It was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Hakuhodo, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi and Toho, and distributed by the latter company.

It stars Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Tetsu Watanabe, Yosuke Saito, Aki Maeda and Tetsurō Tamba.

Soon after meeting them, Haru and Muta are forcefully taken to the Cat Kingdom, leaving Toto and Baron in the human world to follow the group from the air.

The King goes through a series of efforts to keep them in the kingdom long enough for Haru to remain trapped in her cat form; his ultimate plan is to force her to become his daughter-in-law.

Prince Lune and his guards return to the Cat Kingdom, revealing that the King was not acting on his behalf and that he plans on proposing to Yuki.

Haru returns to the human world with more self-confidence; after learning from her friend, Hiromi, that her former crush has broken up with his girlfriend, she simply replies, "It doesn't matter anymore."

In 1995, Studio Ghibli released a film titled Whisper of the Heart, based on a manga by Aoi Hiiragi about a girl writing a fantasy novel.

Hayao Miyazaki wanted three key elements to feature in the short — these were the Baron, Muta (which appears in Whisper of the Heart as Moon), and a mysterious antique shop.

Miyazaki then took the existing work done by the "Cat Project" and used it as testing for future Studio Ghibli directors — the short was now to be 45 minutes long.

Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki decided to produce a feature-length film based entirely on Morita's storyboard; this was partly because Haru, the main character, had a "believable feel to her".

[12] Michael Booth of The Denver Post noted that director Morita "has a slightly cruder, more realistic sense of the world and its looniness than does Miyazaki, and you can see where The Cat Returns moves on a different track even as it pays homage to Japan's current animation master.

"[14] The film was dubbed in English by Walt Disney Pictures with the voices of Anne Hathaway, Cary Elwes, Peter Boyle, Elliott Gould, Tim Curry, Judy Greer, and Kristen Bell, for a release on DVD on February 22, 2005, alongside Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Porco Rosso.

The story in the manga is largely the same as in its film adaptation, with a few minor differences, including a comedic ending in which the cat Natoru comes into Haru's room and pesters her.

Haru's hair was visually longer and darker in Hiiragi's illustrations, although the character Muta retained his general appearance from the manga in the film adaptation.