Top Cat The Movie Review

I hope I’m not going to negate any of my assiduously collated street credibility, but when I was little I used to really like Top Cat. Looking back, I believe I’m correct in saying that it was a reasonably witty and funny programme and it’s not simply nostalgia that’s influencing these fond memories. I remember my sister and I used to watch a Top Cat VHS that we won in a competition run by Little Chef pretty much on loop some days. So when I was invited to attend the preview screening of TC’s big screen debut, I was cautiously excited about it. Obviously, the film is aimed very much at youngsters, but surely there’d be plenty for older viewers to enjoy too.

Top Cat: The Movie is a Mexican production, the programme still being popular enough in that country to justify the creation of a feature film. It’s animated in what first appears to be a quite interesting style – characters are 2D whilst the environments they inhabit are rather crude CGI creations. Add in the poorly implemented forced 3D perspective and what initially seemed like visually interesting style quickly becomes distracting and annoying. The 3D is particularly bad; at times characters appear to be interacting with bits of scenery three feet behind them.

Unfortunately the naffness of the film’s technical aspects extends to its narrative qualities too. The plot revolves around Top Cat’s battle of wits with a new police chief whose love of ‘technology’ sees him implementing CCTV cameras throughout New York, introducing a draconian rule of law and replacing the police with robots. The inclusion of hi-tech twenty-first century reference clashes with the original programme’s old school appeal making it difficult to really enjoy. The plot is also stupidly convoluted and whilst I am sure the kids in the audience could follow it, I’d surprised if they weren’t bored for some stretches. Crucially however, there were very few laughs from the audience. Kids can be pretty easily pleased, especially when given free sweets and a carton of Um Bongo and whilst they were at least quiet and fairly attentive, if I were Vertigo Films I would have been hoping to hear considerably more giggles from the young audience.

Top Cat: The Movie feels like a missed opportunity. TC remains popular enough in this country as well as Mexico – it’s still regularly aired on Cartoon Network – so why more effort wasn’t made to produce a decent film is unknown. As it is, I can’t seeTop Cat doing particularly well and it frankly doesn’t deserve to. Still, at least it’s not as bad as last year’s Yogi Bear, but as those who saw that film will know, that’s about the faintest praise one can damn with.