| Cat City | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Béla Ternovszky |
| Produced by | Kunz Román |
| Written by | József Nepp |
| Starring | László Sinkó Miklós Benedek Péter Haumann |
| Music by | Tamás Deák Jimmy Giuffre |
| Cinematography | Mária Neményi Csaba Nagy György Varga |
| Editing by | Magda Hap |
| Release date(s) | 1986 |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Language | Hungarian |
Cat City (Hungarian: Macskafogó (Cat Catcher)) is a 1986 Hungarian animated film, directed by Béla Ternovszky and written by József Nepp. The title Cat City was used in the United States distribution. The original Hungarian version contains a number of puns which can be hardly rendered in any other edition.
Contents |
Plot [edit]
The movie opens with a Star Wars style text scroll, which tells the main situation: In year 80 AM Anno Mickey Mouse, the mice of Planet X are threatened by humiliation and total apocalypse. The well-organized, fully equipped gangs of evil cats are aiming to wipe out the mouse civilization totally, not caring for the old conventions between mice and cats. But in the last moment, when the mouse leaders are beginning to consider leaving the planet, a new hope rises...
The film is a parody of several famous feature films, mainly the James Bond series. The main plot is about a special spy who is sent to the city of "Pokyo" to get the secret plan of a machine which could save the mouse civilization. Of course, the cats don't want this to happen, and send some rat gangsters to stop him, who don't always prove as efficient as their presentation showed.
In the USA [edit]
In United States and Canada the movie was distributed on VHS by Sefel Pictures in 1987 under the name Cat City. The names of almost all characters were changed to avoid any associations with countries of Socialist bloc. The songs were recorded also in different arrangement, and the song of "Four Gangsters" (which was written to Jimmy Giuffre's Four Brothers melody) was replaced completely.
In the USSR [edit]
In Soviet Union this cartoon enjoyed a big success in the box office in 1988 and got a truly cult status among kids after being shown multiple times on TV, dubbed in Russian by Soyuzmultfilm studio. Russian title is "Lovushka dlia koshek" (literally: Cat Trap). In spite of Russian version being completely dubbed, the songs were left in their original Hungarian version with brief voiceover translation of the first few lines.
Sequel: Cat City 2: The Cat of Satan [edit]
| Cat City 2: The Cat of Satan (Macskafogó 2 - A sátán macskája) |
|
|---|---|
| Directed by | Béla Ternovszky |
| Produced by | Eszter Salamon Szilárd Varga |
| Written by | József Nepp |
| Music by | Miklós Malek |
| Editing by | Róbert Pataki |
| Release date(s) | 20 December 2007 |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Country | Hungary |
| Language | Hungarian |
| Budget | $3m (USD) |
As of 30 January 2008 the sequel (premiered on 20 December 2007) is in Hungarian Box Office Top Ten for 6 consecutive weeks, at 6th place at date.
The former working title made it as the final subtitle: "Cat of Satan", which should mean "The Tabby of the Baskervilles" if translated into English with its context. The project is led by the original Nepp and Ternovszky duo, who managed the first movie. Cat City 2 is aimed for Hungarian domestic movie release in late 2007, but foreign release may be restricted to DVD due to lack of distribution partners.
The movie is done on a limited budget of 3 million USD, characters are drawn and animated by hand, but objects and backgrounds will be derived from 3D hard models and computer simulation. The visual world of the movie is said to be influenced by the first Matrix trilogy movie and Sin City, but softened for younger audience.
The story of CC2 centers around an investigative journalist named Stanley Mouse, who wants to find out about the legend of an ancient "cat tribe" lost in Africa. He finds them and much more, once again threatening the continued existence of mouse civilization. Special Agent Grabowsky will act to save the day, however. The events are supposed to take place at least 10, possibly 20 years after the first episode, as one of the already leaked cells shows the titular Cat-Catcher mecha rusting away in a shelter.
Geekblog, a Hungarian blog dedicated to entertainment media news, posted a 2:14-minute video from the sequel on 9 October 2007, with original Hungarian voices (no subtitles for this video).[1][2] Index.hu, a major Hungarian web portal has published an interview with the creators (in Hungarian) and provided some photos.[3][4]
References [edit]
External links [edit]
- Cat City movies (official website, currently in Hungarian only)
- trailer to the sequel
- Macskafogó at the Internet Movie Database
- Cat City at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Macskafogó 2 - A sátán macskája at the Internet Movie Database
- Macskafogó 2: A Sátán Macskája at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Film shots: 1, 2, 3
- Article about the sequel (English)
See also [edit]
- List of animated feature films
- Vuk, another famous Hungarian animated film
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