Top Cat: The Movie (also known in Spanish as Don Gato y su Pandilla, literally "Top Cat and His Gang") is a 2011 3D Mexican-Argentine flash animated family action comedy film based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, Top Cat, which ran from 1961 to 1962 on ABC in the United States. The film was produced by Ánima Estudios and Illusion Studios and was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.[1] Top Cat: The Movie premiered in Mexico in 2D and 3D theaters on September 16, 2011. It was a huge commercial success, earning $43,536,074 pesos on its opening weekend at the domestic box office and became one of the biggest box-office openings in Mexican cinema history.[2]
The English version was released in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2012, distributed by Vertigo Films, in RealD 3D and 2D theaters.[3] It was largely panned from critics, but was a moderate box-office success, grossing £2,824,893, the highest amount for a Mexican production.[4][5] The film had a limited release in the United States on August 2, 2013, starring the voices of Rob Schneider and Danny Trejo.[6][7]
A computer-animated prequel to the film and the series, titled Top Cat Begins,[8] was released on October 30, 2015.[8][9]
Plot[]
During lunch with Benny, Top Cat spots a female cat walking by them. Excusing himself, Top Cat quickly runs after the female cat, interrupted by Griswald, but soon gets him out of the way and meets up with the female cat, who introduces herself as Trixie. While she finds him amusing, an alley cat isn't her type.
At the alley, Top Cat catches news of the Maharajah of Peekajoo, known for his generosity and his rubies are just what Top Cat needs to impress Trixie. Top Cat and his gang head to the Connity Hall to meet the Maharajah, running into an obnoxious man named Lou Strickland. The gang steal his tickets and get him sent away. While the gang distract Officer Dibble who is the Maharaja's escort, Top Cat makes a bet with the Maharaja and gets out of him a Maharaja Talk 5000 device with many functions, as the Maharaja hasn't any rubies.
The next morning, Officer Dibble is summoned to the police station to work for the Chief's son-in-law Strickland, who is taking over for the retired Chief. Strickland has replaced the staff with robots which he believes are more competent. Top Cat thwarts Strickland's attempt to evict him, preventing Strickland from getting the Mayor's funding for a robot police army. Strickland uses Trixie to keep Top Cat away from the alley while he carries his out his plan. Top Cat returns to the alley getting shunned by his gang, arrested by police and after an unfair trial, convicted to the Dog Jail on charge of stealing money from an orphanage.
With the arrest of Top Cat, Strickland is granted the Mayor's funding and establishes a robot police army and a major scale surveillance camera system which restricts privacy for the city. Meanwhile, Top Cat tries to keep a low profile in dog jail but later becomes popular having turned the jail into a paradise for the convicts. As for Top Cat's gang they are struggling and begin to express their disbelief in him, which Top Cat notices from the one of the security cameras.
Strickland abuses his authority and starts coming up with ridiculous laws to take absurd amounts of money off people for every thing they do, intending to spend it on making himself even more 'handsome'. Tired of Strickland's tyranny, Trixie quits her job, Strickland fires her and turns to Officer Dibble and shows him evidence that a robot Top Cat sent by Strickland robbed the orphanage proving Top Cat's innocence. However, Strickland arrives and reveals his true intentions to Dibble, and that he's not the old chief's son-in-law. Dibble escapes to pass this to Top Cat's gang, but Trixie is captured by the police robots.
After Dibble tells the gang what really happened, they all head for Big Gus to help them break Top Cat out of prison, as he owes Top Cat. Big Gus leads them through an underground passage to the dog jail and leaves. The gang apologises for their doubts about Top Cat. With their cover blown by the dogs knowing they've got cats with them, the gang and Dibble escape through a sewer hole arriving at Strickland's HQ.
The gang infiltrate the building in robot guises finding Strickland has imprisoned everyone in the city and stolen the city's cash. While Dibble distracts Strickland, the gang under the guise of robots make their way to Strickland's control centre, but Top Cat's gang are locked in Strickland's vault having tripped a silent alarm, Top Cat remaining outside. When Strickland arrives, he orders Top Cat to be annihilated by the robots. As a single robot enters, Top Cat realises the whole security system was manufactured by the Maharajah of Pookajee. Top Cat takes out the Maharajah Talk 5000 which presumably controls all robots to get Strickland. In panic, Strickland self-destructs the robot army except the single one, revealed to be Fancy-Fancy still in his robot guise. Everyone imprisoned and Top Cat's gang is released in the self-destruction process. Strickland is rendered helpless and Dibble arrests him and (on Top Cat's suggestion) sentences him to the Dog Jail.
Top Cat and Trixie renew their relationship, Officer Dibble is promoted as the new Chief of Police, the gang enjoy themselves, and finally Griswald asks for a place in Top Cat's gang, which Top Cat accepts.
Cast[]
| English Name | Spanish Name | Spanish Voice Actors | English Voice Actors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top Cat | Don Gato | Raúl Anaya | Jason Harris Katz |
| Benny the Ball | Benito B. Bodoque | Jorge Arvizu | |
| Choo Choo | Cucho | Jorge Arvizu | |
| Fancy-Fancy | Panza | Eduardo Garza | |
| Spook | Espanto | Luis Fernando Orozco | |
| Brain | Demóstenes | Jesús Guzmán | |
| Officer Dibble | Oficial Carlitos Matute | Sebastian Llapúr | |
| Lou Strickland | Lucas Buenrostro | Mario Castañeda | |
| Griswald | Rugelio | Ricardo Tejedo | |
| Trixie | Trixie | Rosalba Sotelo | |
| Judge | Juez | Rolando de Castro | |
| Police Chief | Jefe de Policia | Israel Magaña | |
| Mayor | Alcalde | Francisco Colmenero | TBA |
Production[]
Development[]
On February 26, 2011, Warner Bros. Pictures Mexico, Ánima Estudios, Illusion Studios announced that the film would be in production to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary, which took a total of 34 months to develop.
Writing[]
While the production of the film mainly took place in Mexico, Warner Bros. suggested that the film was written by Americans, when Timothy McKeon and Kevin Seccia wanted to write a familiar story to match the spirit of the original TV series. Before writing the screenplay, they reviewed the show's set of the 1960s and wrote several versions of the script until finishing the final draft which took them six months to write. Jesús Guzmán, a Mexican comedian and actor who provides the Spanish voice of Demostenes (Brain), adapted and translated the script in Spanish.
Animation[]
It was originally rumored to be a live-action/CGI hybrid, but it was later confirmed to be a 2D/CG animated feature. Animated in Adobe Flash with computer animated backgrounds, the animation was done by Ánima Estudios in Mexico, while post-production (including the CGI backgrounds) and stereoscopic 3D services were done at Illusion Studios in Argentina.
Background development and setting[]
Alberto Mar, the film's director, did a scouting in New York City in 2011 and took pictures of the city's buildings, alleys, and drains. He also used locations that were not featured in the TV series, such as Times Square.
Character development[]
During character development, all of the film's characters had to be approved by Warner Bros. Animation. The goal was for the characters to look like they were drawn in style of other Hanna-Barbera works. Ánima Estudios created new characters that were not featured in the series, such as Trixie, Lucas Buenrostro (Lou Strickland), the army of robots, and over 100 incidental characters.
Release[]
This film was released theatrically in Mexico and parts of South America on September 16, 2011 in Digital 3D and regular 2D format. The film's teaser premiered on April 15, 2011 and was shown during the Mexican screenings of Hop. On January 23, 2012, Vertigo Films announced that the film would be released in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2012 (formerly August 20, 2012) in 2D, Digital 3D, and RealD 3D theaters. A UK teaser trailer was released on April 5, 2012. The film was released in select theaters and VOD in the United States from Viva Pictures on August 2, 2013. The U.S. trailer was released on May 7, 2013. The MPAA gave this film a PG rating for "some mild rude content".
Reception[]
Though the original Spanish version of the film was received favorably in Mexico and Latin America, the English dub of the film was universally panned in both the UK and the US.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the English film 1 out of 5 stars, saying "It's the bottom of the heap, and it frankly looks cheap, the disaster of the year is – Top Cat". Derek Adams of Time Out London also gave the English film 1 out of five stars, writing, "a pity, then, that the key elements – storyline, dialogue, comedy value – are so woefully ineffectual. An air of boredom permeated the screening I attended and laughs were universally non-existent." Colin Kennedy of Metro criticized the English film, calling it "a dog's dinner of a film which will bore new viewers and disappoint old ones" and "post-Pixar kids will be bored rigid." Michelle Moore of Close-Up Film gave the English film a negative review for its animation, saying "When it comes to combining the two, scenes and characters, things at times get very disordered and appear out of place." Rob of The Shiznit gave this 1 out of 5 stars and wrote, "It looks like Top Cat, sounds like Top Cat, but it doesn’t feel like Top Cat. It's as if a Mexican film company (Ánima Estudios) has taken an iconic American cartoon and slapped together a budget version... oh, wait, that's exactly what's happened."
Bethany Rutter of Little White Lies criticized the English film saying that "it's heroically unfunny, the lame script is one of many sticking points. Awkward, clunky and predictable, it propels the film forward at a pace that manages to be both deathly slow and annoyingly jumpy." Mike Sheridan of Entertainment.ie criticized the English film and wrote, "In a world where studios are putting so much care into the development of characters in family aimed flicks, Top Cat just doesn’t cut it." Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent gave the English film 2 out of 5 stars and said that "neither the voice work (much of it done by Jason Harris) nor the animation is distinctive. Officer Dibble has only a marginal role. The use of 3D seems entirely tokenistic (an excuse to hike up ticket prices rather than an artistic decision.)" On the positive side, Matthew Turner of ViewLondon enjoyed the English film, saying that " This movie provides a handful of decent laughs, though some of the jokes are a bit dodgy, the 3D effects are entirely superfluous and younger children might be a little bored." Eddie Harrison of The List also gave the English film a positive reaction, saying that "adults looking for undemanding fare for their kids may find Top Cat's brand of sass, irreverence and cheeky charm offer a persuasive alternative to today's crasser children's entertainments."
Prequel[]
- Main article: Top Cat Begins
A computer animated prequel to both the film and the original series was released on 30 October 2015 in Mexico, with Ánima Estudios once again producing.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Hoagy's Alley is spelled "Hoagie's."
- During their meeting, Choo-Choo is watching the King for a Day program on his phone.
- Benny rings a bell to call the horse from "The $1,000,000 Derby".
- In the US dub of the movie, all of Strickland's lines were redubbed by Rob Schneider. Only one line was left untouched ("I like technology better than this mole I have on my butt that's shaped like a cow.")
- In chronological order of the films and the story, this movie marks the end of the series.
References[]
- ↑ Calderón, Lucero (September 14, 2011). "Don Gato y su pandilla, más historia para México". Excélsior. Retrieved January 10, 2014.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ Hecht, John (September 20, 2011). "Mexican Animated Film 'Top Cat' Breaks Record at Box Office". Retrieved on February 26, 2015.
- ↑ "Top Cat: The Movie to hit UK cinemas in 3D, Vertigo films confirms | Metro News". Metro. January 24, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2013.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ James Young (December 1, 2012). "Mexican animator adds English". Retrieved on February 26, 2015.
- ↑ Eddie Mair. Top Cat the Movie – "there must be something to recommend this film?". Archived from the original on July 6, 2012.
- ↑ "Rob Schneider and Danny Trejo lending their voices for TOP CAT: THE MOVIE | Alien Bee Entertainment News". Alienbee.net (July 14, 2013). Retrieved on February 26, 2015.
- ↑ Lesnick, Silas (May 7, 2013). "Check out a Trailer and Clip from the Animated Top Cat Feature Film". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved on February 26, 2015.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 de la Fuente, Anna Marie (September 17, 2014). "Anima Brings 'Top Cat Begins' to the Bigscreen". Variety. Retrieved September 18, 2014.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ ""Don Gato 2" se estrenará el 7 de agosto del 2015. Con René Franco". Radioformula.com.mx. Retrieved on February 26, 2015.
External links[]
- [1] (Latin America/Spain)
- Top Cat: The Movie at The Big Cartoon DataBase
Top Cat: The Movie at the Internet Movie Database
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page Top Cat: The Movie. The revision history lists the authors. The text on Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki and Wikipedia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA). |
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