Cat City

On Planet X the cats are about to take over. The mice have a plan: a drawing that can be used against the cats. A scientist in Shanghai has prepared it and the file must reach headquarters. The cats find out and set up a criminal organisation. The mouse side calls in its best agent. Nick Grabowsky takes the job. The journey begins: a plane, a desert, a secret laboratory, disguises and constant traps. There is also someone selling the mice out; the rats are working with the cats and reporting every step. Béla Ternovszky directs. Miklós Benedek, László Sinkó and Gyula Bodrogi are among the voices. It is a Hungarian production, made in 1986. The date is counted from the birth of Mickey Mouse; the film sets up its own calendar and that is a joke. The film is a parody of the spy genre; all the classic elements of the agent film are turned over. The animation is ambitious for the work being done in Hungary at the time and the action is dense. The film became a cult in Hungary and Poland; its lines passed into everyday speech. The humour is fast and referential; most of the jokes happen in the background. The narrative looks like a children's film but contains violence and adult jokes as well. A sequel was made much later and did not replace the first. Its limit is structure; the narrative is scattered, there are too many characters, and the ending is rushed. Who it is for: viewers who like Eastern European animation and spy parody. Who it is not for: it is scattered, fast, and the humour local.