Alyssa Black (Aly200) Who knew that a story about a cat solving a series of brutal murders could be so engrossing? Germany entered this controversial thriller into the animation game that has become the country's own masterpiece, earning global praise. Its fame has even surpassed the literary source novel it was based upon.Francis is a house-cat who has just moved to a new neighborhood with his magazine writer owner and stumbles into a murder mystery that involves scientific experimentation, a feline cult and a bloody body count as he gets closer to the truth. Aided by a colorful cast of diverse characters from the wise-cracking deformed Bluebeard (Bleubart in German), the blind, gentle and wise Felicity (Felicitas in German) to the fatherly figure-like and all- knowing Pascal, Francis comes to learn that the truth is stranger and more horrifying than he could have known. Our leading feline is a simple cat who must become a hero in extraordinary circumstances. Francis is naive yet intelligent despite little knowledge of the film's events prior to his introduction. His voice is what guides us through the story as we see everything from his perspective, allowing us access into his mind when Francis begins to experience nightmares so horrible that it pushes the limit of what should be seen. Francis is also flawed as he gives in to temptations that could cost him his life or the answers to the murders, but in the end the hero does prevail thanks to his resourcefulness, razor-sharp wit and fierce combat skills.The violence is graphic and unyielding as the bloody aftermath is not shielded from the viewer. We never actually see the crimes occur, but are given details in some instances that would make one's stomach twist and turn. The carnage is spine-chilling as the murders grow more gruesome in the film's short run-time (I won't divulge here for the sake of not offending my readers). Best not to see this on a full stomach or if you are squeamish.The narrative takes many twists and turns as the mystery is slowly unraveled. By the time the killer's identity is revealed, the tension is so thick that the air could be cut with knives and still the adrenaline pumps through the veins. Even as the fiery and brutal final battle takes place, you can't look away as the hero and killer face off in the most epic cat- fight since "The Lion King (ironically released the same year as "Felidae")". It is only over when blood is spilled, but there is a bittersweet final word of advice that wraps up the film with a bow but not in a condescending way.If you are brave enough, give this little gem a watch but be prepared for one hell of a ride.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Felidae" is (as you may have guessed from its title) a film centered around cats, but it's not an animated film for children as it is basically a crime thriller with some similarities to the likes of "Watership Down". It's bloody, we see dead cats, a religious cult, there's talk about colon cancer and also a massive fire almost at the end. The movie is from over 20 years ago and features quite some great names in the cast. Tukur, Adorf, Brandauer, Schneider and Ochsenknecht should be known to those with an interest in German cinema. And it also includes Wolfgang Hess, the German voice of Bud Spencer. Always a joy for me to listen to, especially as the cat that he voiced also had Spencer's physical appearance, not his kindheartedness though. The male cat Francis moves into a new home with his owner (or I should say "tin opener") and quickly acts as a detective when several cats (in heat) in the neighborhood get brutally murdered. It gets personal when Felicitas is killed right after he met her. All the cats reminded me really of humans at times, not only because they were speaking, but also because of the characterizations and character traits they possessed. Also when they get into comparing the victims' races, it is almost like a real crime movie with human actors. It's a pretty short movie, runs only for 75 minutes without closing credits. The novel it is based on and the script come from Akif Pirinçci ("The Door") and as I saw him in a recent talk show, the final developments made me think quite a bit in terms of the main antagonist cat obviously possessing a Nazi-like attitude. The film's director is Michael Schaack. You may have heard about his "Werner" movie work or "The Little A**hole", which also features Helge Schneider.All in all, I did enjoy this film. The animation is fine and I also liked how the cats were randomly scratching their furs while talking. Also the crows representing danger were nicely included. However, I have to say there are a couple flaws too mostly near the end. I was a bit underwhelmed by the motive and the solution to the murders, but it's not so bad that it destroys everything before. I did not like the final quote about animals and humans coexisting in peace as this is really not what this film is about. It's about cats coexisting in peace with other cats, or humans with humans if you see it metaphorically. And how did out hero manage to kill the main antagonist and all the other victims before were not able to do so? Everything before that is good though (especially the tension as you did not know if cats or humans were the killers) and that's why I recommend watching this film.

cdietz94-667-599244 I love cats, I own 6 of 'em myself. I heard of this film while watching Watership Down (Which was excellent) and decided to check it out. It has a pretty decent dub, but an unknown dub cast.The film itself is bloody brilliant. Its a mystery of a hybrid of Sherlock Holmes and Batman, the animation on the cats is rather good and the sheer amount of gore and blood in this movie is astounding so DO NOT let your kids watch it.I want their to be a proper American release someday, outside of Youtube. Truly an underrated classic.89/100

Criticman12 There are time's when animated film's are cute and fun to watch. But there are time's where they can be adult-orientated and pretty violent like, "Heavy Metal", "Fritz the Cat", and "Heavy Traffic". But in 1994, Germany released an animated film about cat's trying to solve a string of gruesome murders. The animated film was called, "Felidae".This is one of the most gory and violent animated films I've seen. What I really love about this film is that the animation is great and can be disturbing at time's. Some of the character's were interesting like the blind cat, Felicity. The story is also interesting and I like the idea of using Cat's in this movie.The only problem's I have with this film is that there wasn't that much character development because when we're introduced to a new character, we only see them in one or two scene's. Also, the movie can get boring sometimes.But overall, "Felidae", is an animated film worth watching if you like murder-mystery stories's or someone looking for a good animated film to watch. But just because it has a cute cat on the front cover, dosen't mean it's going to be a kid's film. Just wanna point that out.