Nocturna

Nocturna is a French/Spanish (but produced in English) 2007 traditionally-animated fantasy film. The film was produced by Filmax Animation.

In the aging orphanage the days pass very uneventfully, but the nights are something quite different; at least for Tim they are. The light reflected from the stars is the only cure for his fear of the dark. One night this fear leads him to the orphanage rooftop. Where he discovers that his favorite star has disappeared, and unfortunately it's not going to be the last one. Tim also discovers a peculiar character that goes by the name of the Cat Shepherd; together with his faithful cat Tobermory, that will become Tim's personal guardian, the Shepherd is in charge of making children sleep peacefully.

But Tim is not about to go to bed. He needs his star more than anything in the world, and will do what it takes to see it shine in the night sky once again. Tim convinces the Shepherd to take him to see Moka, the guardian of the night within the Night World, and pleads for him to return the stars to the night sky. Moka pays scarce attention to the boys pleas, so Tim asks the Cat Shepherd to take him to the Lighthouse of the Stars, where he thinks he may find the answer to the strange phenomena. Tim, the Shepherd, and Tobermory race against the clock through the streets of Nocturna, a world in which hundreds of the most diverse creatures work to create the night as we all know it. Little by little our friends will discover something strange is happening. An ominous threat is putting in danger the night and the inhabitants of Nocturna, and Tim is unknowingly the one behind it all.

The film was never shown in the United States. At one point it was trying to raise the budget for a distributor in the States on Indiegogo, but apparently the campaign fell through.

Tropes used in Nocturna include:

• Badass Adorable: Tobermory. He even stands up to the Shadow!
• Batman Gambit: Aside from the coffee, everything Moka does or tries to do over the course of the movie is finely calculated to force Tim to overcome his fear of the dark and thereby save the day. Er...night.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: The Doorkeeper to the tower sports a pair.
• Brown Note:
  • Specifically, one that causes kids to wet the bed.
  • On that subject, the little sprite who produces said note is entirely too enthusiastic about his job.
• Cats Are Mean: Averted.
• Chekhov's Gun: Two of them! Murray’s broken filament, and the emergency switch, on stars.
• Disney Death: Played with. The Cat Shepard appears to die after fending off the evil shadow, and Tim accepts his death by saying he'll always live on in his heart. Right before the end of the movie, we see a herd of cats run by, with the Cat Shepard's familiar legs and gait among them. Tim doesn't, though.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: One scene has one of the dew-speading creatures acting blatently drunk (on water), asking for "one more for the road" and stating that they "know [their] limit" when it's suggested that they've had enough. Later on, we see them drunkenly splatter against a window.
• Evil Detecting Cats: The cats in the pack^[1]. hiss at a wall, whereupon the Shadow emerges... out of the shadows.
• Familiar: Although the masters aren't aware of it. Every cat in the Cat Shepherd's pack (and it should be noted that his pack essentially includes every cat in the city) is assigned to a particular child, and is responsible for seeing to it that their given child sleeps through the night according to plan. Tobermory is the cat assigned to Tim, and the Cat Shepherd gripes that it's very appropriate that it should be "a comatose cat for an insomniac infant".
• Fingerless Gloves: The Cat Shepherd appears to wear a pair.
• I'm Not Afraid of You
• Living Shadow
• Madness Mantra: "Kidnapper... Kidnapper... Kidnapper..."
• Meaningful Name: Moka (pronounced the same as 'mocha'), who spends most of the film drinking coffee.
• Missing Mom: Tim talks about his mother in one scene, although given that he's now in an orphanage...
• Must Have Caffeine: Moka, who spends the film drinking coffee, and even eating coffee beans in one scene.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The shadow that is snuffing out the stars is a physical manifestation of Tim's fear of the dark. Tim hears Moka say so and thinks he's being condemned for it, but he misses the next part of Moka's speech, telling the people of Nocturna that because it's Tim's fear, only Tim can stop it and save the night, and he needs their hope and prayers.
• Painting the Frost on Windows
• Please Don't Leave Me: Spoken by Tim to the dying/dead Cat Shepherd.
• Roof Hopping: How the Cat Shepherd gets about.
• Scenery Porn
• Serendipitous Symphony:
  • The nighttime orchestra, made of noises like tree branches scratching at window panes.
  • Subverted, because it's not serendipitous at all-it's carefully composed and conducted each night.
• The Stars Are Going Out
• Top-Heavy Guy: Good grief, the Cat Shepherd, to the point where he spends most of the time on all fours.
• Stealth Pun: There is an old saying about taking on a difficult task being 'like trying to herd cats'. Make of that what you will.
• Weird Trade Union: Nocturna, essentially. Although it's spoken of as an entirely seperate world from the daytime with it's own culture and whatnot, it operates more like an overseeing corporation; every one of the myriad and sundry creatures of Nocturna has a vital role to play to make sure the night happens the way us daytime folk expect it to, and things like bedhead, the morning dew, and even bedwetting are stringently regulated.

1. ↑ Technically a group of cats is called a 'clowder', but oh well