Also Known As: Miss Minoes; Undercover Kitty

Directed by: Vincent Bal

This review contains some implied Kitty Carnage Warnings!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Based on the book by Annie M.G. Schmidt. A cat is transformed into a woman named Miss Minoes (Carice van Houten) via a chemical reaction. She tries to adjust to the human world by helping a reporter named Tibbe (Theo Maassen) find stories through a cat network.

Cat Cattle Call: (Note, we are basing this review off the English language dub). The film begins with the cat Minoes tasting some chemical substance spilling from a drum that has fallen off a truck, despite warnings from her sister.

Tibbe works at a local newspaper where an orange tabby named Tinus hangs out. Tibbe is friendly with the cat.

On his way home, Tibbe is surprised to find a woman in a tree. This is Minoes who has changed into a woman. Confused by her situation, Minoes goes to see her Auntie Moor, a small white Persian who belongs to the Burgemeester.

Realizing she has nowhere else to go, Minoes shows up inside Tibbe’s apartment where he is trying to make a story out of his earlier encounter with her. Tibbe is surprised when Minoes has inside information about him that she learned from Auntie Moor. Minoes then tells Tibbe about the pastor’s cat, Mrs. Pastor, finding a pot of gold coins which leads Tibbe to a front page story.

Realizing the value of Minoes information, Tibbe lets her stay with him. She spends much time on the roof making connections with the neighborhood cats, who don’t trust her at first. Among these are a black cat named Joe, the gray tabby Mrs. Pastor, a lascivious ginger and white tabby named Casanova, a gray English Shorthair named Jakkepoes and a simple-minded tabby and white cat named Simon.

Minoes is able to convince them she is one of them by singing The Great Meow Meow Song.

The cats provide Minoes with news, she rewards them with fish and Tibbe gets the inside scoop on all the local happenings.

A scandal arises when Jakkepoes gives birth to a little of kittens in an abandoned trailer which leads to trouble.

In search of food, Jakkepoes ventures into a banquet set out by a man named Ellemeet Mevrouw (Pierre Bokma), a rich businessman who also heads the local Club for Friends of Animals. The man is actually a crook who is using old chemical waste repurposed into deodorant (the same chemical which changed Minoes into a person).

Implied Kitty Carnage Warnings! When Ellemeet sees Jakkepoes stealing his food, he hits her with a wine bottle. Fortunately she is not seriously hurt but she tells Minoes the truth about the important man. In a later scene, he kicks another cat. Both of these violent actions are implied and not actually shown onscreen.

Minoes, Tibbe, Tibbe’s young friend and neighbor Bibi (Sarah Bannier) and the neighborhood cats all work together to expose the evil man and his schemes.

There is also an exciting sequence in which Jakkepoes kittens are in danger of ending up in a trash truck, with Minoes, Bibi and the cats trying to find them.

In the end Minoes has the chance to turn back into a cat. But will she? You’ll have to watch to find out!

This is a very charming film which is sure to delight cat lovers both young and old.

The cat actors were provided by Animal Artists Holland and most likely trained by Marlies.

Final Mewsings: A person would understandably want to be a cat, but what cat would want to be a person?

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