I can see why some reviewers might not care for it, but I think this movie is incredible. It is largely associational, confusing and disjointed, and this is by no means made up for (in fact, perhaps exaggerated) by the long, dull, ex-positional monologue towards the end. But the very fact that the main character nods off repeatedly during said scene is evidence of the film's awareness of its own means and purposes, whatever they may be.Purely affectively, I can say that the experience of watching this movie, if you can let go of plot expectations, is dreamlike, hallucinogenic, thought-provoking, and, as much because of the devastatingly catchy electro-pop soundtrack as any other element, at times transcendental. A shame it's so difficult to come by; I had to buy it region 2.

This movie is a wonderful example of how deep ideas and powerful images are not sufficient to make a movie worth watching. You must tie the two together in some sort of coherent plot, which this movie completely failed to do. Here the movie leaps from scene to scene with little regard for the characters' motivations. Yes, the cat wants to find her mother, but why does she first detour to the unstable Hate Planet? What does the fighting there have to do with her or the story? Further, the ideas should be gradually introduced into the plot, not suddenly spilled out in a monologue so remorselessly tedious that the director finds it necessary for the one of the characters to repeatedly describe himself as bored to death with it. Well, if the director knew he was boring the audience, why didn't he restructure the scene so it wouldn't be boring? The answer is, that would have been real work, and real work is something the people responsible for this film weren't interested in doing. They wanted to show off their fabulous pop images, their "witty" dialog (which most consists of the cute little kitty saying "fucking") and throw out their deep ideas for contemplation. Compare and contrast Shrek I & II with Tamala 2010 to see what proper fantasy is all about. In Shrek we are also bombarded with spectacular images, and interesting ideas about racism, but in the service of a plot which makes sense and keeps the audience interested. Nobody walked out of Shrek, and the laughs went well beyond a cute little kitty using dirty language. There may well have been a great movie hiding inside of Tamala 2010. Pity the director, producer and scriptwriter lacked the time, patience and energy to bring it out.

I went to this movie with no expectations of any kind, except that it was Japanese and animated. What I saw was perplexing and at times disturbing, but completely engaging from beginning to end.If you consider satire comic exaggeration with a moral punch, then this might be satire, though it's difficult to figure out what the moral is. The connections between the title character, Catty & Co., the Fritz Lang style 3-D artificial world, and Minerva are spotty. It would probably help to take notes during the rotting old professor cat's lecture, both at his slide show presentation, and during his confrontation with Michelangelo. For those who haven't seen it or read it elsewhere, these are all cartoon cats.But this is a movie, and you shouldn't need to take notes to enjoy it, and I enjoyed it thoroughly as it was presented. I love the black and white, sharply detailed designs, the splashes of vivid color, especially that painting Tamala discovers in the basement of the museum. The violence gets pretty intense in places, but it works very well and doesn't seem gratuitous.Tamala is worth a second look, but seems to be strictly short-run in most venues here in the U.S. DVDs are available from their website, but they're Region 2. It will probably be a long while before I see it again, but I anxiously await that chance.

A strange, wonderful, dark, cute movie. One of my favourites of all time.Tamala 2010 is a joy to behold, and defies categorization.If you want to go see something different, this is it.