The air was thick with cat call, no pun intended.

Most of Disney’s animated works are based on a story by someone else, and I think that most of us have come to accept that. Every so often though, the company does manage to create a movie that is an original idea, and I’m not referring to the ones that seem to be quite a bit like some Japanese anime that the creators deny they ever heard of. The original Disney ideas still have that familiar Disney magic, and after taking us on a trip to the jungles with the last release, now you can be a cool cat.

The Aristocats is Disney’s 1970 offering and the twentieth feature film from the studio that fits into what is the official Disney canon in terms of animated movies. The film is set in Paris back in 1910 and Madame Adelaide Bonfamille is preparing to make her last will and testament and although her butler, Balthazar, thinks that he will be getting everything, he learns that isn’t her plan. Instead, the wealth will be left to her cat, Duchess, as well as her kittens; Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse. Balthazar plans on getting rid of the cats by putting sleeping pills in their milk but while trying to dispose of them, he’s scared away by a pair of dogs. Duchess and her kittens are now on their own and trying to find a way back home, and that’s when the meet Thomas O’Malley, or Abraham de Lacey Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley and the smooth talking alley cat might be just the person to get them back to their owner.

A bunch of cats can only mean one thing, and that’s talking animals, and plenty of them. It isn’t just the cats, but hound dogs like Napoleon and Lafayette, Frou Frou the horse and even Roquefort, a mouse with the desire to be a detective and bears a resemblance to a few other mouse sleuths our of Disney’s long line of animation. The focus however is on the cats and mainly the cats because . . . . ev'rybody wants to be a cat.

As with a lot of the Disney feature length films, the plot itself is a rather basic and simple one. We have a greedy butler who has tried to do away with a family of cats and they simply want to get home. Overall, it’s very much the same plot that is found in Lady and the Tramp, and The Aristocats is simply the feline version with the difference being that the cats aren’t evil like Sai and Am were, and even though there are dogs, they are even shown as being pleasant and helpful, so the humans, or human as the case is, really serves as being the only real villain.

No Disney film would be quite complete without there being music, and there is plenty of it. Duchess and her children are more refined and sophisticated with an appreciation for classical music, but Thomas is quite the opposite. His love and passion is jazz, and there’s an alley cat band as most know. Scatman Crothers provides the voice of the band leader, Scat, and even legendary Thurl Ravenscroft provides a voice for Billy Bass. Even Eva Gabor uses her sultry voice for Duchess, and she’d later appear as another Disney character, Miss Bianca in The Rescuers. And another familiar Disney voice, Sterling Holloway, lends his unmistakable voice to Roquefort the Mouse, so as usual, some star talent is assembled.

There are plenty of great moments in The Aristocats, though I still think that the jazz session is one of the best, but the animation, like many of the early Disney works is outstanding. Even though this particular movie was made after the death of Walt Disney, it still stay true to the quality and the vision that he had with the studios animated features, something that I truly feel has been lost over the years and with what is seen now, just isn’t present. The cats are vibrant and lively, their interactions, especially Thomas and Duchess, are charming and memorable, and the kittens have always been something that people simply love. That is obvious with Marie being a character that is a part of the meet-and-greets at various parks and there are more and more pieces of merchandize with her image appearing on it.

The only thing about The Aristocats that I would have to say doesn’t hold up is the music. It isn’t nearly as memorable as what has been heard in the other Disney films. The Jungle Book for example might have one of the best collections of songs, but many of the other Disney films have two or more songs that stick in the minds and hearts of fans. The Aristocats really doesn’t seem to have that, but I don’t feel that it takes away from the movie too much.

I’m a little surprised that with Disney usually releasing two-disc collection’s of their animated movies that The Aristocats is only a single disc edition. There is a deleted song and this seems to be standard where at least one song was left out of a film by Disney and you also have access to select the songs outside of the film, either with or without lyrics onscreen, and the Sherman Brothers discuss the music for the movie. There is an Aristocats game as well as Virtual Kittens for those with a DVD-ROM. The Aristocats Scrapbook features conceptual artwork , storyboards, and behind the scenes imagery and if you want to learn more about cats, The Great Cat Family from the Wonderful World of Disney will give you plenty of details. Even Figaro, a cat some might remember from Pinocchio, is seen in a short of his own.

The Aristocats still has that Disney magic, and while every dog, and mouse, has its day, so must the cat. Feline fans aren’t going to want to miss a moment of this classic film filled with all the jazzy sounds that you could possibly dig in a single movie, and this is one of the few Disney animated films that has the distinction of NOT having a straight-to-video sequel (and let’s keep it that way.)

Tommy the cat is my name, and I say onto thee . . .

-mike-
 

Directed by: Wolfgang Reitherman   Written by: Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth, Vance Garry, Tom McGowan, Tom Rowe, Julius Svendsen, Frank Thomas & Ralph Wright   Voice Cast: Phil Harris (Thomas O'Malley) Eva Gabor (Duchess) Liz English (Marie) Gary Dubin (Toulouse) Dean Clark (Berlioz) Sterling Holloway (Roquefort the Mouse) Roddy Maude-Roxby (Edgar Balthazar)

DVD Features: Anamorphic - 1.78:1 Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 &  French Dolby Digital 5.1 English Subtitles Deleted Song Disney Song Selection w/Optional Onscreen Lyrics Disney Virtual Kitten The Aristocats Fun with Language Game The Sherman Brothers: The Aristocrats of Disney Song The Aristocats Scrapbook The Great Cat Family Bonus Short: Bath Day