Sagwa: The Movie

Sagwa: The Movie (released as La légende de Sagwa in Francophone regions) is a 2002 animated family film based on the Canadian-American TV series Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat. It was released by on December 8, 2002. The film was produced by and  and animated by RKO Animation Studios Poland Sp. Z.O.O.

Cast

 * Holly G. Frankel as Sagwa Miao, a curious Siamese cat who acts like a normal 8-year-old human girl and lives with her parents, older brother and younger sister in the court of the Foolish Magistrate.
 * Oliver Grainger as Dongwa Miao, Sagwa's older brother.
 * Jesse Vinet as Sheegwa Miao, Sagwa's younger sister.
 * as Baba Miao, the kittens' father
 * as Mama Miao, the kittens' mother
 * Sonja Ball as Nai-Nai Miao
 * Sonja also plays the sleeve dog Pang and the alley cat Ling
 * Neil Shee as Yeh-Yeh Miao
 * as Lik-Lik
 * Brady Moffatt as Jet-Jet
 * Michael Yarmush as Wing-Wing
 * Eleanor Noble as Hun-Hun
 * as Captain Shi Yang the fox
 * as Fu-Fu
 * as Wong Ton, an alley cat who is revealed to be bispecies
 * as The Foolish Magistrate
 * Khaira Ledeyo as Tai-Tai
 * as The Cook
 * Russell Yuen as The Reader of the Rules
 * as Jun
 * as General Bolliger

Additional Voices

 * Bronwen Mantel
 * Vlasta Vrána
 * Renee Madeline Le Guerrier
 * Michel Perron
 * Jennifer Seguin
 * Sonja Ball
 * Pauline Little
 * Alain Goulem
 * Guy Nadon
 * Mark Camacho
 * Norm Berketa
 * Dawn Ford
 * Mark Camacho
 * Norm Berketa
 * Dawn Ford
 * Dawn Ford
 * Dawn Ford

Production
Animator Ron Rosengart shared his experience of working on the film in a 2008 interview for a furry fandom website:
 * I was the sole American working at the RKO studio in, during the film's production, the other creative artists hailed mostly from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Russia, China, Ireland, Denmark and Finland. As the only American on staff, I'd constantly have to explain to supervisors or other animators the exact meaning of some American slang phrases used in the dialogue of the script. For me, it was a dream come true since I wanted to visit Poland, and there I was helping make an animated film in the country.

Ron Rosengart and director Jean Guy Jacques spent most of their time working on the film between Montreal and Kraków, while additional work was done in by Helix Animation Inc.,  by,  at the main RKO Animation Studios facility, and  by.

The initial voice-over sessions in, and  took two months, and an additional three months were spent on re-takes.

Release
The movie premiered on December 2, 2002 at, with the screening benefiting the. Sagwa's voice actress attended along, with the  performing before the screening. The film premiered on 15,000 screens on December 8, 2002, growing to 20,000 the next week, and was a box office success, grossing $37.6 million against a $20.3 million budget.

The film was released on DVD on January 17, 2003 by and.

Reception
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. gave the film 3 stars out of 4, praising Holly Gauthier-Frankel's "sweet-sounding, unusually happy" voice work for Sagwa and the film's animation. He and gave the film "Two Thumbs Up" on .

Accolades
The film came in 1st place in the 2003 World Film of the Year. "My Friend/Love" was nominated for the, and the film itself was nominated for a.