The Aristocats (1970)

The Aristocats (1970)

6/10

Starring the voices of

Phil Harris

Eva Gabor

Hermione Baddeley

Gary Dubin

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman

The last approved project before Walt Disney's death in 1966 was The Aristocats which was later released in 1970. This animation is in a class of its own and is much about society's different classes. It tells the tale of a pretty mother cat named Duchess and her three kittens, Berlioz, Marie and Toulouse who live in a high-class world, but gets to meet and roll with alley cats.

The Aristocats has the wonderful song that every viewer recalls with easy, "Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat."

The movie had all kinds of characters and it didn't get mixed up in the expected, high class Duchess feeling too big to mix with the Alley cats. Duchess was more than welcoming to every cat, especially the male cat who found her beauty mesmerizing Thomas O'Malley. Together they met with the other cats in O’Malley crew and Duchess and her kittens were welcoming with her showing she is a lady true and true.

The Aristocats is an animated romantic adventure musical comedy and it’s the 20th Disney animated feature film.

Well here is how the tale goes. Mother cat Duchess and her three kittens, Berlioz, Marie and Toulouse live with a rich retired opera diva named Madame Bonfamille and her English butler Edgar.

The Madame was getting old and she decided to put down her will, where she left everything she had to her cats. Edgar the presumed loyal butler was all in it for the money, serving the Madame and her cats with the aim that all the money will be left to him. By eavesdropping he heard the Madame’s plan to live everything for the cats – he then decided to kidnap them and get rid of them.

He successfully kidnapped the cats, but in getting rid of them, things didn’t go at all his way. When the cats awoke alone and lost, they met Thomas O’Malley who decided to take them back home in Paris.

Now this journey is the whole movie, as they moved about trying to get home to their Madame, who was sick and unhappy because of their absence.

The story is a beauty and it is based on "The Aristocats" by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe. The gem in the movie is from the voice casting and the magic jazz tunes.

It was a box office hit during its release gaining over $191 million cumulatively from its release and numerous other re-releases over the years.