Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space (2002) User Reviews

Anime by way of David Lynch

[azderoth · 7/10 · 21 October 2006]

Forget plot. Dispel any notions of linear progression. This is animation simply for the purpose of animation, and it sort of works. This does have a few problems however--I felt it was about ten minutes too long. And the shades of black and white do become a little tedious after awhile (though there is alleviation in the strategic use of colors throughout).

One of the attributes of the movie, the one that could either draw viewers in or send them running, is its tendency to drift in a kind of dream-logic (I feel that animation works well with that sort of surrealistic play) with no regard towards traditional structure. The character design is simple, yet oddly emotive, and the music is dreamy enough to get lost in.

This movie makes me wonder what the next step in these kinds of animation projects is going to be.

Slow, cute, disturbing, inspired, boring, very odd

[ChungMo · 6/10 · 30 December 2007]

Astro Boy style animation meets disturbing, incoherent surrealism in this odd project from a Japanese music duo called toL. I'm ready to try animation experiments anytime (most seem to come from Japan these days) so I was very interested in this film once I had heard of it.

The danger with artistic experiments is that the creators sometimes confuse self-indulgence with creativity and that seems to be on display here. Or perhaps the need to complete a 90 minute movie caused them to stretch out an hour of material past the breaking point. Regardless, I found between the snooze inducing boredom was a lot of brilliance . The perpetual grayness doesn't help as it (and the disjointed narrative) successfully simulates a disturbing dream.

If all was indeed created by only one animator, this person is due a reward. Visually excellent. The music and soundtrack are very good. The basic story, well, lets say it's been done before by Tezuka and other anime creators.

Worth a look if you are interested in the outer reaches of animation or a fan of trippy movies.

Pure Japanese Art!

[thebeastoburden · 10/10 · 3 April 2007]

Granted this is not for everyone since many have poor attention spans and cannot tolerate sub-captions but for the rest of us that appreciate good art no matter what country it is from this is the bee's knees! This jumps from rich animation in deep vivid color and detail and realism to black and white very simplistic 'hello kitty style animation with mouths and moving eyes. The music is pretty damn good as well. keep in mind this is not only done by Japanese it has never really been adapted to fit American culture so do not think this will have the same feel as other Animation titles such as Nausical or Pom Poko. This is the most unique piece of animation I have ever seen so far hands down. In a way it is an homage to classic animation and the modern age as the two differences in animation style constantly converge and diverge throughout. Some scenes are very Fantasia like. Tamala herself is very much a cat in the way she acts and subjects she speaks about. She comes off as cute but has a serious potty mouth at times and she smokes. it is like cute collided head on with reality. Imagine Dot Warner of Animaniacs smoking and letting out four letter expletives while going on freaky adventures. Well I hate to tell Dot Warner this but Tamala IS Cuter than she is! Sorry Dot... The story may come off as undirectional but keep this in mind, Japan is a country of coming to a point indirectly. This is one story that is about the subtleties, the art, the characters, and describes the human condition well in many of the smaller elements in it like references to human extinction and Catty and Co. running everything in an iron fisted monopoly. This is not for children as there is violence and sexual references. Also do not watch this one with huge expectations. It is a lite piece in comparison to say Akira nor is it as direct in story as Kiki's Delivery Service but it is different and for those that are into the different, bazaar, and strange (as well as the non-xenophobic viewers out there) this is a animation that needs to be in your collection. No serious collector of Japanese cinema or animation should be without this even if it is not only tough but expensive to get. I had to look HARD for this one but Yesasia came through for me! Try Amazon Japan as well. It can be had but you got to look. Even though it is my personal opinion I loved this animation and hope more comes from this studio! It was food for my mind!

Some background on t.o.L. and Tamala 2010 production

[chmilar · 4/10 · 5 April 2005]

I attended a screening of Tamala 2010 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The directors, t.o.L. (trees of Life), and animator were present for discussion after the film. It was two years ago, so my memory might be shaky, but I can fill in some information about the production of the film.

t.o.L. is an enigmatic multi-media creative duo (a man and a woman). While they work with animation, illustration, and graphic design, their primary focus seems to be music, and they composed and performed all of the music for the film.

All of the animation was done by one (!) man. He labored for nearly four years animating Tamala 2010. From his comments, it sounds like the directors fed him information about story and scenes, bit by bit, which he would use to animate segments. He usually did not know what was coming next while animating a segment. After the initial character design and style was established, he was left with complete control over his work.

Responding to a question from an audience member, the directors admitted that the idea for "Minerva" was based on "Tristero" from Pynchon's novel "The Crying of Lot 49".

The directors also indicated that they are very interesting in marketing merchandise based on Tamala 2010.

While the film is visually and conceptually interesting, it is disjointed, lacking a smooth flow. This is probably a result of the "make it up as you go" approach to direction and animation. The film could have been more satisfying if it had been planned out more carefully from the beginning.

The music provides continuity and holds the film together, which leads me to believe that music is t.o.L.'s primary interest.

Hello Kitty on LSD, Baby

[ad968 · 29 October 2004]

In the same whimsical frame of mind as the Japanese classic "Funeral Parade of Roses," Tamala 2010 is a surreal journey into the world of cats and product placement. Is that weird enough? My partner wanted to leave the theater the whole time, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this flick. If you can suspend your "Western" need for plot and coherence, sit back and enjoy the fabulous animation (black and white tip o' the hat to Disney's "Steam Boat Willie"), crazy situations and fantastic soundtrack. Any film which takes place on another planet and includes both Hello Kitty drag queens and a mention of the Loch Ness Monster is OK by me. Even if you hate this film, YOU WILL NEVER FORGET IT!

Let's Catty Diet! (Great Movie! Great Soundtrack!)

[alexduffy2000 · 10/10 · 9 April 2004]

"Tamala 2010" is a great animated movie with a great soundtrack, period. I could stop there and the review would be complete, but I'll say more. Much more.

To begin with, this is an animated film by a group that calls itself "t.o.L", and I'm assuming that they came up with the design, the animation, the characters, and the music. It's a film with a plot that could be sketched on a napkin. But that's besides the point. This film is a great fusion of design, 2D and 3D animation, and music in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It's as if the children of the creators of Yellow Submarine approached R. Crumb about making "Fritz the Cat" into a film again, Crumb angrily turns them down, so they go to a group of Japanese animators to make a cat-themed movie, and get the spirit of Philip K. Dick as their creative consultant.

The result is an animated masterpiece where one scene flows into another, largely driven by music and exciting artwork and visuals, but hardly ever by plot. If this sounds like Disney's "Fantasia", it's not. Tamala is a "cute female cat" who is going from CatEarth to Orion to find her mother, but is diverted along the way to Planet Q (or Q Planet) and ends up in "Hate City" which is a skid row slum type of place with a war going on between cats and dogs.

Both CatEarth and Planet Q are highly original creations. We spend most of the movie on Planet Q. Overshadowing everything is the mysterious, sinister, and somehow comforting "Catty & Co." which is a capitalistic conglomerate that controls 99% of all production. Catty & Co. is everywhere, like Big Brother, but more indifferent. It is this "Feline Galaxy" that t.o.L has created that is the big selling point of the movie for me. Now that I've been introduced to it, I want to see more of it, like I want to see more of Springfield each week on "The Simpsons".

The attention to detail is amazing. Every scene in this movie has something to offer. There are no wasted backdrops, everywhere you look there are posters and advertisements for Catty & Co., with a brilliant array of designs. So much work went into this movie, so much care was placed in executing each scene, that I had to see it twice, to see all of the details I missed the first time.

And what about the characters? Tamala is a "cute female cat" as the movie calls her, but she's no "Hello Kitty". She's an enigmatic symbol that the animation flows around. The film get quite a lot of emotional mileage out of these simple characters, considering how simply she, Michelangelo (her friend on Planet Q), and the Professor are drawn by the animators.

This review wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention the great soundtrack. This movie could be broken up into just the animation that goes with the songs and it would still be great. It's a fusion of electronica, heavy metal and pop, and in the context of this film it's fantastic.

This is not a film for young kids, it's pretty much R-rated fare. There are some very violent scenes, and occasional use of the "F-word" by Tamala mostly. Though Tamala makes a few sexually suggestive comments, nothing ever happens, and most of the "sexy" talk is from two gay male cat hustlers who talk about other gay male cats they find attractive, but nothing happens visually, it's all talk. "Hate City" is violent, oppressive, dirty, damaged, it's one perpetual skid row, and I wanted more of it, it was a great, original creation! But it's not for young kids, they wouldn't understand it.

I went to www.tamala2010.com but could not get the Japanese language pack to install, so I could not get any information about whether there will be a sequel, and I was able to find little credible information about t.o.L via Google, so I am in the dark about the future of this "project" as their site calls it. All I can hope is that they will create more planets with dysfunctional societies for Tamala and her friends to explore. This film is a true work of art, and a true 10 out of 10.

Goodbye Kitty

[noothergod · 3/10 · 7 November 2003]

I was very curious about Tamala prior to viewing. I was amused at the animation, which was often clever and espoused a simplistic style not seen in some time. The look of the world was at once both desperate and cartoony. However, this film gave me little beyond eye candy.

The plot was sketchy (animation puns aside), the dialogue was annoyingly simple (though I did see it in English), and there was no real message or purpose. When the film finally ended, all I could say was "Wow, I guess it's over."

More annoying was that the creators tried desperately to create a cult-pop icon. Half the time I felt like Tamala was doing weird things just because weird things are cool and hip with young kids these days. I'm 25, and I found it neither cool nor hip. It was just annoying. Also, Colonel Sanders with a cleaver in his head left a little something to be desired.

If this was supposed to be Hello Kitty for the next generation, I think someone needs to change the litterbox. Something stinks.

animae for people who don't like animae

[michaelj-9 · 9/10 · 27 February 2004]

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.

Cool style but rambling story

[TheSciBoy · 3/10 · 29 September 2003]

The movie is centered around the kitty-cat Tamala, who appears to be about 1 years old but has a potty-mouth and a tendency to drop-kick anyone she passes.

In her universe, cats and dogs are as humans are in ours and Earth, known as Cat Earth, is to a very large extent owned by the large corporation Catty&Co.

(spoiler warning) In the movie, Tamala's attempt to reach her berth place in the Orion system, means she ends up on planet Q, where there is a legend of a god named Tatla who will bring the world to some sort of apocalypse, which will signal the inevitable rebuilding of society in an endless cycle. (end of spoiler)

The unraveling of this storyline is the basis for the entire movie and the single reason for its failure. In its style, it is naive and clear, with all cats and dogs being bug-eyed and drawn in a fifties pattern. Intermittently, the film goes into CG-mode and beautifully rendered sequences of a robot-cat (Tatla) and Cat Earth is shown for what it most likely really looks like.

If the story had been complete, the incoherent story telling style might have succeeded, but as it is, it only succeeds in rambling on and on about Tatla, Tamala and all the other things we don't care about. People were walking out of the theatre all the time while the movie was showing and I don't blame them (at first I did, but towards the end I was also becoming fed up with the incoherency).

I don't mind a story open for interpretation: I loved Lost Highway and still think its a great movie if for no other reason than for the fact that it is SO open for interpretation. But there must be *something* to hang on to, some kind of vested interest from the viewer. In this movie there is none. We are presented with oodles of characters, none of which are particularly interesting or sympathetic and end up not caring what happens to them.

There were a few surprise laughs as Tamala drop-kicked some innocent bystander or said the f-word in some unexpected sentence, but other than that I think most people were mollified by the whole experience.

Go see "Spirited Away" instead, much better and much more engaging.

Cute and Trippy animation Voyage

[p-gonzo · 9/10 · 30 October 2004]

Tamala 2010 is a fantastic, inspired film that floats in a brilliantly imagined cosmos. The entirely animated film flows with creative freedom that suspends your mind in wonder and delight. The visuals range from cutesy cartoon to detailed cold-machine future.

The creator behind this has let his genius go places without restraint and the result is how works of film can really be free of the rationale world -- truly a dream universe where things can change to anything else instantaneously, yet have their own, definitive logic. If you get a chance to see this on the big screen , don't miss it. And although kids coulod actually watch it, it is most definitely designed for adult enjoyment. And you don't need to be an anime fan to like it (I'm not).

Incoherent Mess

[[e-mail] · 2/10 · 26 May 2004]

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.

While cute and enjoyable, the movie is no walk in the park.

[aaronp-5 · 8/10 · 23 October 2003]

While cute and enjoyable, the movie is no walk in the park. The art is fabulous and the plot can be challenging at times. Like most existential movies it will take some time and further viewings to get the most out of it. But the pleasure is all ours as watching this is both moving and entertaining. The best parts are areas where the music melds perfectly with the visuals and the plot. Luckily this happens often. I respect this movie most of all because it isn't lazy. The artists and crew come up with original stuff but they don't hide behind endless wierdness and confusion. This is up there with 2001 in terms of nearly towing the line perfectly between chaos and good old fashioned wierdness. There is a good backbone here, not just a cloud of ideas.

Got Boring Halfway Through

[Gurochan · 4/10 · 8 January 2018]

I went into this hoping for something weird and retro-looking. It has a fun, Felix the Cat vibe and for the first half hour it's pretty engaging. The animation can get a little annoying (you start to wish Tamala would close her mouth), but it's coherent at least. After that it just loses the plot completely. Long, boring sequences of the same bad cgi robot cat going up an escalator, tunnels, etc. time skips/jumps, unexplained things (why were there two of the male cat? what was with the zombie version?). I like a little ambiguity in my movies - the same Hollywood plotlines get boring after a while. But there's a line between that and just not even trying to make any kind of sense and this one crosses it. It's just a drawn out, clumsy dig at corporations. If you want coherency and good animation, look elsewhere.

Great Movie, Memorable Soundtrack

[superchoatie · 19 September 2003]

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.

Plodding, Perplexing, Oddly Compelling

[erinwolth · 8/10 · 16 January 2005]

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.

Like a David Lynch film (no, that's not a good thing)

[vlvetmorning98 · 2/10 · 15 April 2004]

This p***-poor excuse for an animated film has almost no discernible plot or characters you can make heads or tails or out (pun intended). It's supposed to be some sort of tongue-in-cheek comment on 21st century life, but your guess as to what it means is as good as mine. On top of that, the obviously computerized portions look amateurish. The sole bright spot is a pretty hummable soundtrack. Avoid this pretentious, silly mess of a film.

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Great movie

[gorvelalzezcraig · 10/10 · 9 May 2022]

I loved all of the effort and the homage's to lots of other works in this movie. For example, there is a scene about a statue and the song for it is called the happy prince. In the scene, the statue of a prince is repeatedly bitten by a bird in the eye. This scene is a direct reference to the christian book; "The Happy Prince", where a statue of a prince gives his golden statue body to the towns people. The focal point of that book was the idea that the prince was very giving. But the inverse of that is shown in Tamala as the bird was showing it's arrogance and hatred as it pecked at the statue making the prince angry. Subtle details like this is what I love about this movie.