Felidae: Deluxe Limited Edition (4K UHD Review)
- Review Date: Jan 02, 2025
- Format: 4K Ultra HD
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Director
Michael SchaackRelease Date(s)
1994 (December 31, 2024)Studio(s)
Fontana/Senator Film/TFC Trickompany (Deaf Crocodile Films)- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: A-
- Extras Grade: B+
Review
Felidae is a fascinating example of the limitless possibilities of animation as an art form. Animation is capable of telling any kind of story in any style whatsoever, from purely realistic to wildly expressionistic. The only real limit on it is the boundaries of human imagination, although Mankind being a stubbornly hierarchical animal, sometimes we try to impose arbitrary limits that shouldn’t exist. Even in the Wild West media landscape of today, some people are still far too quick to dismiss animation as “kid’s stuff.” Yet those who do try to draw a line between children’s animation and adult animation are still overlooking the fact that there’s a broad continuum between those two extremes. Felidae actually draws from both traditions. Stylistically, this feline murder mystery is as far removed from Ralph Bakshi’s anthropomorphized animals in Fritz the Cat as is (in)humanly possible, with the cats looking more like something out of Marten Rosen’s adaptations of Watership Down and The Plague Dogs than like anything out of R. Crumb. Yet in terms of content, Felidae is filled with concepts and imagery that would have made even Richard Adams blush. As one of the characters helpfully notes, “Truly these madcap activities (are) beyond The Aristocats.”
Director Michael Schaack drew from a variety of different artistic traditions in Felidae as well, and while there’s no Bakshi-style rotoscoping or overtly Disneyesque elements in it (it’s definitely beyond The Aristocats), he did borrow from former Disney animator Don Bluth, which is perfectly appropriate since there’s more than a touch of The Secret of NIMH present in the story. Yet there are also some ferocious Gerard Scarfe-style visions of horror in Felidae, especially in its most graphic moments (and make no mistake, there are some extremely graphic sequences in Felidae). Yet that’s appropriate as well, since it deliberately echoes Scarfe’s work in Pink Floyd – The Wall, for reasons that will become obvious as the story progresses.
Felidae is indeed structured as a murder mystery, although it’s far from a simple whodunit. While there are film noir and detective elements present in the narrative, there are far deeper conspiracies lurking beneath these ostensibly simple surface textures. Francis (Ulrich Tukur) is a cat who lives an itinerant existence thanks to his owner Gustav (Manfred Steffen), an aspiring archaeologist who pays the bills by writing pulp fiction. Gustav picks up stakes and moves every time that he feels the need to find a new muse, so Francis ends up constantly roaming as well. They end up moving into a dilapidated old house where Francis discovers a mutilated cat’s body outside. That leads him to discover a string of similar killings, so he decides to investigate who or what may be behind the carnage. He’s aided in his mission by neighborhood cats like Bluebeard (Mario Adorf), Claudandus (Klaus Maria Brandauer), and Jesaja (Helge Schneider), with antagonistic cats like Kong (Wolfgang Hess) and Joker (Ulrich Wildgruber) nipping at his heels. Yet it’s no mere serial killer at work in this particular neighborhood, but rather something much darker and far more primal, and Francis will have to fight for his life in order to get to the bottom of everything.
Felidae is based on the first of a series of novels by German-Turkish writer Akif Pirinçci, with Pirinçci himself contributing to the script (along with screenwriter Martin Kluger). As a result, the film is quite faithful to the book, which is ironic considering how Pirinçci has evolved since he originally wrote it in 1989. Felidae explores themes of genetic experimentation, racial purity, and the cult of personality, drawing obvious parallels to Nazi experimentation on “inferior” races in their pursuit of perfecting their own “master race.” Along the way, many of the neighborhood’s cats are caught up in a religious fervor in support of a charismatic leader, even sacrificing themselves for what they perceive as being the greater good. All of that is presented in the film as being properly horrifying, with Francis and some of his newfound allies forming a resistance against what’s actually the greater evil. There’s no ambiguity whatsoever in film, nor was there in the book, either; Pirinçci’s perspectives back then were crystal-clear.
Of course, people change, and not always for the better. Pirinçci has become an increasingly controversial figure in Germany over the last decade or so, expressing his newfound anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim perspectives in rather disturbing terms. While he hasn’t necessarily explicitly embraced the neo-Nazi movement, he’s bluntly stated that he doesn’t care if people call him a Nazi. His incendiary statements resulted in his books being removed from the German marketplace, and he was eventually convicted of incitement to violence in 2024. While there are legitimate arguments to be made regarding limitations on free speech, it’s important to remember that Germany has a very good reason for being a bit less tolerant of hate speech than some other countries are. They’ve decided to try to learn from the lessons of the past, rather than being condemned to repeat them (although in the current political moment, some nationalist doors appear to be opening that were perhaps best left closed).
Fortunately, works of art abide regardless of the vicissitudes of fate. Once an artist releases a work into the public sphere, its meaning is constructed in the mind of the consumer, no longer by the original creator. Nothing that Pirinçci can do or say now will ever take away from the stark warnings against supremacism (of all kinds) that he presented in Felidae. It’s a vivid reminder that we can all do better.
Felidae was created via traditional cel animation and photographed on 35mm film by Werner Loss and Anatole Livera, framed at 1.85:1 for its theatrical release. This version is based on a 4K scan of the original camera negative, cleaned up and graded for High Dynamic Range in both Dolby Vision and HDR10. As Craig Rodgers explains in his restoration notes, the negative did display some shrinkage and early signs of vinegar syndrome, but the good news is that the original elements were available for the film’s opening title sequence, not just the dupe negative with the titles burned in. Deaf Crocodile chose to take advantage of that fact and generate new opening titles digitally to run over the clean background animation, which avoided the generational loss that would have otherwise been visible during the sequence.
The cleanup work was done with Deaf Crocodile’s usual care, so most of the actual damage to the negative has been reduced or even eliminated, but the film grain and most of the cel dirt from the animation process are still intact. Aside from that dirt (which is a part of the original production) and a stray hair or two at the bottom edge of the frame, everything looks as clean as possible while still preserving the actual textures of both the background artwork and the film itself. The contrast is essentially perfect, with no loss of pictorial information at the darkest edge of the spectrum, and the brightest highlights like the electrical arcs in the “sacrifice” scenes really glow. The orange flames from the hellscape nightmare scenes also stand out. The overall color scheme of Felidae is frequently somewhat muted, but those drab tones help to draw attention to the occasional splashes of brighter color. This is one case where the Wide Color Gamut of HDR is beneficial in delineating all of the subtle gradations between the shadings. It’s a great 4K presentation.
(Craig Rogers says that there’s a single frame in the film where an insect had landed on the cel, and they chose to leave it alone as a sort of an Easter egg. I never spotted it, but please let us know if you do.)
Audio is offered in German 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio, with optional English and English SDH subtitles. Felidae was released theatrically in Dolby SR (Dolby Stereo with their Spectral Recording noise reduction), so this is a four-channel mix matrix encoded into two. Environmental effects like thunder, rain, leaves blowing in the wind, and dogs barking in the distance are all steered to the surrounds, so be sure to engage your decoder. It’s a lively mix overall, with plenty of directionalized effects across the front soundstage and ambient effects in the rear. The dialogue remains clear at all times, and the score by Anne Dudley has plenty of depth to it—as does the title song, co-written and performed by none other than Boy George.
Note that there is an English language dub for Felidae, but it’s been omitted here because Deaf Crocodile wasn’t able to clear the rights for it. Since the German track is the original language, that shouldn’t be a major issue for most people, but YMMV. (Also, it’s worth pointing out that the English language cast listed on IMDb is pure fantasy, so don’t expect an all-star cast if you do track down the dubbed version.)
The Deaf Crocodile Deluxe Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD release of Felidae is a two-disc set that includes a Blu-ray with a 1080p copy of the film. It also includes an 80-page booklet featuring essays by Jennifer Lynde Barker and Walter Chaw, plus original character design artwork and restoration notes. Everything comes housed in a rigid slipcase featuring artwork by Paul Bolger. There’s also a card tucked inside with a QR code that can be scanned in order to access transcribed versions of the bonus content. Note that Deaf Crocodile is also offering a Standard Edition that omits the booklet and the slipcase, although it still includes the QR code. The following extras are included on both discs, all of them in HD:
- Audio Commentary by Dr. Will Dodson and Ryan Verrill
- Interview with Michael Schaak (63:21)
- Interview with Armen Melkonian (54:25)
- 30th Anniversary Reunion of Felidae Animators (59:33)
The commentary pairs Ryan Verrill of The Disc-Connected podcast with Will Dodson, assistant professor of Media Studies at UNC Greensboro. They read passages from the novel in order to compare how faithfully that it was replicated on film, using that as a way to break down the characters (including their breeds!) and their places in the story. They also break down the use of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and how it indirectly applies to the life of Claudandus. That opens the door to further examine the philosophical underpinnings present in Pirinçci’s novel that aren’t addressed quite as directly in the film, although the themes still come through. Naturally, Verill and Dodson also provide biographical information about the cast and crew, as well as some stories about the production (including Pirinçci’s later extremism). All that, and a few bad puns as well. Since Felidae may be completely unfamiliar to many viewers, this commentary is a fine way to be brought up to speed about it.
The rest of the extras consist of three different interviews conducted online by Deaf Crocodile’s Dennis Bartok. The first is with Michael Schaak. It’s a wide-ranging conversation, covering everything from his personal details to the challenges that they faced in bringing Felidae to life on physical media. In between those two points, they delve deeply into the making of the film, including translating the novel into animation, presenting a cat’s point-of-view, and dealing with the dark nature of the story. Schaak also describes some of the technical process involved with the animation at the time, and explains why he eventually left the changing business—he considers himself an analogue person, not a digital one (and he even admits that this was his first experience with Zoom).
The second interview is with Armen Melkonian, who served as production designer and storyboard artist on Felidae. They also start by covering details about his personal background and career, as well as some general information about doing layout work for animation and how that affects the look of the final film. From there, they dial into specific details about his work on Felidae, with Bartok showing him some images from the film and Melkonian explaining the thought processes behind them. Melkonian says that he doesn’t have a favorite among all the projects that he’s worked on, with all of them being steps on the journey of his learning process.
The final interview is a group session reuniting several animators and artists who worked on Felidae: Doug Bennett, Paul Bolger, Eamonn Butler, Bernie Denk, and Desmond Downes. Between the five of them, they have an extensive filmography that includes disparate projects like Wreck-It-Ralph, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Cool World, The Thief and the Cobbler, Heavy Metal, Prince of Egypt, and Avengers: Endgame. After a lengthy round-robin recap of their backgrounds, they explain how they became involved with Felidae and the process of bringing Akif Pirinçci’s cats world to life without overly anthropomorphizing them. They break down each character individually, and address the violence and feline sex in the film (and yes, one of them eventually gets to the obvious pun in the latter regard).
There’s plenty of good information to be gleaned from all of these interviews, and combined with the commentary track, it’s several hours of content. Add in the stellar 4K presentation of Felidae itself, and you have another winner from Deaf Crocodile. They’ve already established themselves as the home for international animation of all types, from Benny’s Bathtub to Cat City, The Pied Piper, Son of the Stars, and beyond. They’ve even become the destination for home-grown animators like Bill Plympton, with their release of The Tune being just a taste of what’s to come. Hopefully, their welcome foray into 4K UHD is also a taste of more great 4K releases in the offing. Felidae really shines in the format, and while it’s decidedly not for all tastes, it’s a great addition to the library of any genuinely adventurous animation fan.
- Stephen Bjork
(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).