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Toriyasu is a lazy, ordinary 10-year-old boy, who wearily endures the outbursts of his boisterous younger sister, Meeko. When his dog Papadoll turns up missing, Meeko is sure the pet has been abducted by aliens. Her suspicions prove correct, as the children find themselves being not kidnapped but “escorted” by three talking cats to Banipal Witt, a feline world that exists in another dimension. Papadoll was brought there by the nasty Princess Buburina: exposure to its magical sun has turned the hapless pooch into a bizarre, destructive monster. (Banipal Witt’s sun also turns Toriyasu and Meeko into kittens.) Saving the cat kingdom, Papadoll, and themselves pits the children and their allies against Buburina and her henchcats in a wild air battle.

Anime fans will be surprised to learn that this gentle, brightly colored fantasy was written and directed by Takashi Nakamura, the animation director of Akira, with a screenplay by Chiaki Konaka (Lain). Art director Shinji Kumara makes Banipal Witt a dazzling fantasyland of brilliant colors, balloons, and cat-shaped buildings that combines elements of Yellow Submarine, Ub Iwerks’s Pincushion Man, and an amusement park. Although the animation is limited, few big-budget American features can match Catnapped! for sheer visual imagination. (Ages 5 and older) –Charles Solomon