CatVideoFest 2025: Movie Review

Director: Will Braden

It's hard to be churlish about a 70 minute movie that pulls together a curation from the plenitude of cat videos that live upon the internet.

But while this one-off weekend event is for charity, it remains to be seen how charitable you'll feel about it towards the end - unless you're an extreme feline lover. Of which there are many.

The once-underground event has gone wider, and this latest pulls together a solid collection of the internet's shortest and seemingly greatest feline videos in their short and long-form. It means that while you may feel less engaged with one video, another can be found coming your way shortly after you've disengaged from any other.

Divided up into sub-categories such as drama, action-adventure and music, the varying quality of videos settles squarely for leaving you feline fine as it plays out.

From animated hijinks from Simon's Cat to a cat in love with a bikini with a heartbreaking sequence about a neglected puss found riddled with mange and mites, there's more than enough here to keep fans engaged. 

It's all sensibly curated as well with effortlessly flowing elements pouring into the next - and while some feel less creative than others, there are at least several moments guaranteed to leave the hardest of hearts either cooing with love or rolling with laughter. 

It's difficult to be anti a movement like this, given cinema is all blockbusters and repeat formulas - and given a portion of the money's going to charities in parts, its heart is squarely in the right place. Best seen with an audience full of animal lovers, this is a communal experience that's unbridled in its sense of joy - even if there are moments when it feels like a bit of a pause would help.

CatVideoFest 25 plays around New Zealand for one weekend only - August 2 and August 3.