20131123: Animation Review--The Rabbis Cat

The Rabbi's Cat

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. French animated feature length film, 2011, NR, 100 minutes.  Spoken word is in French; English subtitles.
2. IMDB: 6.7/10.0 from 1,101 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 12.5 million euros.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 94% on the meter; 71% liked it from 1,038 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.3/5.0 from 5,439 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Antoine Devesvaux.
6. Starring: voice actors: Maurice Benichou as the rabbi, Francois Merel as the cat of the rabbi, Hafsia Hertzi as Zlabya (daughter of the rabbi), Karina Testa as Zlabya's friend, Mathieu Amalric as the Prince.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Set in Algiers initially, then many places in Africa around 1920.


2. A cat adopts a rabbi and his daughter.  The cat, after eating a talking parrot, gains the ability to speak and read.  He helps the rabbi with his professional development test.  In doing so he invokes God's name; the rabbi passes, but the cat temporarily loses his ability to speak French.


3. A large box of books from Russia; the box also contains a body.  Only the cat recognizes that the body is still alive.  When the cat awakens the Russian, he finds the prince can understand him (in Russian) even though the others cannot understand him in French.


4. They look for a person in Algiers who speaks both Russian and French.  The rabbi finds him and recruits him to translate for the prince.


5. There are a number of philosophical discussions and talks about the politics of the area in 1920.  As a side effect of all this, a quest is started to find black Jews in Africa.  Getting there was hilarious.  It is also revealed that the prince wants to paint all sorts of subjects throughout Africa.


6. The rabbi, the prince, the cat, the rabbi's Arab Muslim friend and his talking donkey set out to find this city.  There are lots of changes along the way.  The cat regains his ability to speak French.  The prince finds his wife.  Eventually the prince and his new bride find the city.  The humour is outstanding.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Lovely, funny, clever, and beautiful.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 10/10 The style is pen and ink, with minimal shading.  This is rather well executed in great detail.


2. Sound: 10/10 Always good.


3. Screenplay: 10/10 Brilliant writing for an ensemble of clever characters.  The story is humorous and moves right along, from beginning to middle to happy ending.  The comedy of manners aspect is deftly handled.