MINOES

Longtime patrons of our Family component may remember “Whiskers” (21st CIFF 1997), the Canadian charmer about a pet cat who turns into a man. But why should boys have all the fun? A generation of Benelux children has been captivated by “Minnie,” cat-lady heroine of Hans Christian Andersen Award-winning writer Annie M.G. Schmidt. Now (on little cat feet) creeps in MINOES, the purr-fectly entertaining and funny film adaptation of Schmidt's novel, in which Minoes, a typical feline resident of the village of Killendoom, undergoes a strange transfiguration after a drum of the town's main product deodorant falls off a truck. The new Minoes looks like a human woman, yet she still can't resist the urge to prowl the rooftops by night, for gossip and caterwauling with other cats in the neighborhood. She still scampers up trees to get away from even the smallest dogs. And she'll still try to gulp down a mouse or bird if she can. Like most cats Minoes knows who she likes. And she likes Tibbe, a shy reporter in trouble with his boss because he would rather write nice stories about animals than ask prying questions of people. With Miss Minoes his new personal secretary and her four-legged friends as tipsters, Tibbe now learns the community's secrets. And the stinkiest ones involve Killendoom's main benefactor, the respected but duplicitous deodorant tycoon Ellemeet. How can Tibbe unmask Ellemeet when he can't reveal that his main source is an all-cat news service? (In Dutch with English subtitles)