In animation, character design is everything, and the rest can follow, as it is in designing protagonist Francis. Ulrich Tukur voices Francis, who looks like an older calico with hair that’s the right kind of unruly. He, with his human, moves into a new neighbourhood that’s a lot wilder than him and with strange noises. Those strange noises lead him to what he assumes are a handful of cat deaths that have happened recently. But as he learns, those deaths amount up to a cat graveyard, and to investigate, he needs help. Help comes from a bigger cat, Bluebeard (Mario Adorf) and Jesaja (Helge Schneider) , guardian of a cat catacomb. Francis’ investigation leads him to conclude that a cat, Joker (Ulrich Wildgruber) is behind all of the mysterious deaths.

A lot of the character designs in this film from Michael Schaack, are remarkable for showing unique qualities. Bluebeard, for instance, either has a twitchy eye or one that doesn’t function at all to reinforce his toughness. That makes Francis seem fragile in comparison, but of course, Francis has his strengths in his cat paws. The film also takes time to show off textures in its old school animation, reinforcing its tough world. It’s a world, after all, where Francis just finds cats without heads and others on top of each other. These deaths are upsetting on purpose which may turn off cat lovers but might also attract cinephile sickos. I can’t be 100% on board with Felidae, but I admire its aesthetics that one can deem confrontational.

Felidae also gets into some tropes, but that’s customary in mashups where film noirs are in the mix. Francis becomes attached to the cast after seeing Felicitas’ (Mona Seefried) dead, headless body in the first act. The film, then, gets him and Bluebeard to go around in the neighbourhood, meeting some wacky characters. The screenplay here has him asking these wacky cats questions that lead him closer to his conclusions. It is peculiar that Francis figures all of this out while the other cats are oblivious to what is happening. Kudos, though, to the film for being slightly meta about Francis being more intelligent than other cats. Neither does he come off as a cat with a hunch, even though Bluebeard’s side eyes to him hints towards that.

The more we see cats in Felidae, though, the more they look the same, especially in crowds, but at least the main cats look different and have conflicting views about what to do with the cats dying. In a cat forum, Francis bumps heads with older cats who don’t believe he’ll catch the killer. Even Bluebeard thinks that Francis is insisting on leads that won’t amount to anything, like Joker, for example. But both the animation and Tukur’s voice work capture Francis’ determination in catching the killer, whether animal or human. And yes, some viewers can think of the mass murder of cats as a metaphor for something grander. But for the most part, let’s just relax, if we can call it that, and have a gruesome time.