The Rabbi's Cat

"The Rabbi's Cat" or 'Le Chat Du Rabbin" is a French animated film directed by Joann Sfar, who also has written the book it is based on with the same title. It takes place in Algeria during the 1920's, where a cat suddenly knows how to talk in human language, after devouring a parrot.

This film takes many risks and wears them as a badge of honour, the first of them being the animation style that is deprived of the usual Hollywood tropes, instead it uses the pen and ink technique in a stylized manner, which is a gorgeous view for the audience.

Second, it tackles intimidating subjects such as the relations between people from different religions, and the film is also courageous enough to not shy away from pointing out the flaws of each faith, you might not agree with the message that the movie delivers, but you still have to give credit when it's due, and plus it is told in such a charming and humorous fashion that leaves you admiring Joann's work.

"Le Chat Du Rabbin" is no where near being a masterpiece though, it has many weaknesses, with the one standing out the most is its inconsistency that is visible in different fields, the film sets some rules to inform the viewer of its world nature, yet it constantly flip flops between breaking and following them, moreover, this action is committed in various forms throughout the movie.

I'm not fond of the pacing as well, and that's because the plot ridiculously jumps all over the place. The film's saving grace is the charming cat, but during a portion in the middle, he's no where to be seen in the scene, I personally thought that his absence hurt the overall quality and reduced the glamour the film was producing.

With the amusing dialogue and characters, "The Rabbi's Cat" achieves its pretentious goal, but the inconsistency and pacing prevents it from finishing in a better place, therefore...This would be a Matinee.