A nicely animated but forgettable movie for younger kids, Spy Cat (also known as Marnie’s World) is the story of pampered house cat Marnie, who is addicted to TV cop shows and yearns to have her own adventures.
When a gang of burglars comes to town (and one moves in with Marnie’s caricatured single woman owner), Marnie decides to investigate with the help of a zebra, a guard dog who is afraid of humans, and a yoga-practising bird. Little kids will probably find it entertaining enough – and cat lovers can at last enjoy a cartoon in which the puss isn’t the baddie – while adults will be bemused/mildly horrified by some of the more ‘adult’ moments slipped in (such as the sexually frustrated chickens begging the cockerel to fertilise them).
There are some funny moments and the movie itself has some lovely backgrounds (the characters themselves are a bit bug-eyed, however) as it turns into something of a furry road movie, but ultimately this German adventure is never in quite the same pet league as The Secret Life Of Pets, Bolt or Cats And Dogs.
Is Spy Cat suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
This does feature a couple of odd ‘adult’ moments that younger kids will most likely miss/not understand – the main one being when a group of female chickens try and coax the cockerel to have sex with them as they haven’t laid any eggs.
In the UK, 57 seconds were cut to receive the U classification – the original PG version had further sex references and rude humour.
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