Top Cat: The Movie

Top Cat: The Movie (also known as Don Gato y su Pandilla, literally Top Cat and his Gang) is a 2011 3D Mexican flash-animated action-comedy film based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the same title, Top Cat. It was released in Mexican and Latin American 2D and 3D theaters on September 12, 2011. In the United Kingdom, it is set to be released in theatres on June 1, 2012 and formated in both 2D and RealD 3D formats. It became a box office success upon its original release in Mexico and Latin America.

Storyline
The movie starts off in New York City, with Top Cat waking up in the New York pier for his lunch appointment as he rides a helicopter to get to the city and travels in various ways to get to the restaurant. While enjoying his lunch date with Benny, he sees a beautiful female cat, named Trixie. As Top Cat tries to approach her, his enemy dog, Griswald stops right in front of him and started chasing Top Cat. After he got passed Griswald, Top Cat finally met Trixie and they introduce each other. As Griswaldd tries to get Top Cat but is cemented, T.C. throws bird seed at him for the birds, but as he said, "Now, where were we?", Trixie disappears.

Later at the alley, Benny is making his famous soup and Top Cat returns home and tells him about Trixie. As Benny tries out his soup, Officer Dibble comes to tell Top Cat and his pals that they are not allowed to come to Connity Hall, because he is up for a very important promotion. Then after he heard, T.C. looks up a paper about Lazlo-Lazlo coming to Connity Hall to perform and his biggest fan, Maharajah of Pikachu, who is known for giving away rubies as tips, is the most expected V.I.P. to come to see Lazlo-Lazlo's performance. Then Top Cat cat calls his gang for an announcement. For instance, Choo-Choo was playing bingo, Spook was playing pool, Fancy-Fancy was on a date with a cat, much to his dismay, and Brain who is arguing with his reflection.

During the meeting, Benny told Top Cat that Officer Dibble will be at the Connity Hall to guide Pikachu, so Top Cat decided to disguise himself as "The Shiek Alley Cat". Brain also replied, "Hey! Where's T.C.?", much to the cats' dismay.

Later that night at Connity Hall, Officer Dibble is there to guide Pikachu. Then, Top Cat and his gang tries to enter the Connity Hall, but there's a ticket collector at the front. But the ticket counter was sold out for tonight. Then, Brain said that we can steal tickets, but Top Cat stopped him, by telling his gang that they're conmen, which means they only steal something from someone that deserves to be stolen.

Then they encounter another V.I.P., Lou Stricklamd, who thinks he is the most handsome person ever, and bought 6 tickets online, so he doesn't have to will with audience. Then Top Cat "collects" his tickets, which he actually stole them for his gang. Then out of anger, he throws a line pole at the glass door, then he catches his limo, where Trixie appears and says, "well that was a quick show, wasn't it?", but Strickland told her to never mind the show.

Later at Connity Hall, few minutes before the show, Choo-Choo is selling candy, programs, and souvenirs to people, where Dibble has to stop Choo-Choo, otherwise he will be fired. Then as Dibble walked out of his seat, Top Cat sneaks next to Pikachu, whereas he introduces himself and his "associate", "Shabby Shiek" (Benny). After T.C. tells Pikachu that they met during a debate, he becomes confused as he doesn't remember meeting him there, where he uses his prototype Maharajah Talk 5000, which he tells Top Cat that it can turn into anything (an old camera, an MP3 Player, clock, microphone, flashlight, pencil holder, suitcase, etc.). It also reminds him of important appointment, where it reminds him that the show is about to start.

As it starts, Top Cat tells him that he wouldn't be surprised if he missed a note, but much to his dismay, Pikachu tells him he never misses a note, which he will take all his rubies on it, which Top Cat accepts the bet. Then as he tells Benny if the gang are in position, he replied yes and gives the signal, where Spook paints an "X" on the floor, then Fancy-Fancy unties a rope with a sandbag and hits the "X", and then the floor hit his groin, where he stopped playing and groans in pain, which means that Top Cat won the bet. Unfortunately, Pikachu has out all of his rubies as tips, which shows a counter guy can't scan the ruby, a police finds a ruby stuck in a parking slot, and a monkey is confused with that ruby.

Meanwhile, when Dibble is coming back, Top Cat and Benny have to leave, but Pikachu gives him the Maharajah Talk 5000 and tells T.C. he will find it more valuable. Later, while they pass Dibble, Benny accidentally said, "hello" to Dibble, where he catches Top Cat. Then Dibble tries to catch Top Cat, because he will be fired if he doesn't. Then as they try to escape, they found a door, but they have to pick one of the four ropes that can pull them up.

Back at the alley, Dibble is complaining about the cats because he wanted to impress the police chief who's retiring, but since there was a newspaper article where Officer Dibble ruins the performance at Connity Hall. then he got a call from the police chief to tell him to come to the police station for an important announcement, where he thinks he's going to become the new police chief of New York City. Then after he is gone, they threw a "party for Dibble", which is actually a going away party.

Meanwhile, at the police station, the former police chief is telling him who the new police chief is going to be (he has took his place, he has been given trust, he has a voice slightly higher than normal, born on December 18, etc.). He is Lou Strickland, who is surprised that he shared the same birthday with Dibble, and he replaced every police men with computers, he says that because people make mistakes. But he decided not to fire Dibble because he needed him to help with the computers.

Later on, Dibble rushed back to the alley, but Strickland was already there. Then after Brain tells Dibble that his stuff is being taken away, Benny told Strickland they met at the Lazlo-Lazlo concert. Then as Top Cat tries to clear things up, they found out that Strickland is a hologram and tells Dibble to report back to the police station and as for Top Cat, he tells him that he will deal with him later on.

Back at the police station, Strickland is letting Dibble keep his job and goes to his office, but is small, where he meets Jerry. Outside the station, Top Cat tells the gang the coast is clear and that they can have all-night parties and can have a better and easier life. But as they approach the alley, they saw a security camera and an electric fence and they try to find a way to get back inside, where Benny shows him about a gorilla that is for sale at the zoo.

Back at the police station again, Strickland introduces his new police robots to the mayor of New York City, where he tells him, "You can trick a policeman, but you can never trick technology". Back at the alley, Benny dances Hawaiian-style with Bananas to attract the gorilla. After he throws his bananas over the fence, the Gorilla opens the gate and the gang cheered for Top Cat. But after they realize the Gorilla is still very hungry, they have to feed the gorilla everything they have, but after they ran out of everything they had, the gorilla started to attack the cat gang.

Later at the police station, as the mayor was about to give him the check, the gorilla at the camera roared at the screen, which the mayor decided not to give him the check. Then while Trixie told him she happened to know Top Cat, Strickland has a plan.

At the HukaNuka restaurant, Top Cat and Trixie are on a date and Trixie was telling about herself, she lived as an orphan, went to college and now got a carrier. Then Top Cat tells about himself, he steals money from those rich and mean citizens for themselves and orphans. As he told her how much he loved orphans, which Trixie is, she falls in love. Then her cell phone rang and she went to go outside to make a call, leaving her purse, telling him, "you can tell a lot about a woman with her purse". Then as she went outside, Top Cat sneaks into her purse and finds a scanner vacuum. The as she walked out, she told Top Cat she has to leave, then Top Cat told Trixie that they were about to know each other, but she kisses him along the way.

While walking back to the Alley, Top Cat is offering a Golmei Lobster dinner to his gang, but they're all angry at him because they saw the news about Top Cat robbing an orphanage and tires to convince he's innocent. But the cops arrived and Strickland tells him what happened at the orphanage. Top Cat then tells Strickland where Dibble is, which he replied, "Dibble's a clown", and Top Cat told him he can be foolish, but Strickland corrected him by telling him, "I mean i literally turned him into a clown.", which cuts into a scene where Dibble makes a circus balloon but it accidentally pops.

Meanwhile at the court, Top Cat is trying to convince he's innocent, but Strickland told the honor that he found Top Cat guilty and he was sentenced to Dog jail. As the police and Top Cat walked out, the mayor given Strickland his check and told him to use the money, wisely.

Meanwhile at Dog jail, Top Cat met his enemy, Griswald, who was arrested for an overdue library book, whereas he called, "How To Eat Cats In Prision" and tells him he's dead. Back at the Alley, the gang were all sad about Top Cat, so Choo-Choo decided to pick a new leader, but since nobody got it right, Choo-Choo then has another idea, they must do everything what Top Cat used to do, but ends up in a disaster.

Later, Strickland announces that Top Cat is finally arrested, much to everyone's delight. But there is also bad news, there will be cameras everywhere throughout the city, where there will be no place to hide. Back at dog jail, Top Cat was finding a place to escape, but Griswald stopped right in front of him. But after he had enough, T.C. tells Griswald he's not a cat because he's in dog jail, claiming he's a dog. After realizing this that he's a cat, Griswald begs Top Cat not to tell is wife about this. Top Cat then gives him a deal he must tell everyone Top Cat is a dog.

As he tries to escape, he heard his gang call for him through the security camera, but they have to face the fact that Top Cat is now a criminal and must forget about him and move on. Back at New York City, Strickland spies on the citizens and finds out that everyone is breaking the law. For instance, a guy is eating a banana at a restricted site and throws a banana at a restricted trash can, a woman is wearing a hat at the wrong time and carrying it, and a guy parked at a no parking zone. Strickland later gets the money he earned. Trixie is then terrified about Strickland's greediness and the fact that he lied about making New York a better place.

As she leaves, Strickland fired Trixie for not following his rules. As she walked out the door, she was wondering if there was ever an honest person in the station. Them she saw Dibble cleaning the floor where Trixie saw a device. Back at the Alley, the gang are still sad about Top Cat, but Benny tells them that things can't get any worse, but there was a thunderclap that electrocuted him and says, "at least, lightning never strikes the same place-" as the lightning hits him again at the same place, screaming, "COME ON!!!" Then Benny tells them they couldn't believe Top Cat would abandon them.

Back at dog jail, the dogs are having lunch, eating bad lobster. After Top Cat realizing that dogs shouldn't be treating like dogs, Top Cat went back to the kitchen to make better food. All of the dogs cheered for Top Cat like his gang used to do, and calls him "Top Dog". But after his memory back at the alley, he goes back to his cell.

Back at the police station, Dibble goes back to his office to tell Jerry about his day, but he's not there. Trixie comes in the office to tell about Top Cat's innocence, which is a robot that is exactly like Top Cat, who was framed. Then, Strickland tries to tell them that Top Cat is guilty still. Then when the police robots went to arrest them, Trixie hits the robots with a mirror and escapes into the women's bathroom. Dibble escaped but Trixie was captured.

Back at the alley again, the gang are still sad about Top Cat and wondered how he's doing in jail. Officer Dibble shows up to tell what really happened top Top Cat. Brain thinks his remote framed Top Cat and destroys it. But Spook had an idea: Break Top Cat out of jail. Then Benny used a bell to call his horse. While walking through the forest, they made it to Big Gus's house. Big Gus told everything about Top Cat to the gang that he used to be a clothes repairer and he was offered to rob the bank, which he accepted to come. Then he decided to come with the gang by ringing the bell to call the horse, but the horse pushes One-eyed Hook out the window.

Meanwhile, the gang are going through the tunnel where Big Gus made to escape from jail. When they got to jail, they found Top Cat. Big Gus then gave back the change $1.49, then he runs back into the tunnel. They tried to beg Top Cat to come with them, but he refused to leave because they think he is nothing but a common criminal and he introduced his new pals, Lenny, Eisenstein, Dandy-Dandy, Spectrum, and Shadinooka, who are all dogs. The old gang told him they miss him and apologized to him. As he accepted their apology, Top Cat tells them he missed them, too. But the robot guards are guarding their escape tunnel by playing golf. But Top Cat tries to tell one of the robot police guards, Rupert, that he served his full sentence.

But as Benny told all the dogs that they would like to thank them for taking care of their "cat friend", the dogs blocked the door and Lenny told them that they were serving a "cat" instead of a "dog". All of the dogs chased the gang and Griswald realized he's still a cat and is worried he's going to get beaten up. When they went in the security camera room, the dogs are trying to break in. But Brain told them about the emergency door on the floor. While underground, Top Cat tells his gang they must move to Detroit. But Officer Dibble told them they have to rescue Trixie and stop Strickland, because she's the one that helped them rescue Top Cat.

Back at the police station in New York City, they are caught by the police robots, but Top Cat told them, "how come you couldn't arrest yourselves?". Then after the robots are realizing they're loitering after 3:00PM, too, they think they could get in trouble, so they self destructed. Top Cat then recognized the Maharajah "M" logo. Meanwhile at the police station, Strickland is taking a daily mud bath, but the robot dogs interrupted him to tell him the robots caught Dibble. In the station, he noticed the entire city population was imprisoned, even the mayor of New York and Jerry.

After Strickland told Dibble he needed to come back to his mud-bath, Dibble told Strickland what he likes technology better than anything. As he told him everything, the gang disguised as robot police men went to tell Trixie about how to get out of the cells: they have to get the manual locked in the safe at the security camera room. The robot policemen are guarding the door, so Fancy-Fancy has a plan: he disguise himself as a female robot to distract the policemen, while the gang sneak into the room to get the manual.

After breaking in, they noticed the door was locked and overprotected, so they had to break the door by using Brain to open it. Unfortunately, there was another door where it requires a password, whereas the door asked the gang a question, "Who is the most handsomest of all?", the Top Cat answered it correctly by saying, "Strickland". As the door unlocked, they went to get the manual and read it. As they found the section, they were all locked in the cell, except for Top Cat, as Strickland reported all of the robot policemen to the vault to capture Top Cat and his gang.

But after realizing one of the robots have an "M" logo, Top Cat asked him if he built the robots himself. He said he actually hired The Maharajah to help build the robots. After that, Top Cat pulled out the Maharajah 5000, that Pikachu gave him a while ago, to show him what it can do. He also told him it can control his robots, and as he pushed the button, the remote controlled the robot to dance. He also controlled the robots to arrest Strickland. But as they approach him, Strickland pushes the self-destruct button, which destroys every robot Strickland has created, freeing the citizens and opening the safe. After all the robots are destroyed, Dibble came to arrest Strickland. Top Cat tells him not to worry because people's jail is overpopulated, so they have to send him to dog jail instead.

At the police chief ceremony, Officer Dibble becomes Police Chief of New York City. The crowd cheered for him, even Top Cat and his gang. When the ceremony ended, Dibble said he will miss them, too, but will still keep an eye on Hogan's Alley, as he gave them the good luck eye, with Top Cat promising he will be a good cat. While walking back to the alley, Top Cat is inviting Trixie to a lobster dinner tonight, only to tell him for "25 orders of lobster dinner". After that, the gang are hungry, so Benny made his "famous" soup. Then Griswald moves in and asked them if there's any room for one more "cat" in the house. Top Cat gladly allowed him stay and told him there's always one more room for a "special cat" in the alley. They celebrated by hitting trash covers together and singing, as the movie zooms out into the sights of New York and ends with the song, "Back into New York" from the KISS performed by Ace Frehley.

Cast

 * Jason Harris as Top Cat, Choo-Choo, Brain, Griswald, Lou Strickland, Big Gus
 * Chris Edgerly as Benny
 * Ben Diskin as Spook
 * Matthew Piazzi as Fancy-Fancy
 * Bill Lobely as Officer Dibble
 * Melissa Disney as Trixie
 * Fred Tatasciore as Robot, Gorilla
 * Bob Kaliban as Judge, Police Chief, Mayor

Release
On January 23, 2012, Vertigo Films has announced it will be released in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2012 (formerly August 20, 2012) in 2D, Digital 3D, and RealD 3D theaters. A UK teaser trailer was released in April 5, 2012. This will also mark as Vertigo Films' first ever animated feature film.

Distribution
This film is distributed by INCAA and Illusion Studios in Argentina, while Warner Bros. handled the distribution rights in Mexico and the United Kingdom. In addition, Vertigo Films will also distribute the UK rights.

Box office
This film has earned 40,708,634 pesos at the Mexican box office and $7,929,515 worldwide. This film became one of the biggest box office openings in Mexican cinema history.

Trivia

 * Further information: Top Cat: The Movie trivia