The Cat Returns

Not too long ago (or maybe it was Christmas time), I got the Studio Ghibli box set. I will admit that it is anime, but is the completely, not strange or creepy anime. It's one of the well made, life lesson kind of movies. Even if you don't like anime, I HIGHLY recommend watching them. Besides the point, the Cat Returns was one of the movies within that box set and allow me to say that movie has literally changed my life. Epiphany, smoke-clearing, Magical Mystery Tour, holy crap where have you been all my life, kind of life changing. Before I lose you, let me tell you what it's about (brace yourselves); the main character is the typical "outcast," doesn't fit in kind of teenager. One day she finds a cat in the middle of the road who is about to get hit by a car, and she ends up running out into the road to save the cat. It turns out that cat is the Cat Prince of the Cat Kingdom in part of the Cat World. They walk on their hind legs and even talk. Since she saved the Cat Prince, all the subjects who live in the Cat World give her cat related presents such as dead mice to eat, cattails, and catnip. She finds a cat and tells them she doesn't really like the presents, and the cat decides that she should go to the Cat World to talk to think Prince and King about it, but accidentally slips in that she is to marry the Cat Prince. Since she's a human an doesn't want to be married to a cat, she decides to go to the Cat World to try to change their minds. When she gets there though, she discovers that the Cat King is a dictator and the cats that live there are basically prisoners. She befriends some "rebel" cats against the cause to help her escape. Along the way she starts turning into a cat and begins to lose faith and thinks that maybe marring a cat wouldn't be so bad. Her friends help get that thought out of her head as they try to escape. The Cat King doesn't want them to leave, and unleashes ninja cats and cat assassins to get her, while he is surrounded by his cat CIA crew. They almost escape when the Cat Prince shows up and says he has no idea about the wedding and they find out that the King just wanted to marry her. They end up banding together and defeating the King, escaping back into the real world, and the main character is human again. In the end though, she ends up falling in love with one of the cats she befriended and doesn't go on a date with her old human crush. Pretty much the best thing of my life. Kudos to you, Hayao Miyazak, you have changed my life.