Felidae: Difference between revisions

 

 

The story of ''Felidae'' centers on a male cat named Francis as he and his owner, Gustav (nicknamed "Gus" by Francis), move into a new home of unknown location. Upon investigating his new home, Francis not only meets the sarcastic Manx stray named Bluebeard, but he also encounters the body of a murdered cat (as Bluebeard points out, it's the fourth murder that occurred in the past few days). It's not long until Francis begins to unravel the mystery surrounding the murdered cats, a strange cult known as the "Claudandus Sect", and the meaning behind the enigma known as "Felidae."

Now available on [[YouTube]] [http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C70ACDF5DC2784A8&search_query=felidae here] (for now). Subtitled version [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjCt_YGSGGY here.]

 

* [[Adults Are Useless]]: Francis' owner doesn't do anything to help solve the mystery, nor do any other humans.

** Considering that it's cats killing other cats, this really doesn't seem all that surprising.

** Actually, Francis is able to figure out how to log into the data at the end without having ever seen it being done, as shown by the fact that he did not know a password was necessary, so it is a case of the time required varying according to the situation.

*** Francis is shown as being [[The Smart Guy|extremely smart]], even among other such [[Amplified Animal Aptitude|smart cats]], so careful reasoning probably got him to where the data was stored ( {{spoiler|Pascal}} apparently wasn't savvy enough to bury it ''too'' deeply), and from there [[The Password Is Always Swordfish|he just made an educated guess as to what the password could be.]] It's not so much a case of the learning time being shortened as it is Francis [[Fridge Brilliance|simply being able to use what little technical knowledge he had efficiently.]] The whole issue is much clearer in the book, as Pascal actually spends some time teaching Francis how the computer is used, and {{spoiler|the data for the "Felidae" project was stored close to the catalog of neighborhood cats.}}

* [[Anti-Hero]]: Bluebeard. [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type II.]]

* [[Arc Words]]: The title.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: The movie falls under this. The book's ending is slightly darker, but still manages to avoid [[Downer Ending]] status.

* [[Burning Building Rescue]]: {{spoiler|Francis saving Bluebeard from Ziebold's burning house.}}

* [[Characters As Device]]: The kitten Pepeline, whose purpose is to reveal that {{spoiler|Claudandus is still alive.}}

** However, her character is more fleshed out in the book. She doesn't even share her name in the movie at all!

* [[Children Are Innocent]]: Pepeline, who [[Can Not Tell a Lie]]. {{spoiler|Provides the clue that Claudandus is in fact alive, and that if Joker is not Claudandus, he at least knows his real/fake identity.}}

* [[Cats Are Mean]]: Both subverted and played straight. Francis is a nice cat. Kong, on the other hand, is a huge, hulking, dim-witted bully.

* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: {{spoiler|Ziebold. Not only he's Dr. Preterius' former assistant but also the person that saved <s>Pascal</s> Claudandus from the lab as well as his current owner. He is also obsessed with Gregor Mendel, which is where Claudandus got his idea in the first place -- and the final clue to for Francis to tie in that Claudandus IS Pascal, and yet he's [[The Faceless]]}}.

* [[The Chessmaster]]: {{spoiler|Pascal/Claudandus}}.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Jesaja, the guardian of the dead. {{spoiler|his information provides several hints to solving the mystery, including a connection between Joker and Claudandus.}}

** You have to feel bad for him. He's spent his whole life believing that he was destined to guard the dead. When Francis come, Jesaja thinks Francis is going to kill him because Jesaja believes that he has sinned for going outside. Also, there's this line when Francis is asking Jesaja questions about the dead bodies he received-

Jesaja: [[Tear Jerker|Many... oh yes, many...]] }}

* [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]: {{spoiler|Felicity, with her neck bitten ''and'' her head torn off. Solitaire, with her neck bitten ''and'' her womb opened, spilling out the amniotic fluid, sack and fetuses of the pregnant cat, and Pascal AKA Claudandus, with his body opened, eviscerating him.}}

* [[Disabled Love Interest]]: Felicty [[Fan-Preferred Couple|(If you're shipping her with Francis)]]

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Francis and {{spoiler|Pascal}}'s final battle is very similar to Simba and Scar's battle from ''[[The Lion King]]'', except much bloodier.

*** In one dream, after seeing a film about a scientist creating a race of "super-cats" Francis sees [[God]]/The [[Ubermensch]], who calls himself "Felidae," meaning all of catkind, as gold/blonde-haired and lapis/blue eyes. [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]?

** In this movie, Egyptian cats are essentially a stand-in for "Aryans".

* [[Heaven]]: {{spoiler|Francis}} gets a look at the feline heaven after {{spoiler|being shot at the end of the second book. He's saved from the brink of death before the stay becomes permanent.}}

* [[Hollywood Atheist]]: {{spoiler|Subverted. Claudandus is a misotheist.}}

* [[Infant Immortality]]: Averted to hell and back. Dams and their kittens die all over the place.

** In the original novel, Francis has a nightmare where Deep Purple pulls a kitten out of his torn, bleeding throat, throws it against the wall, pulls out another kitten which bursts like a red paint balloon, and proceeds to splatter more kittens from his throat. Try going to sleep after reading that fun scene.

* [[Is That What They're Calling It Now?]]: When Francis uses the term "fornication" to note the similarities between Sascha and Deep Purple's deaths, Bluebeard replies, [[Deadpan Snarker|"Back in my day, we use to call it screwing."]]

** Likewise, [[Cats Are Mean|huge, hulking, bully Kong]] is shown to have [[Hidden Depths|something of a soft side]] when he {{spoiler|mourns the death of his pregnant mate, Solitaire}}.

* [[Just Between You and Me]]: {{spoiler|Claudandus}} to Francis when he finally discovers who the killer is.

* [[Knights Templar]]: {{spoiler|Claudandus}} presents himself like this, especially in the book.

* [[Mad Scientist]]: Preterius. Though, he's more of a rambling drunken scientist.

* [[Moral Dissonance]]: Felicity says that "humans are the kindest creature there is" in the same space as "Claudandus was viciously tortured by humans." The break between these two realities is at the center of the book's plot.

** It also points out the irony of Felicity's views on humans considering it's heavily implied that she is blind due to humans experimenting on her in the past.

* [[Narm]]: In the English dub, most of the characters sound cartoony (yes, it's an animated movie, but... it's a murder mystery with cats! And sex!)

** The book is a bit more nuanced, because the motivations and origins of {{spoiler|Claudandus}} are explained in more depth. Depending on your perspective, he is [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|simply trying his best to make cats strong enough so they'll never be test subjects to any human again.]]

** And while certainly acting as a [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] up to his final confrontation with Francis, the meaning behind his [[Final Speech]] is open for debate - was it a [[Heel Realization]]?

* [[Nightmare Dreams]]: Francis has several of them, ranging from heavily symbolic to heavily disturbing.

* [[Passing the Torch]]: {{spoiler|Pascal's original intention towards Francis.}}

* [[The Password Is Always Swordfish]]: Francis guesses the password on Pascal's computer fairly easily - it's {{spoiler|Preterius, the name of the scientist whose experiments set Pascal/Claudandus down the path of evil.}}

** Francesca also fails to get any [[Pet the Dog|such moments]], but she's not evil per se - just really domineering, pushy, and a hypocrite.

* [[Poetic Serial Killer|Philosophical Serial Killer]]. It's a rather nihilistic philosophy though. Especially at the end.

** Gregor Mendel and his theories of genetics are a big part of the plot, to the point he's almost a [[Posthumous Character]]. ([[Nightmare Fuel|And he's absolutely terrifying in Francis' dreams.]])

* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: In the first book, Francis delivers one to {{spoiler|Pascal/Claudandus,}} during the latter's [[Motive Rant]].

* [[Sinister Minister]]: Joker, who is one of the leaders of the "Claudandus Sect". He's well-aware of what's really going on and {{spoiler|he allows Claudandus to kill him to prevent the secret from being revealed.}}

* [[Straw Loser]]: Gustav to Francis.. Deep down, however, Francis really does care for his clumsy owner

* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]

* [[Those Two Bad Guys]]: Kong's cohorts, Hermann and Hermann.

* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: {{spoiler|"'No! No! No!' [Pascal] bellowed, his eyes burning with impotent rage and hate. 'There are no good people! They're all the same! Don't you understand that? Animals are good human beings, and human beings are bad animals!'"}}

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Francis and Bluebeard. See [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]].

[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation]]

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Horror Western Animation]]

[[Category:Felidae]]

[[Category:Western Animation]]