Cat City Collection: Standard Edition – Deaf Crocodile (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: Hungary, 1986 (Cat City), Hungary, 2007 (Catcher: Cat City 2)
Director: Béla Ternovszky (Both Films)
Cast: Miklós Benedek, Gyula Bodrogi, Ilona Béres, Péter Haumann, András Kern, Ferenc Kállai, János Körmendi, István Mikó, Károly Mécs, Vera Pap, Zsuzsa Pálos, László Sinkó, Gyula Szombathy (Cat City), László Sinkó, Péter Rudolf, Miklós Benedek, Péter Haumann, György Dörner, Béla Stenczer, Péter Balázs, Mátyás Usztics, Gábor Reviczky (Catcher: Cat City 2)

Release Date: October 13th, 2026
Approximate Running Times: 97 Minutes 18 Seconds (Cat City), 94 Minutes 6 Seconds (Catcher: Cat City 2)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Cat City), 1.78:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Catcher: Cat City 2)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Stereo Hungarian (Cat City), DTS-HD 5.1 Hungarian (Catcher: Cat City 2)
Subtitles: English (Both Films)
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $34.95

Cat City: "Set in the year 80 AMM (“After Mickey Mouse”) on Planet X where cats and rats have banded together to eliminate mice, the film features a show-stopping series of musical numbers including a bizarre chorus of Mexican vampire bats who inhabit an ancient Mayan temple." - synopsis provided by the distributor 

Catcher: Cat City 2: "It’s 20 years after the epochal battle between cats, rats and mice in the beloved original CAT CITY.  Planet X is now peacefully run by rodents, and former secret agent Nick Grabovsky has an organic spinach farm – until an African explorer discovers the last untamed tribe of cats in the jungle, who call up the ancient feline demon Moloch to help reclaim their place atop the food chain." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (Cat City, Catcher: Cat City 2)

Here’s the information provided about Cat City's transfer, "Cat City was restored in 4k by The National Film Institute Film Archive of Hungary."

Cat City comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 43 GB

Feature: 24.1 GB

Catcher: Cat City 2 comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 35.3 GB

Feature: 27 GB

Vital Passenger provides high-quality encodes for both films, and their sources are in excellent shape. Colors look correct, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid.

Audio: (Both Audio Tracks)

Cat City comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD stereo mix in Hungarian with removable English subtitles. Catcher: Cat City 2 comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in Hungarian with removable English subtitles. Both tracks sound excellent; dialogue comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds are well-represented.

Extras:

Extras on the Blu-ray disc with Cat City include an archival interview with director Béla Ternovszky discussing his career at Pannonia Studio titled We Just Made It For The Fun Of It (30 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Hungarian with removable English subtitles), an archival video essay by Péter Szalay about Cat City titled Ahead Of Its Time (26 minutes 53 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Hungarian with removable English subtitles), an archival extra titled The Director Answers: Béla Ternovsky (23 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Hungarian with removable English subtitles), an interview with György Ráduly, director of the National Film Institute-Film Archive, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile (46 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with film historian Samm Deighan, and three animated short films directed by Béla Ternovszky: Modern Training Methods (6 minutes 24 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono with text in Hungarian and removable English subtitles), Let’s Keep a Dog (6 minutes, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono with text in Hungarian and English, no subtitles), and Where Is the Limit (7 minutes 3 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono with text in Hungaria, no  subtitles).

Modern Training Methods: Béla Ternovsky’s wicked and gruesome satire of athletic training.

Let’s Keep a Dog: For dog lovers everywhere, this classic Pannonia Studio short is fueled by a wildly groovely 70s jazz-funk score.

Where Is the Limit: A cheerfully oblivious orange figure bumbles from one surreal situation into another until he discovers he can escape from the cartoon world into the real one with unexpected consequences.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc with Catcher: Cat City 2 include an interview with Béla Ternovszky, translated by Anna Klaniczay, moderated by Dennis Bartok (45 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English and Hungarian translated into English), a video essay by film historian Evan Chester titled The Satirical, Postmodern World of Cat City (15 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with filmmaker and animator Dorian Saisse.

Other extras include reversible cover art and a 48-page booklet with an essay titled Cat City written by Walter Chaw, an essay titled Catcher: Cat City 2 written by Dan Schindel, an essay titled About the Films of the Ternovszky-Nepp Duo written by Anna Ida Orosz, Cat City Sketches, and information about Cat City’s transfer.

Summary:

Cat City: A crime syndicate run by cats joins forces with rats to exterminate the mouse population from planet X. The only thing standing in their way is a secret agent named Nick Grabowsky, who’s tasked with retrieving microfilm with plans for a cat catcher device.

While the premise presents a clear goal for the protagonist Nick Grabowsky, it is not what makes Cat City so enjoyable to watch and rewatch. What drives its narrative is its colorful cast of characters, many of whom might look familiar since Cat City is overflowing with pop culture references. Another strength of the narrative is how it balances time between cats and mice. That said, the narrative does an excellent job building momentum as it moves briskly to its very satisfying finale.

Besides being a satire of the spy film, Cat City is also a biting critique of bureaucracy and its inefficiency and authoritarianism. Cat City’s 2D cel animation holds up incredibly well. Cat City’s color palette does a superb job of reinforcing its dystopian vibe. When it comes to humor, it's a perfect mix of funny dialogue and outrageous situations. Ultimately, Cat City is a highly entertaining film that works as well as it does because it deals with universal themes that transcend language barriers.

Catcher: Cat City 2: Twenty years after the events of Cat City, the narrative picks up in a remote area of central Africa where a lone cat tribe still dominates mice. When the cats hear what’s happened to cats elsewhere, they summon Moloch, who helps them in their quest to liberate tamed cats and regain control over the mice.

Like its predecessor, Catcher: Cat City 2 is filled with pop culture references; unfortunately, all similarities end there. Where Cat City was very effective at employing social commentary that perfectly weaved into the narrative, Catcher: Cat City 2 is the polar opposite. While Catcher: Cat City 2’s opening setup is strong, what unfolds is an all-too-predictable narrative that tends to drag, killing any momentum. Another area that did not work for me was the animation; while more modern than Cat City’s 2D cel animation, it does not hold up as well as its predecessor. Ultimately, Catcher: Cat City 2 is another in a long line of sequels that fail to capture the magic of its predecessor.

Cat City Collection is another solid release from Deaf Crocodile. Recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer