Top Cat Begins
Director: Andrés Couturier
Stars: Darin De Paul, David Hoffman, Jason Harris
Duration: 89 mins
Class: U
KRS Releasing Ltd

It feels a tad churlish to diss a movie that is obviously aimed at very young children, yet I have to confess I struggle to report anything remotely interesting or funny in Top Cat Begins.

Top Cat was a Hanna-Barbera cartoon series that ran on American TV for a mere 30 episodes between 1961 and 1962. Although the series appeared on TV internationally, and lived on in comic books for a few years, it never reached the ranks in popularity or staying power of top Hanna-Barbera titles, such as The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, or Tom and Jerry. Moreover, it is hardly the title to induce much nostalgia in people over 50. It was still deemed fit for a revival with Top Cat: The Movie in 2011 which, although poorly-received by the critics, was a modest success at the box office, enough to spawn this rather pointless sequel.

As its title implies, Top Cat Begins purports to trace the origins of the titular character, as a heist goes badly wrong, he gets stuck in a lift… and recalls his past when he lived a sad life on the streets. When he meets a rather naïve and innocent cat called Benny, the two strike up a friendship and set about a life of petty crime together, joining forces with fellow cats Choo Choo, Fancy-Fancy and Brain. However, the gang soon comes up against a formidable enemy in Mr Big, a dark and dangerous criminal, and Top Cat finds maybe he has bitten off a little more than he can chew.

That this origin story simply depicts the gang getting together without much by way of character background speaks volumes about the lack of effort that went into making this

That this ‘origin’ story simply depicts the gang getting together without much by way of character background speaks volumes about the lack of effort that went into making this; as does the over-simplistic underlying plotline which covers Top Cat and gang embarking on a new con. This was pretty much the premise of each episode of the original series – and may have worked better as one such episode, given the film’s 90-minute running time is an hour too long.

Top Cat Begins

That said, probably even the most basic episode of the series would have been more watchable than this. The story is obvious, the dialogue lazy, with virtually every gag, visual and spoken, falling flat. The animation itself is drab, colourless and lacks texture. None of this would matter had the characters been a little more rounded and engaging. As it is, however, Top Cat comes across as a smug, disagreeable character who is impossible to warm to; his crew fare little better with the virtually unknown voice cast (Jason Harris voicing most of the characters) bringing little to the table by way of energy or enthusiasm. Not even the pratfalls of the hapless officer Dibble can raise a smile, so redundant are they.

Granted, the Mexican studios behind it probably don’t have the budget of the Pixars or Dreamworks Animations of this world, but I would argue it doesn’t take millions to create the good story and engaging characters required to meet today’s audiences’ (of all ages) sophistication and expectations. I suspect even the youngest of cinemagoers would agree with me on this.