Top Cat: The Movie

Top Cat: The Movie (also known in Spanish as Don Gato y su Pandilla, literally "Top Cat and His Gang") is a 2011 Mexican-Argentine 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.

Top Cat: The Movie
Mexican theatrical release poster
Directed byAlberto Mar
Produced byFernando de Fuentes
Jose C. Garcia de Letona
José Luis Massa
Screenplay byTim McKeon
Kevin Seccia
Based onTop Cat
by Hanna-Barbera
StarringRaul Anaya
Jorge Arvizu
Jesús Guzmán
Eduardo Garza
Mario Castañeda
Ricardo Tejedo
Music byLeoncio Lara
Edited byAndrés Fernández
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures (North American) Warner Bros. Pictures (International)
Release date
  • September 16, 2011 (2011-09-16)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Spanish
Box officeMX$112.25 million[1]
(US$14.7 million)[2][3]

Produced by Ánima Estudios and Illusion Studios, the film was first released in theaters on September 16, 2011 in 2D and 3D formats, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.[4] The film was later released in the United Kingdom on 1 June 2012, distributed by Vertigo Films, where it grossed £2.8 million, making it the highest-grossing Mexican film in the region.[5][6] The film later received a limited release in the United States on 2 August 2013 by Viva Pictures, with the voices of Rob Schneider and Danny Trejo as Lou Strickland and Griswald respectively.[7][8]

The film was a major commercial success, earning $43.5 million pesos on its opening weekend at the domestic box office and held the record as one of the biggest box-office openings in the Mexican cinema history.[9] The film grossed a total of $112.25 million pesos domestically and $14.7 million worldwide.[1][10]

A computer-animated prequel to the film and the series, titled Top Cat Begins,[11] was released on October 30, 2015.[11][12]

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 distracts 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 a 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 that 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 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 everything 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 apologizes 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 infiltrates 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 center, 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 realizes 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 a panic, Strickland self-destructs the robot army except for 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 enjoys themselves, and finally, Griswald asks for a place in Top Cat's gang, which Top Cat accepts.

Voice cast
Further information: List of Top Cat characters

Spanish cast
Spanish NameVoice Actor
Don GatoRaúl Anaya
BeBenito B. BodoqueJorge Arvizu
CuchoJorge Arvizu
PanzaEduardo Garza
EspantoLuis Fernando Orozco
DemóstenesJesús Guzmán
Oficial Carlitos MatuteSebastian Llapúr
Lucas BuenrostroMario Castañeda
RugelioRicardo Tejedo
TrixieRosalba Sotelo
JuezRolando de Castro
Jefe de PoliciaIsrael Magaña
AlcaldeFrancisco Colmenero

English cast
English NameVoice Actor
Top Cat/Choo Choo/Brain/Griswald/Lou Strickland (U.K. version only)/Big GusJason Harris Katz
Lou Strickland (U.S. version only)Rob Schneider
BennyChris Edgerly
SpookBenjamin Diskin
Fancy-FancyMatt Piazzi
Officer DibbleBill Lobley
Griswald (U.S. version only)Danny Trejo
TrixieMelissa Disney
Robot/GorillaFred Tatasciore
Judge/Police Chief/MayorBob Kaliban

The English-language version was also included in the special features in the Mexican DVD release.

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.[13] The film took a total of 34 months to develop.[13]

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.[13][14] Before writing the screenplay, they reviewed the show's set of the 1960s.[14] They wrote several versions of the script until they finished the final draft the script.[14] It took them six months to write.[14] Jesús Guzmán, a Mexican comedian and actor who provides the Spanish voice of Demostenes (Brain), adapted and translated the script in Spanish.[14]

Animation

It was originally rumored to be a live-action/CGI hybrid, but it was later confirmed to be a 2D/CG animated feature.[15] 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.[14]

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.[14] He also used locations that were not featured in the TV series, such as Times Square.[14]

Character development

During character development, all of the film's characters had to be approved by Warner Bros. Animation.[14] The goal was for the characters to look like they were drawn in style of other Hanna-Barbera works.[14] 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.[14]

Cast

While the film features a voice cast different from the original series, Jorge Arvizu reprises his role as Benny and Choo Choo from the Spanish version of the show[15] The U.S. version casts actors, Rob Schneider and Danny Trejo, dubbing over Jason Harris voice roles as Lou Strickland and Griswald, respectively, from the international English versions of the film.[7]

Music

The film's original score was composed by Leoncio Lara.[16] The TV show's theme song was featured in the film. The song, "New York Groove" by Ace Frehley, was also featured in the film's trailer and end credits.

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.[17] 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.[18] A UK teaser trailer was released on April 5, 2012.[19] The film was released in select theaters and VOD in the United States from Viva Pictures on August 2, 2013.[20][21] The U.S. trailer was released on May 7, 2013.[22] The MPAA gave this film a PG rating for "some mild rude content".[23][24]

Home media

The original Latin American version was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 2, 2011 from Warner Home Video International[25] as well on Blu-ray 3D in Brazil, distributed by PlayArte Home Entertainment, while the UK version was released on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on October 15, 2012, distributed by Entertainment One.[26] It was the first film from Ánima Estudios to be released on Blu-ray. The film was released in the United States on DVD on September 3, 2013. A Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D release in the United States has not been announced yet.

Reception

Critical response

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.[27][28][29][30]

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".[31] 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."[32] 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."[33] 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."[34]

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."[35] 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.)"[36] 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."[37] 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."[38]

Mexico and Argentina

This film has earned $40.7 million in Mexico and grossed a total of $112.25 million pesos.[1] It has also become one of the biggest box office openings in Mexican cinema history.[9][39] In Argentina, it opened #5 on its opening weekend, earning $0.7 million and grossed a total of $3.3 million.[40]

Brazil

In Brazil, this film opened at #7 behind, earning R$0.9 million. It grossed a total of R$2.2 million.[41]

United Kingdom and Spain

The UK release of this film opened at #7 at the weekend box office with £0.4 million from 452 theaters throughout the country, and grossed a total of £2.8 million.[42] In Spain, this film earned €34,085 on its opening weekend and grossed a total of €96,848.

Internationally

This film grossed $0.3 million in Uruguay, ₺0.28 million in Turkey, and $2.4 million in Peru.

United States

There is currently no box office data for the film, but it is one of the highest-grossing independent animated films released in the United States.[43]

Accolades

In 2012 it was nominated at the 13th Golden Trailer Awards[44] as Best Foreign Animation/Family Trailer for "Trailer 1" on YouTube and "Trailer 2" on YouTube.

Prequel
Further information: 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.

See also

References
  1. "Películas Animadas 2000 – 2018". Canacine. Canacine. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  2. "Mexico Box Office November 4–6, 2011 (check "Gross-to-Date")". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  3. "Top Cat (2011)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  4. Calderón, Lucero (September 14, 2011). "Don Gato y su pandilla, más historia para México". Excélsior. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  5. James Young (December 1, 2012). "Mexican animator adds English". Variety. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  6. "Top Cat: The Movie to hit UK cinemas in 3D, Vertigo films confirms | Metro News". Metro. January 24, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  7. "Rob Schneider and Danny Trejo lending their voices for TOP CAT: THE MOVIE | Alien Bee Entertainment News". Alienbee.net. July 14, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  8. Lesnick, Silas (May 7, 2013). "Check out a Trailer and Clip from the Animated Top Cat Feature Film". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  9. Hecht, John (September 20, 2011). "Mexican Animated Film 'Top Cat' Breaks Record at Box Office". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  10. "Mexico Box Office November 4–6, 2011 (check "Gross-to-Date")". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  11. de la Fuente, Anna Marie (September 17, 2014). "Anima Brings 'Top Cat Begins' to the Bigscreen". Variety. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
  12. ""Don Gato 2" se estrenará el 7 de agosto del 2015. Con René Franco". Radioformula.com.mx. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  13. Calderón, Lucero (September 14, 2011). "Don Gato y su pandilla, más historia para México". Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  14. "Warner – Don Gato y su Pandilla: Datos Curiosos". Cine Informacion (in Spanish). Blogger. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  15. Miguel Cruz, Luis (April 7, 2011). "Conoce los detalles de Don Gato y su pandilla". Cine Premiere. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  16. Andrade, Carlos. "Don Gato y su Pandilla / La Música (Leoncio Lara)" (in Spanish). YouTube. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  17. "Teaser trailer de Don Gato y su Pandilla..!". April 15, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  18. Mitchell, Wendy (January 23, 2012). "Vertigo plans August UK release of Top Cat: The Movie | Screen". Screendaily.com. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  19. "'Top Cat' trailer: Hanna-Barbera cartoon returns in purr-fect 3D – Movies News". Digital Spy. April 5, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  20. Dave McNary (May 8, 2013). "Top Cat: Hanna-Barbera cartoon movie rights to Viva". Variety. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
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  22. Top Cat 3D Official US Release Trailer 1 (2013) – Jason Harris Animated Movie HD on YouTube
  23. "Top Cat (2013) Movie". Movieinsider.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  24. "Reasons for Movie Ratings (CARA)". Filmratings.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
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  26. "Top Cat: The Movie Blu-ray (United Kingdom)". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  27. "Movie Review – Top Cat: The Movie (2011)". Flickering Myth. May 24, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  28. "This Top Cat needs to be put down". Londonfilmfanatiq.com. May 17, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  29. "Movie Review: TOP CAT – Movie Reviews | Fantasy". Starburstmagazine.com. May 14, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  30. Smith, Neil. "Top Cat: The Movie review". TotalFilm.com. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  31. Bradshaw, Peter (May 31, 2012). "Top Cat: The Movie – review". The Guardian.
  32. Adams, Derek (May 14, 2012). "Top Cat: The Movie". Time Out London. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  33. Kennedy, Colin (May 31, 2012). "Top Cat: The Movie is downhill all the way after memorable theme tune". Metro. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  34. Rob (June 3, 2012). "Top Cat". The Shiznit. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  35. http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/theatrical-reviews/top-cat-the-movie-3d-20648
  36. Macnab, Geoffrey (June 1, 2012). "Top Cat – the Movie (U)". The Independent. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  37. https://www.view.co.uk/films/top-cat-the-movie-film-review-46716.html
  38. "Top Cat The Movie". The List. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  39. Hoad, Phil (October 11, 2011). "Don Gato – aka Top Cat – rides the crest of a Mexican wave | The Guardian". The Guardian. London. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  40. "Argentina Box Office, October 13–16, 2011". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  41. "Brazil Box Office, September 16–18, 2011". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  42. "Prometheus lands at the top of the UK box office". Flickeringmyth.com. June 7, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  43. "Ya disponible el informe del Observatorio Audiovisual Europeo sobre la industria de la animación". Audiovisual451. Audiovisual451. April 26, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  44. "The 13th Annual Golden Trailer Awards". Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
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