Review: Cat Burglar

Advances in adult animation are happening all around us, but Netflix is by far at the forefront. Last year, the streamer debuted Arcane, an animated series that looked better than most Marvel films. This year, we’re seeing agencies make investments in NFT projects, series and films being developed by gaming engines, and companies like Trioscope who are towing the lines between animation and live-action content.

Netflix’s Cat Burglar offers another enhancement. While a bunch of hoopla has been made regarding The Cuphead Show and it’s game-inspired look and premise, here comes a short film that makes you pay attention by somehow trying to balance laughing hysterically at Tex Avery-era Looney Tunes hijinks and somehow answer questions in a timely manner so that you can advance in the story. If you’re able to get every question correctly, “Rowdy” (James Adomian) a feline burglar attempting to pilfer some valuable artwork from a local museum while a watchdog named “Peanut” (Alan Lee) keeps watch. If you get everything correct in one swoop, your Cat should be victorious. Spend your three lives, and you have to start all over again.

Of course, half the fun is getting wrong questions just to see what happens to Rowdy. Fans of old-school Tom & Jerry, Wile E. Coyote, and others will have a rip-roaring good time watching Rowdy get torn apart. Keep getting correct questions, then it’s Peanut who gets the brunt of the abuse. Of course, some of the questions are friggin’ ridiculous ( I got a line of questioning about jazz music, like, who the fuck is an expert on JAZZ music?), but if you are able to remember the incorrect guesses, you should be able to proceed just fine. Yes, the run-time is 15 minutes, but you could be here for over an hour having a blast going through the different “doors” to see what are behind them and it’s a bunch of fun.

Nobody else is doing this type of content right now, and we are very much in an adult animation renaissance. Cat Burglar is the tip of the spear in what could be a real merge of gaming and original series in the coming years.