The film is a cute, 75-minute excursion, but it's ultimately pretty forgettable compared to other Ghibli movies.
Hiroyuki Morita's The Cat Returns— the only feature-length sequel/spin-off movie in the Ghibli library — is essentially a spin-off of the fantasy novel written in Whisper of the Heart. The film is a cute, 75-minute excursion, but it's ultimately pretty forgettable compared to other Ghibli movies.