Béla Ternovszky's 1986 feature-length cartoon has for good or ill attained cult status in his native Hungary. The question remains however, if it has stood the test of time.
The plot is fairly straightforward: In a world of intelligent, anthropomorphized cats and mice, the fragile peace between the two has recently shattered. The mice's only hope of defeating the physically and economically superior cats lie in the plans of a radical new anti-cat superweapon located across the world, in Pokyo. Grabowsky, a retired InterMouse agent is called on once again to save the day. Which he does.
There's precious little actual conflict in the film. Despite knowing EXACTLY what the mice are planning, the corporate fatcats are content to outsource the work of neutralising him to a questionable troupe of would-be assassins with an extensive background in ballet. Needless to say, they fail to pose a threat. When cat pirates commandeer Grabowsky's ship en route to Pokyo, Grabowsky proceeds to SWIM the rest of the way. Any hostiles he encounters, he either outwits, overpowers, or both. He, and by extension the quest, is never in any real danger until the very end, and even then, a sudden deus ex machina takes care of everything. The scenes of wanton destruction and cat-on-mouse aggression are gratuitous filler: Since we know precious little of Mouse society, and named Mouse characters are never in danger during those scenes, we lack reasons to care.
The cast of characters is extremely limited: On the Cat side of things we have 2 interchangeable, greedy, shortsighted fatcats, Teufel and Gatto, Teufel's well-meaning, but unlucky assistant Safranek, his daughter, who has whopping minutes of screen time, then is forgotten, the troupe of 4 incompetent douchebags chasing Grabowsky, and various unnamed Cats only there to be beaten up On the Mouse side of things, we have Mouse Bond himself, Grabowsky, whose defining characteristic is that he's at the same time perfect and getting too old for all this, his boss, the InterMouse intern featuring in all of 2 scenes, and Lusta Dick ('Limp Dick') the Idiot.
The animation is surprisingly nice; although the matte backgrounds never move, this does serve to highlight the characters on screen. The art style is reminiscent of other classic Hungarian cartoons of the seventies and eighties, namely Mézga család ('The Family Mézga') and Kérem a következőt! ('Next please!')
All in all, it is a mediocre film with a weak plot, forgettable characters, and an inexplicable localized popularity. If you're Hungarian and haven't seen it yet, I advise you to do so, just to get it over with, but otherwise it's just not worth it.
The plot is fairly straightforward: In a world of intelligent, anthropomorphized cats and mice, the fragile peace between the two has recently shattered. The mice's only hope of defeating the physically and economically superior cats lie in the plans of a radical new anti-cat superweapon located across the world, in Pokyo. Grabowsky, a retired InterMouse agent is called on once again to save the day. Which he does.
There's precious little actual conflict in the film. Despite knowing EXACTLY what the mice are planning, the corporate fatcats are content to outsource the work of neutralising him to a questionable troupe of would-be assassins with an extensive background in ballet. Needless to say, they fail to pose a threat. When cat pirates commandeer Grabowsky's ship en route to Pokyo, Grabowsky proceeds to SWIM the rest of the way. Any hostiles he encounters, he either outwits, overpowers, or both. He, and by extension the quest, is never in any real danger until the very end, and even then, a sudden deus ex machina takes care of everything. The scenes of wanton destruction and cat-on-mouse aggression are gratuitous filler: Since we know precious little of Mouse society, and named Mouse characters are never in danger during those scenes, we lack reasons to care.
The cast of characters is extremely limited: On the Cat side of things we have 2 interchangeable, greedy, shortsighted fatcats, Teufel and Gatto, Teufel's well-meaning, but unlucky assistant Safranek, his daughter, who has whopping minutes of screen time, then is forgotten, the troupe of 4 incompetent douchebags chasing Grabowsky, and various unnamed Cats only there to be beaten up On the Mouse side of things, we have Mouse Bond himself, Grabowsky, whose defining characteristic is that he's at the same time perfect and getting too old for all this, his boss, the InterMouse intern featuring in all of 2 scenes, and Lusta Dick ('Limp Dick') the Idiot.
The animation is surprisingly nice; although the matte backgrounds never move, this does serve to highlight the characters on screen. The art style is reminiscent of other classic Hungarian cartoons of the seventies and eighties, namely Mézga család ('The Family Mézga') and Kérem a következőt! ('Next please!')
All in all, it is a mediocre film with a weak plot, forgettable characters, and an inexplicable localized popularity. If you're Hungarian and haven't seen it yet, I advise you to do so, just to get it over with, but otherwise it's just not worth it.