Every Studio Ghibli Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Hiroyuki Morita's standalone sequel to 95's Whisper of the Heart was born after a theme park requested Studio Ghibli create an animated short about cats. Miyazaki liked the idea, and used it to form The Cat Returns.

At only seventy-five minutes, Ghibli's only sequel is far thinner and less revealing than other films around it, following the cat Baron as he comes into contact with a young girl who can communicate with cats, but it ultimately works well.

Executed with rewarding animation and simplistic but warm-hearted themes of love, identity, and personal acceptance, The Cat Returns' only major fault is that it's too short to completely sell its message.

Despite this, its intentions are pure and its drama honest, and though it's a bit too small, it's still a touching burst of unique imagination impossible to hate.