The Rabbi’s Cat (2011)
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The Rabbi’s Cat Movie Review
The Rabbi’s Cat is a 2011 French animated comedy film directed by Joann Sfar. It’s a messy, but rather interesting and charming flick.
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“You’ve been the rabbi here for thirty years
and these guys who’ve never set foot here want
to decide who should be rabbi or not“
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A rabbi’s cat swallows the family parrot and learns how to speak. Later, he starts questioning his master’s religion and expresses his desire to convert to Judaism. Based on a comic series written by the movie’s director, this film was clearly better suited for the comic book medium. As a feature film, it was too episodic and structurally uneven.
The story deals with many themes, in particular focusing on the differences and similarities between Jewish and Arab people and their religions. A film about religion, class and identity, it preaches better understanding and respect between all these different groups, but it felt too lightweight and overly simple in tackling those issues, though some of the humor stemming from the characters’ interactions and sophisticated dialogue was quite strong.
The cat is hilarious. He tends to talk a lot. His philosophical musings and thought-provoking questions could be both intriguing and very funny. The dialogue is overwhelming here to the point that the movie felt too talkative and even suffocating, but at least the cat was amusing and very well designed as well as voiced. The rabbi was also an interesting character and the two shared a great dynamic. The others were forgettable.
The Rabbi’s Cat benefits from terrific animation. It is hand-drawn and pleasingly classical in style while also being highly colorful with a gorgeous color palette and great eye for detail. The character designs were stupendous and some of the imagery of the desert and the towns was quite charming.
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I also really liked the soundtrack. It was quite eclectic and fittingly styles in Arabic and old Jewish folklore. The movie truly came alive due to its tremendous audio-visuals, but the directing, writing and especially the pacing remained problematic. The structure was totally off as the movie went from one to the other theme or location with no proper transitions.
The Rabbi’s Cat is stylish, charming French animation that benefits from a terrific soundtrack and wonderfully colorful and detailed visuals. The characters, humor and dialogue were also quite strong, but the movie was still too talkative and very badly paced and structured. It was interesting in its themes dealing with religious and class differences, but ultimately too flawed in its execution.
My Rating – 3.5
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