Felidae (1994)

(Weary Sigh....Spoilers) I'm unable to comprehend the fact that the majority of viewers of this film give nothing less than perhaps a 6-8 out of 10. I finally watched it. I am a cat lover. I'll get that fact out of the way right now. I am also pushing middle age (46 this October), so by no means am I a kid, alright? I thought this was a crock of excrement. And it really didn't have to be. It could have been SO many things. THE PLAGUE DOGS? THAT is a compassionate statement against the evils of humans using, enslaving, exploiting, torturing and murdering animals. They wanted to make a movie about cats and have it be realistic with some disturbing content? It could have been a historical account of the evolution of cats, from their glory in ancient Egypt to their persecution during the ages of superstition to present day.I'm not opposed to "adult animated" flicks. I rode my first dragon at the age of 12 when I watched WATERSHIP DOWN and THE SECRET OF NIMH for the first times. And both of those movies fascinate me to this day. I just re-watched the bunnies the other day and they still hold up. John Hurt rocks! I am not a prude. I write erotica, and as a matter of fact, I found the kitty style scene LOL funny, especially when they both...um...finish...and yell out, "Aw yeah!" Besides, what do you SEE? No boobies or man-bits, right? The sex was so much less offensive to me than the other content. I found it hilarious that some reviewers have praised the gore and violent images but said the mating scene went "a bit too far." Not even some of the gruesome imagery or nightmarish visions that Francis had were so horrid that they bothered me. At least not the nightmares. We'll go further on that in a moment. OK so what's my problem? My problems are multiple with this film: First and most obvious, is that unless Francis suddenly changed his name to Freddy Kreuger, there's no way he could EVISCERATE Pascal/Claud, with ONE swipe of his claws. It is ABSOLUTELY LUDICROUS that a cat's guts will spill out everywhere, and that you can see his rib cage, AND THAT HE IS STILL TALKING! I love and respect cats, and I find them clever, personable, even trainable in some cases, but a cat "learning" to type on a computer by watching a human? A cat keeping a DATABASE of all the cats in the neighbourhood? JUST HOW MUCH DOES THIS "FILM NOIR" THINK IT CAN INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE? I wish I was allowed to cuss on IMDb because I have a few choice words. It is an understatement to say that this movie is an inconsistent spazz. It can't decide what to do with itself. It wants to be a murder mystery, a horror, a eugenics sci- fi...WHAT?! A super-intelligent cat who made a premeditated decision to kill a human, then constructs a plan to "breed out" all inferior cats, and take cats back to their "roots"? Give me a break!As if we didn't have enough crazy to contend with, a completely different character is a cat "preacher" who leads some cult of cats who worship some deceased legend. These felines gather in honour of their diety and yell out, "Hallelujah!" and some of them commit suicide by throwing themselves into some electrical shock device...And I thought the Jonestown and Heaven's Gate people were nuts. Yet a couple more characters are supposed cats depicted in idiotic fashion. One of them, Kong (how original) looks more like a mutant bulldog, his lower jaw hanging way past his upper. And pray tell, are the "neutered" cats INTENTIONALLY drawn to look like inbred, cross- eyed psychos? What is this film trying to say to everyone? That spaying/neutering is "immoral"? Believe you me, I've had psychos TELL me that! I poop you not!I had no problem with the plot. New cat moves into neighborhood, meets a gruff neighbor cat named Bluebeard. Francis appoints himself the neighborhood "Sherlock" and interviews different cats, has some horrific visions, learns about Darwinism, meets a seductive but odd looking cat who tells him that her kind are a breed both "old and new". Intriguing stuff, honestly, but the execution of this story is FAIL. It's like 2 films I like (WATERSHIP DOWN and NIMH) got together and this mutant child came out. This movie was trying so hard to be "dark, twisted, gory, adult," etc. It was so transparent how "cool and edgy" the film was trying to be, using a few cuss words and clumsy dark humour. I'm not an idiot. I know when there is a sincere use of gore to tell a story and when gore is being used purely for shock value. And why a gruesome decapitation of the sweetest, most likable character in the movie??? Cats might be clever and independent and retain some feral qualities even in their lives with humans, but cats don't type, don't read, don't spell, and don't concoct elaborate plans to conquer or destroy humans, they don't go around "murdering" because someone "knows too much".

What a peculiar film. Its a cartoon mostly with cats, but I'd never show it to a child. It samples many X-rated themes: cults, sex, homosexuality, violence, castration. But its played perfectly straight. Its a mystery, with elements of horror and science fiction. Its a unique movie. My closest comparisons would be Watership Down and The Plague Dogs.Its alright. For a lesser-known German animation, the animation is surprisingly well-done and fitting. I think the English dub is pretty good, too. Sadly, noir movies that focus on mystery alone don't work well for me. There's no character arc, and the revelation is bizarre enough to scratch my head, sane enough for me to shrug it off. Its an interesting sit, though. And not in a so-bad-its-good fashion. I'd lightly recommend it if it interests you, although I don't think its as good as others say.

I learned about this film on YouTube while watching "The Plague Dogs" (apparently I'm not alone) and decided to give it a watch. I read some information about it beforehand, so I was more or less prepared for the adult content when I saw it, and I was pleasantly surprised by the level of violence and darkness in an animated film. I always enjoy films that challenge the concept that animation = for kids. Animation is an art style, not a genre, and can be just as much for adults as for children.In short, Felidae is not a children's film. It contains sex, gore, violence, and so on. I find it surprising, though, how so many people comment on the mating scene--which lasts only a matter of seconds and is done quite subtly--but I have seen hardly any mention of the sexual artwork displayed on the wall in several scenes--artwork that clearly shows the genitals of nude humans having sex. I would have expected the latter to get more attention for "inappropriateness." There are a lot of other sexual references throughout the film, but as I said before, this is an adult film and so the sexual content is both acceptable and reasonable within the story.On a different note, speaking as the owner of four cats and someone who has had occasion to observe cat sex in real life, I can say the scene (and the film in general) is a rather accurate portrayal of cat behavior (the human-like qualities aside, of course.) Although I did think the gore in some parts was a bit excessive, but I like how the makers of the film went for a more realistic look instead of "dumbing it down." When an animal is ripped open, there's going to be a decent amount of blood and possibly guts showing, and drawing minimal gore would give the image less of an impact. I don't think any part was really too extreme or upsetting for the what the film was trying to do. There were only two scenes that were particularly disturbing to me personally: the experimentation scene because I know it's a real thing and the second nightmare with the puppet corpses because of the surreal appearance.The voice acting matched the characters and tone of the story quite well (I watched the German version with subtitles which, since I'm trying to learn German, had the added bonus of being good practice material). I did look at some clips of the English version, and although Francis' voice is a little too squeaky for my taste, the English voices were also pretty good.I have not read the book, so I can't speak about the effectiveness of the adaptation, but by itself, I enjoyed the appearance and plot of the film, and I don't see how it was easily predictable like some reviewers have said. I am someone who usually solves mystery stories before the characters do, and I didn't figure this one out until after Joker was killed. There were plenty of twists that kept the mystery fresh and interesting. The only thing I wish the film did better was the portrayal of animal lab experimentation. While the one scene that shows it does so in a wonderfully horrifying way, I feel giving the animal cruelty aspect a larger role in the film would have made the message stronger.Unfortunately, since animation films are generally expected to be child-friendly material, films like Felidae that do not fit into that box are often pushed aside and forgotten. It's a shame because, when approached as an adult film, Felidae is really an excellent and intriguing mystery thriller.

I came across "Felidae" when my friend and I were surfing the internet for dark and creepy animated films. Beings Americans, we were not familiar with this animated film from Germany. I wanted to take a look at it, but my friend didn't want to, saying it "looked boring and stupid." I made a deal with her: watch it when we got home, and tell each other what we thought the next day. So I got home and looked up Felidae on YouTube, luckily finding an English dub. I must say, I was shocked. When they said dark, they meant DARK. I couldn't believe it- blood, guts, profanity, and even a cat mating scene! I had just watched a murder mystery with cats! Aside from all the gross stuff, I have to say that I am impressed. The story is well written, the characters are 3- dimensional, and the animation is quite good. When I found my friend the next day, I asked her, "Did you like it?" She replied, "I couldn't get past the blind cat getting decapitated." As you can see, this film is NOT for the faint of heart and NOT for children, but it is a treat for adults, especially if you are a murder mystery fan. Go check it out, it's worth the watch!