Hello, I’m The Detective Librarian and you may have remembered that I’ve reviewed the first episode of one of Hanna – Barbera’s popular cartoon stars “Top Cat”. I have to admit it’s a really good series and he and his gang gained his own CGI movie that was poorly received and a TV special that was part of the “Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10” series 23-25 years prior. “The Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10” series was basically a series of TV specials of popular cartoon stars on “Hanna-Barbera” like Top Cat, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, etc…. Today’s review is one of them. So today’s review is titled “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”. I mean–“Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats.” It first aired in 1988.
The premise is that it’s basically a rewrite and remake of episode six: “The Missing Heir”. The special starts as usual on Top Cat’s alley where this time Top Cat and his gang are being Good Deed Scouts that are like Girl Scouts. Imagine if they were like girl scouts, then came to our doorstep, and said:
TOP CAT: Hello, Cat Scouts at your service ma’am. Want some cookies.
GRANDMA: OMIGOSH OMIGOSH!!! I LOVE COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!! *eating wildly*
Anyways, Benny meanwhile is walking down the street while doing a couple of good deeds. Later, he spots an old lady with a shopping cart. Benny decides to help the old lady cross the street even though the lady wants to be left alone. The cart is accidentally destroyed when a car crushes it and passes by. After this, a bunch of pillows, barrels, and a shovel fall from the sky above and Benny saves the old lady’s life just in time. The old lady thanks Benny and asks his name so that he could remember her and sudden foreshadowing. STRANGER DANGER! STRANGER DANGER!!!!
The old lady hops into a fancy car and it turns out to be a woman named Mrs. Vandegelt. The car takes her to Beverly Hills and holds a picture of her long lost niece named Amy. However, Amy is still alive and now has a crappy life working in the car wash. All Amy does is just doing terrible singing of a song from Annie which is “Tomorrow”. Y’know Mrs. Vandegelt, why don’t you just look for Amy yourself!!!!!!! Back at the alley, Top Cat’s gang brings back the good deeds they’ve done and Brain’s first good deed however is being arrested by Officer Dibble. Top Cat defends Brain by saying that Brain suffers from a childhood affliction and is still a terminal twit.
Very true TC, Very true indeed. Benny brings back the shopping cart that disguised Mrs. Vandegelt had before it was squashed. This is the funniest part of the special; Top Cat is now playing a violin giving a long speech until Dibble finds out that TC is just using a jukebox playing violin music to pretend he’s actually playing the violin. Just like in another episode I know…..We later find out that Dibble is retiring and we may never see him again. Aw, poor Dribble I mean–Dibble!!!
At the Gypsy’s, a man appears and is looking for Benny. He also explains that Mrs. Vandegelt has passed away and Benny has been chosen inherit Vandegelt’s fortune. The gang arrives at the Vandegelt Mansion at Beverly Hills and much to their surprise, Dibble has now been chosen as security guard at the mansion. At the front door, we get introduced to Snerdly, the mansion’s butler, and his dog, Ratsputin. There, we go through the security that is something you would see at a airport, including a metal detector. When the clock strikes 12:00 in the afternoon, the vault opens with the Man from earlier and I guess his Mr. Vandegelt and I’m gonna call him that okay.
We get explained that in 48 hours, Benny will receive the Vandegelt fortune and if he doesn’t stay alive, the fortune will pass towards evil Snerdly and Ratsputin here. In other words, the fortune will be chosen by two contestants in two days. Meanwhile, Top Cat, Choo-Choo (the cat with *eerie music playing* Deep Mental Depression), and Fancy-Fancy are looking through the portraits at the mansion and how much they cost. Fancy-Fancy spots a portrait of the family’s lost niece, Amy. They still don’t realize that Amy is still alive and no one even bother to look for her or even explain her back story and how she got to the car wash in the first place.
Snerdly and Ratsputin however, want the money and plan to kill Benny (but hopefully not too violently otherwise it would be another way Nostalgia Critic would say: “Y’know, for Kids.”) Snerdly’s first murder attempt is to serve Benny some food and drinks while Ratsputin is on the chandelier planing to hang Benny. Okay, I spoke too soon. Top Cat arrives just in time by grabbing onto Benny and trying to get the food leaving Snerdly hanging upside down by his feet. Top Cat wants to move here after our heroes get the fortune, but Benny feels homesick and wants to stay back at the alley. The entire special is an hour and a half minutes long, so this means yet another, “IN A NUTSHELL!!!!!!!!!”
More failed murder attempts, sexy cat girl as a distraction, suspicions roll by, Dibble rivalry returns, sexy distraction fails when Brain blind dates cat girl named Kitty Glitter, more scenes with Amy, etc…..
Snerdly’s final plan is to have a costume party and have Benny dressed up as a dog on the night of the inheritance. Why? So that Benny will be sent to the dog hound being mistaken for a dog. During the gang’s rap, Snerdly kidnaps Benny and the dog pound catches our blue feline and takes him to the dog pound. The gang finds out where Benny is and Top Cat plans to break into the dog hound and bail their friend out of here. The dog pound acts like a prison here because the Dog Catcher’s Apprentice AKA a black and brown dog is marching like a prison guard or in the military.
Top Cat tries to climb up the Dog Hound building, but the Guard Dog spreads the news to the Dog Catcher. Top Cat nearly gets caught and the Dog Catcher accidentally catches his dog, which ends with Benny helping Top Cat escape through the vents. The gang hops onto the family’s car and we get a car chase between the gang and the Dog Pound. The gang reaches the car wash to finally find Amy there. The Dog Catcher surrounds our heroes and it looks like the end for our heroes. Tune in next time, same Cat-Time, Same Cat-Channel………………Okay, I’m lying.
Amy decides to stop the Dog Catcher and his dog by turning on the car wash after it’s closed. The gang races back to the mansion and a police officer helps our heroes letting them pass. At the Mansion however, Dibble refuses to let Top Cat, his gang, and Amy pass the gates due to no animals being allowed (personally, I think Dibble doesn’t want Top Cat and his gang to win the inheritance or even trick him again). Mr. Vandegelt is about to hand the fortune over to Snerdly and Ratsputin until our heroes arrive just in time. Much to his surprise (and no one else’s), Amy is really still alive and well.
Snerdly and Ratsputin try to convince Mr. Vandegelt that the Amy and our heroes are too late and the fortune is theirs. After he says that and in a surprise twist, Mr, Vandegelt is revealed to be Mrs. Vandegelt in disguise!!!!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Betcha didn’t see that coming!!!! Mrs. Vandegelt explains that she disguised herself and had someone else take her place. She pretended to be Mr. Vandegelt because: meeehhhhh???????
Amy is reunited with her aunt, but the villains escape with the money. Snerdly uses Benny’s dog head to disguise himself as Benny and fool Dibble. Way to have no concern of the height of Snerdly and Benny, Dibble. Snerdly and Ratsputin nearly get killed by a car, but to find that it’s all part of a filming for a movie, a TV show, or something. Doesn’t matter because, the Dog Catcher catches Snerdly and Ratsputin, stopping them both in the instant. In the morning, Amy is now given the fortune while Top Cat and his gang decide to not have the fortune and go back to the alley because they feel homesick. Aw, isn’t that nice.
Now that Amy is found and has the fortune, it’s back to the alley for Top Cat and his gang and besides, Amy deserves the fortune after all because of Snerdly and Ratsputing being nothing but money-obsessive, scheming, evil, and mean swine!!!!!! However, Dibble is back on the police force after getting fired from his new job. Also we need make an excuse to figure out what happened to the hot chick from earlier, so Kitty Glitter shows up and immediately dumps Top Cat after Brain gives away that TC and his gang are back to being broke. Amy appears for a picnic and we get one final song to conclude the special. Like most new characters in specials or movies of cartoons, we’ll never see Amy again.
THE END.
POST-SPECIAL-FOLLOW-UP
To be fair, “Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats” is not as bad as I claim to be. It’s a decent special with some nice morals. The morals include making someone happy and being yourself, they’re nice morals overall to teach us all that we don’t have to be different in order to be great and we need to make someone happy by treating others the way we all want to be treated. There are still some plot holes such as Amy going missing and not even bothered to be searched for without a back story for no real reason. The songs are okay and I’m glad they included Top Cat’s original voice, Arnold Stang, in this special. He does an amazing job voicing Top Cat before he sadly passed away 5 & a 1/2 years ago.
He does a much better job than the voice provided for Top Cat in say “Top Cat: The Movie”. Overall this special was fairly decent and it really features so many re-writes of gags and episodes from the original TV series we’ve seen a million times before. I’m not saying this is bad, I’m saying that they do bring back nostalgia and feel like a repeat.
I’m summing up my final score for “Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats” a 5/10. I’m The Detective Librarian and (singing) “He’s the most tip-top, TOP CAT.”
The Detective Librarian 