Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space 2003

The ultra-cool multimedia collective t.o.L (Trees of Life) went to town with this striking anime, the first of a planned trilogy. Imagine an acid trip in black and white starring a profane cat in a world where Hello Kitty meets Blade Runner by way of a Fleischer Brothers toon with a hypnotic soundtrack to match. You can’t? Well, lucky for all that t.o.L have made the first animated time-travelling pop-art feline flick, that mixes gorgeous retro 2D and full-blown 3D animation. The adorable (and very crude) Tamala leaves Megalo city on the alternate world of Cat Earth but ends up on Planet Q where she meets a streetwise cat called Michelangelo. Together they explore a city called Hate where they meet corrupt dog cops, extreme S&M, transvestite cats, zombie cats, the evil corporation Catty & Co and a weird religion called Minerva. The film is so utterly surreal that when a giant Colonel Sanders robot with an axe in its head walks past yelling ‘Meat is good for you!’ you hardly blink an eye. — Ant timpson