FELIDAE (1994)

A big international seller in print (less so Stateside), Akif Pirinçci’s serial killer story came with a twist, the cast is all cats.  A few humans make appearances, the felines call them ‘can openers,’ but this elsewise relatively straightforward catch-the-killer pic, structured as a standard ‘procedural,’ came within a whisker of getting picked up for a live-action Hollywood feature.  That idea fell thru (too much ‘hard R’ sex & violence?), so it stayed in Germany as a rare adult animated feature.  Director Michael Schaack’s hand-drawn style, something between '70s-era Disney & Bakshi, proves a good fit for charting new-to-the-neighborhood tomcat Francis who immediately lands inside the invetsgation when a mutilated cat appears below his window.  He makes a perfect lead to take us thru character introducions and exposition as new acquaintances pass on rumor & info . . . before passing on.  Yikes!  Suspects include an experimental unit of human researches using stray cats for testing; a cat cult of fatalistic ferals; a tough old bruiser; a slinky gal who’s always in heat (yowl!); an elderly sage who’s computer literate; et al.  Plenty of egos and misadventures for Francis to come against.  Yet the story isn’t nearly as involving or fun as the set up promises.  Needlessly fantastic on a story that needs straight playing for the suspense, waggish humor and seriously bleak tone to come across.  Maybe with new film technology (and Guillermo del Toro?) time's ripe for that Live-Action production?

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  Martin Rosen’s lesser-known follow-up to Richard Adams’ WATERSHIP DOWN/’78, THE PLAGUE DOGS/’82, shows a better approach to this sort of material.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-plague-dogs-1982.html