are examples, but if you're looking for something different, give it a look.

WTF? This is one messed up movie. I guess I should have expected that with anything remotely related to Robert Crumb, but this movie redefines the boundaries of tastelessness for me. I was sometimes incredulous, often distgusted, and never amused. The only value to this movie is as a historical record (made in 1974) of a sick and twisted mind. I like subversive material as much as the next guy, but come on!