Review of The Rabbi's Cat (2011) by Stump J — 09 Oct 2011

After seeing this film at the Taormina Film Festival, I was blown away by how intelligent the plot was. It told the story of a cat who gains the ability of speech upon eating a parrot, and in turn must learn the burden that comes with knowledge and thought. It was extremely entertaining as well as very poignant at times. Just as entertaining as the plot, was the animation. The movements of the main character, simply known as "Cat", were delightfully anthropomorphized. Every facial expression and gesture was so incredibly fluid and expressive, and this was just in the Cat's movement, that it was apparent that the animators really put a lot of thought into making this character as relatable as possible. The witty dialogue between the Rabbi and the Rabbi's Cat presented controversial topics such as belief in god and sacrilegious love to the audience without being preachy or abrasive, and it even promoted an internal dialogue about beliefs in this audience member. Since I have been back to the states, I have recommended this film to practically anyone willing to hear about it.

The was based off of a comic book written by the director Joann Sfar and carries a great many themes about love and religion, so this should appeal to a great many people who are looking for a interesting view of religion from a cat's perspective, enjoy beautiful animation or are even looking for a surprisingly educational movie that should appeal to audience members of all ages.