I just saw this movie online and, seeing how it would likely be my only opportunity to see how bad this is movie is, I actually spent an hour and a half watching this.

To begin, I think I wasted an hour and a half on worse things than this. Granted, I don't like Flash animation that's not made for the Internet.

I did not grow up with Top Cat as a kid, but I did watch the original cartoon for a little over a year and found it funny. I love some Hanna-Barbera classics, like Flintstones, Dexter's Lab, Jetsons, Top Cat and I also like me some Tom and Jerry cartoons.

Sadly, this is barely anywhere near the same charm the original show had. I am more tolerant of bad puns than a lot of people I know, I'm sure, but I barely giggled in a few scenes. Sure, some slapstick humour and a few of the cat puns were funny, but I am quite outraged the movie includes rude humour that was obviously not present on the show.

I don't expect animation and cinema from Latin America to be incredibly super-duper high quality, but I certainly don't expect Latino screenwriters to stoop as low as Hollywood writers. Never in any episode of Top Cat was there verbal toilet humour, ouch-in-the-groin jokes , disgustingly hideous close-ups etc. Plus, I could've sworn that when he was kissed by Trixie (did I mention there was one weak joke too many whenever they got romantic?), he put his folded hands on his groin... did anybody else think it looked like that? But the story itself is not unbearable in my opinion. Sure, it's an extended Top Cat episode, but I have seen worse kids' movies attempting to have a good story, take Over the Hedge for example. I'll give them effort for attempting to introduce Top Cat to a newer generation, but I think modern-day references (cell phones, Times Square looking like it currently does etc.) are really out of keeping with the spirit of the original Top Cat.

The 2D/3D animation combination, though not an eyesore for me, makes little sense. First of all, I would've tolerated a 2D character on a CGI background out of an animated movie from the 1980's/early 1990's, but even in the 90's, animators made it so the CGI was often not so conspicuous to the viewers. The CGI backgrounds obviously exist mainly to try to add depth for the digital 3D format, but since I never saw the 3D version, I cannot judge that.

All in all, I rate this 5 mainly for not boring me to death, attempt to introduce Top Cat and co to today's audiences, I saw it online for free, making the characters look more like the original show than Hollywood moneymakers might attempt to try, having OK music, a passable story, and a good use of "New York Groove" in the end credits.

This movie has really a really rough beginning that might make most people stop wanting to watch it, but if you sit through it to the end, you'll probably get some mileage out of it.

The first 20 minutes resemble an episode of a basic 70's TV show redone for the CGI era. Here we're introduced to all the characters. Don Gato (Top Cat) is an unethical scoundrel of an alley cat who's the leader and smartest member of a group of other extremely dim petty criminal cats.

There's Officer Matuto, the police officer who wants to keep order, a female cat who is the love interest, and the villain who's simply a caricature of an ugly and neurotic man who is also very vain.

Don Gato goes through a CGI New York City obstacle course, meets a really dumb dog who fights with him, flirts inappropriately with the female cat, and then tries to rob jewels from a rich guy while Matuto tries to catch him.

The film then jarringly transitions into a very elementary apocalyptic science fiction, reusing the characters from the first part. Matuto wants to become chief of police but his position is usurped by the the villain from the first part who is now a technocrat and the female cat from the first part is his secretary. Although Don Gato met all these characters by happenchance at the beginning of the film, they happen to become extremely important to his life. Coincidences, coincidences.

The second part is a really elementary apocalyptic satire about the villain trying to take over the city (or world?) with police robots made in china. I think the first part was made to appeal to original viewers and the second part was meant to bring in new viewers by appealing to more current trends.

This part has some really funny jokes and poignant social critiques, but it's all seeped in playground comedy and I can't say that everything is funny or clever.

Stock happy resolution with every favourable character getting rewarded and every bad character getting his comeuppance.

If you have to sit through it, you'll probably find it mildly entertaining and it's more adventurous than a typical US film (I think it's actually a Mexican film), but it's nothing special.

Honourable Mentions: Recess: School's Out (2001) Like Don Gato, which is about larcenous alley cats and becomes an apocalyptic AI movie, Recess: The Movie also starts out with an equally humble roster of elementary school students on the playground and it expands to become a government conspiracy action thriller.

For those who think this pays homage to an icon of the American Childhood, think again, this doesn't pay homage to it, it practically destroys its very memory. The Voice acting is a joke, the animation has gone from classical drawn animations with smooth movements to something that could have been done by a 1st year art student, the 3d backgrounds are dark and grainy, the characters have been cut down from their original dignified selves into God only knows what and there's this idiotic running gag about how the bad guy constantly talks about how handsome he is even though he's as ugly as sin. But unlike most running gags where it comes up only every other time, say three or four times throughout the whole film, this one brings it up all the time, I'd say I counted it being brought up about 15 to 20 times in one half our section, talk about wearing it thin. Care Bears in Wonderland did a better job with Grumpy Bear's desire for food!

Basically folks, steer clear of this mess if you want your childhood memories to stay perfectly intact and/or if you want your children's sanity intact.