Okay before I start on my first entry, this what this segment is going to be called: Animation Vault. This is where I take a look at an animated film, TV show or short that is either obscure, underrated or once popular but now forgotten. I will give my take on the animated film/show as well as point out what made it famous (or infamous).
I decided to start things of with a REALLY obscure animated film. Well, obscure if you don't live in the country of Hungary where the following film is considered one of the country's animated classics. This is Macskafogó or Cat City in English.
I recently stumbled across this cartoon on the web and needless to say it is highly unlike any animated film you would get in the States in the 80s. Non-villians killed off in comedic ways, some uses of "colorful" vocabulary and some female characters drawn in fan-servic-y ways. Then I relized that Cat City sort of harkens back to the Loony Toons and Merrie Melodies cartoon shorts of the 40s and 50s. Back then, animation was seen as for adults as anything thing else. Those cartoons had comedic death and sexual innuendo that snuck around the Hayes code. I could go into why people have the mindset that animation is for kids, but that's a whole another essay.
Well the plot of Cat City takes place on a planet with cats and mice taking the place human beings. The cats are going to war with the mice despite there being centuries of peace between the two species and so far the cats are winning. The mice, having exausted all other options, decide to send there best secret agent to stop the cats who started this war. So this animated film is pretty much an affectionnate parody on James Bond films and quite possibly the 1970s chop-socky flick.
Now here's my take on the whole film. Its pretty good, though here is my complaints of it. The main character comes of as a bit flat, the animation is pretty dated, the fight scenes can be pretty choppy and awkward and the something about the ending really feels rushed to wrap everything up. What's good about this animated film is that it has moments where its edgy without being offensive and it also has some pretty good writing in it. In fact, in the movie's original Hungarian, it manages to insert ALOT of stealth puns and not of the incredebly lame variety.
But what I really like about this movie are these four:
These are The 4 Gangsters: a group of rats hired by the cats to hunt down and capture Grabowsky (the secret agent). According to there resume video, they are a group of professional mice hunters and have different ways of getting their jobs done as well as singing catchy showtunes. In reality though, they appear to be just starting there criminal path just so they don't have to go back to their dancing careers. Anytime they are on screen, they are always bickering, fighting or making stupid mistakes. The only competent member is the female brunnette Pissy (that's not a typo, that is her real name). While the other rats are bickering amongst themselves, she's usually taking care of the job at hand and doesn't even tell the others till they ask about it.
But what really won me over is the above clip of the 4 Gangsters' audition tape. Its so over-the-top, so manic, so colorful, so catchy, so violent that its funny. I'm still watching it and not getting tired of it.
So that's Macskafogó. While its not perfect, its easy to see why this film is such a cult classic. Heck, recently a sequel came out for it quite recently and was a hit at the box office. Just goes to show you the power of the animated cult classic.
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