The Rabbi's Cat

French comic book artist Joann Sfar directs this animated adaptation of his graphic novel. In it, a devout rabbi's pet cat living in 1930s Algiers gains the power of human speech. What follows is a series of random encounters, sketches and philosophical arguments involving various Middle Eastern archetypes. The animation is lovely and detailed, but the story is scattershot and the moral is elusive--boiling down to a string of Socratic dialogues between the deeply religious rabbi and his agnostic pet. 100 minutes Unrated.