Warrior Cats is an adventure, action, and drama CGI realistic animated film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Fairview Entertainment, distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was directed by Charlie Bean, written by Erin Hunter (a collective pseudonym used to represent the names of Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Inbali Iserles, Tui T. Sutherland, and Rosie Best), and produced by Brigham Taylor.
The film, upon officially releasing on the week before Christmas, received positive feedback from critics, however, some critics criticized the voice acting and plot line seen in it.
Film summary
Spottedleaf (Maguire), the ThunderClan medical cat, receives a prophecy from their ancestors, the StarClan. When two ordinary house cats named Sissy (McKinnon) and Nosey (Travolta) run into Graypaw (Addy), They have to make a choice. Once Sissy accepts the offer Graypaw gives her, she is not welcomed well. After losing her collar in a battle, she gains a new name: Sunpaw. After watching Tigerclaw (Johnson) murder someone to become the new deputy, they shelter with Nosey, Sunpaw's old house pal, and another loner named Barley. When Frostfur's kits are stolen by Tigerstar, Nosey has to make a decision: Join the clan, or be a loner forever and for the rest of his life.
Plot
The movie opens with a battle between ThunderClan and RiverClan over a territorial dispute. ThunderClan is outnumbered and forced to retreat. In the aftermath, ThunderClan's medicine cat Spottedleaf receives a prophecy from StarClan, the spirits of the cats' deceased ancestors, telling her that "fire will save our Clan", which she shares with ThunderClan's leader Bluestar.
In a dense forest near her home, Sissy, an orange tabby cat, is busy going into the woods to look for prey. She then heard a noise: the scurrying of a mouse. She canters after it, hoping to catch it in her sharp claws. She catches up to it and clutches it in her sharp claws, feeling fearlessly confident about eating her newest prey she has stored in a old shed down the road. After catching it, she runs down the road to the shed to store her prey, but she notices it is all gone. Then, an unfamiliar cat growls at her, making her scared.
Sissy realized it was just a dream, and wakes up frightened. Her brother, Nosey, a full chocolate cat, calms her down in her owners bedroom. Her owner rushes Sissy down for dinner from her room. TBA
When they venture into the forest near thier home, Sissy, and Nosey encounters Bluestar, ThunderClan apprentice Graypaw, and ThunderClan warrior Lionheart. They invite Sissy and Nosey to join ThunderClan. Sissy ends up accepting the "offer". However, due to Sissy's domesticated past, some members of the Clan are hostile towards Sissy upon her arrival in ThunderClan's camp. The hostility culminates in Sissy fighting one of ThunderClan's warriors, Longtail, losing her collar in the process. Bluestar then halts the fight and announces that Sissy has earned her apprentice name, Sunpaw. Shortly after, ThunderClan's deputy Redtail is revealed to have died, and Bluestar names Lionheart the new deputy of ThunderClan.
Sunpaw forms a strong friendship with Graypaw, and Ravenpaw, who is the apprentice of Tigerclaw, an ambitious ThunderClan warrior who wishes to become Clan leader. When Bluestar, Tigerclaw, Ravenpaw, Sunpaw, and Graypaw travel to the Moonstone, a sacred site to the Clan cats, ShadowClan cats attack ThunderClan's camp, killing Lionheart. Tigerclaw is subsequently named deputy in his place. A few days later, Spottedleaf is murdered, and several ThunderClan kits are abducted by ShadowClan. With the exception of Sunpaw and Graypaw, all of ThunderClan suspects the perpetrator of these events to be Yellowfang, a former and exiled ShadowClan medicine cat whom Sunpaw had taken prisoner for ThunderClan earlier.
Sunpaw learns from Ravenpaw that Tigerclaw is a traitor to the Clan, having murdered Redtail in hopes of becoming deputy. Sunpaw and Graypaw lead Ravenpaw to a new home in a barn away from ThunderClan territory in order to protect him from being killed by Tigerclaw for knowing too much incriminating information. Upon entering the barn, Sunpaw and Graypaw meet Barley, a loner who lived at that barn for a long time. She recognizes her pal, Nosey. Nosey tries to say her old name, but is ejected by Graypaw. Nosey ends up having an argument over her name, which stops when they all go to bed. When they are sleeping, Barley wants Nosey to tell him a story about Sunpaw, which Nosey happily appreciates to tell.
Sissy was born as the youngest one of her mother; Nosey was already an adult. They were together raised in an abounded shaft, until their mother died. That is when they got emotional and left to live somewhere else. They found that barn, and that is how they became loners.
Firepaw and Sunpaw together then successfully leads a rescue party with Yellowfang to rescue the abducted kits from ShadowClan, leading to the exile of Brokenstar and his followers from ShadowClan. Nosey watches from his barn home and makes a tough Decision. He decides to temporarily join the clan and help his best pal. Together, all of them rescue Frostfur's kits and return them safely to her. For their heroism in rescuing the kits, Sunpaw and Graypaw are promoted to warriors by Bluestar, who gives them their warrior names, Sunheart and Graystripe. Having proven that she is not helping ShadowClan, Yellowfang is accepted as ThunderClan's medicine cat, replacing the murdered Spottedleaf.
The next week, Sunheart and Graystripe are performing a traditional silent vigil after their promotion to warrior status a week earlier. In the first couple minutes of that scene, the film explains in third person how Sunheart and Graystripe start to get comfortable with being warriors. ThunderClan thinks Ravenpaw is dead, but Sunheart reveals the truth to Bluestar not long before a Gathering, a meeting of the Clans held on the night of a full moon, is held.
As their first task as warriors, Sunheart and Graystripe are assigned to find WindClan (cats that live primarily on the open moors), which had been driven out by ShadowClan, and bring them home. They go to the WindClan camp and search for clues there. On the way, they see some RiverClan warriors hunting on WindClan territory. Graystripe finds the correct scent trail, and they follow it to a makeshift WindClan camp. Sunheart spots Barley's farm a little ways off the trail and the pair hurriedly leaves in fear of the dogs that live on the farm chasing them after they get let out.
Eventually, Sunheart and Graystripe succeed, finding WindClan under a tangle of Thunderpaths (a highway interchange). When Sunheart and Graystripe first find the Thunderpaths, they are confused by the mixed-up scents. After figuring out WindClan is under it, they decide to spend the night right outside the makeshift home and wait until morning to greet the Clan. Then they bring them home.
Soon after, Bluestar apprentices Cinderpaw the smoky-dark gray she-cat to Sunheart, and Brackenpaw the golden-brown tabby tom to Graystripe. During a hunting patrol, Graystripe almost drowns after chasing a vole onto thin ice, falling in the river separating RiverClan and ThunderClan, but is rescued by Silverstream, a slender, light silver-gray-and-black tabby she-cat who is a RiverClan warrior. Graystripe and Silverstream fall in love; however, this is against the warrior code, a code of honor that all warriors must follow. And according to the code, warriors cannot fall in love with those not from their own Clan. Sunheart discovers their relationship, and unsuccessfully attempts to discourage them from seeing each other. Graystripe finally agrees to meet Silverstream only at the full moon at the Gathering, when the four Clans meet to share news. Sunheart later realizes that Graystripe has not been keeping his promise. Because Graystripe is often gone to see Silverstream, Sunheart takes over training Brackenpaw along with Cinderpaw.
Tigerclaw, in his ambition to become leader, sets a trap for Bluestar by another Thunderpath, intending to kill her, thus bringing him closer to becoming leader. Instead, Cinderpaw is crippled by the trap. Her leg is broken, and when it heals, she has a permanent limp, preventing her from becoming a warrior. She then trains under Yellowfang to become a medicine cat.
At one point, Sunheart is reunited with her brother, Nosey, and Fireheart is reunited with his sister, Princess. Nosey starts hugging Sunheart, then stops due to the warrior code. Princess gives Sunheart her oldest kit, Cloudkit the snowy-white young tom, to take into the Clan as a new apprentice. Although Sunheart agrees to accept her nephew as her new apprentice, her Clanmates, with the exception of Frostfur and Graystripe, are reluctant to accept her because of her kittypet blood, even though Fireheart himself also has kittypet blood. Bluestar allows him to stay, and Brindleface the pale gray tabby she-cat becomes his foster mother.
Brokenstar, the former ShadowClan leader, eventually attacks ThunderClan, along with several other exiled ShadowClan warriors. After the battle, the rogues are driven off, with the exception of Brokenstar himself, who is blinded by Yellowfang and is kept as a prisoner. When Sunheart suggests they kill the evil cat, Yellowfang refuses, sadly revealing that she is Brokenstar's mother.
Later, ThunderClan becomes involved in a fight against RiverClan and ShadowClan, when RiverClan and ShadowClan unite and try to drive WindClan out again, and WindClan ally themselves with ThunderClan. When Sunheart is attacked by Leopardfur, a dappled golden tabby she-cat who is the RiverClan deputy, Tigerclaw watches as Leopardfur and Sunheart fight, and does not attempt to join in. Silverstream attacks Sunheart but releases her; he then attacks her but, seeing Graystripe's look of dismay, he releases her. Darkstripe the large, lean, sleek, thin-furred, dark gray tabby tom witnesses the event and reports it to Tigerclaw. Consequently, Sunheart becomes certain that Tigerclaw is not to be trusted.
A week after, During some dog chaos, Sunheart leaps down the cliff into the river and dives in to save Bluestar. Sunheart manages to get a hold on her, but is barely able to keep their heads above the water. However, Bluestar's RiverClan children, Stonefur and Mistyfoot, discover Sunheart struggling in the river, trying to save Bluestar, and help drag the two cats to the bank. There, Bluestar pleads forgiveness to her kits her for lying to them about who their parents were. They forgive her, as they had not known their true heritage until then. Bluestar then tells Sunheart that she realized her Clanmates were not all traitors. She also tells her that she is now the leader of ThunderClan. With that, she loses her final life, and her spirit is sent to StarClan.
6 weeks later, Sunstar is the leader of ThunderClan, succeeding the former leader, Bluestar, when she drowned saving ThunderClan from a pack of wild dogs. As she receives her nine lives at the Moonstone, StarClan gives her a prophecy: "Four will become two, lion and tiger will meet in battle, and blood will rule the forest."
Firestar chooses Whitestorm, a senior warrior who is well admired and respected, as his deputy. During the next Gathering, Tigerstar, ShadowClan’s treacherous leader, tries to unite all the clans as one, claiming that they would be stronger together. Leopardstar, RiverClan’s leader, agrees, but Tallstar, leader of WindClan, and Sunstar both refuse to join this alliance, which Tigerstar has named "TigerClan".
Later, Graystripe asks Sunstar if he can quickly check on his kits in TigerClan. Sunstar agrees, and she and Graystripe, accompanied by Ravenpaw, their old friend, all go to TigerClan. In TigerClan, they find Stormpaw and Featherpaw, Graystripe’s kits, along with Mistyfoot and Stonefur prisoners in TigerClan. The three friends rescue Stormpaw, Featherpaw and Mistyfoot, but Stonefur is killed by two ShadowClan warriors.
In an attempt to force Sunstar and Tallstar into joining his clan, Tigerstar introduces BloodClan, a group of rogue cats who live in alleys in Twoleg (human) territory. When ThunderClan and WindClan’s leaders still do not agree, Tigerstar orders BloodClan to fight for him, though the cats do not, for they take orders only from their leader, Scourge. Sunstar then reveals the treachery Tigerstar has done, killing ThunderClan’s former deputy, Redtail, for power. Scourge then says that there will be no battle. Tigerstar, enraged, attacks Scourge, but Scourge kills him easily by slicing him from chin to tail with his claws. Scourge then warns the clans that they have three days to leave the forest, or else BloodClan will fight with them. In response, the clans unite as one and form an alliance called LionClan to face this threat.
Before the battle, back in the barn, Nosey begins a plan to lure Sunstar to be brainwashed so she and he can become very best friends again. He decides to steal 5 berries from Twoleg trees and slush them, making them look like paint. He puts it all over a chair, and then puts his paws on it. Barley then is very concerned about this plan of Nosey's, saying that if it all fails, the there is a high chance that Nosey will be forced to surrender and bow down to Sunstar.
During the battle, Whitestorm is killed by Bone, BloodClan's deputy, but Bone is killed soon afterwards by a group of Clan apprentices. Graystripe becomes the new deputy of ThunderClan. The battle is won when Sunstar kills Scourge, though he loses one of his own nine lives in the process. Without its leader, BloodClan scatters. With the threat of BloodClan gone, the four Clans dissolve their alliance and become independent from one another once more.
During a celebration, Nosey jumps from a tree out of nowhere with the slush in his paws. Everyone runs away, but it is too late for Sunheart, as she turns back into ol Sissy as soon as she faints. Sissy and Nosey then fight the clan and run off, with the clan saying that her leadership is not done yet. During the running attempt, they announced that Sissy was BANNED from being a leader for a period of an entire year. Because of that, Sissy finally got to spend more time with Nosey, as they chose to become loners instead of Kitty pets. The film ends with a very angry ThunderClan trying to find a new temporary leader in the forest as they wander off.