The Aristocats (1970)
Overview
When Madame Adelaide Bonfamille leaves her fortune to Duchess and her children—Bonfamille’s beloved family of cats—the butler plots to steal the money and kidnaps the legatees, leaving them out on a country road. All seems lost until the wily Thomas O’Malley Cat and his jazz-playing alley cats come to the aristocats’ rescue.
Cast
Phil Harris
O'Malley (voice)
Eva Gabor
Duchess (voice)
Sterling Holloway
Roquefort (voice)
Scatman Crothers
Scat Cat (voice)
Paul Winchell
Chinese Cat (voice)
Vito Scotti
Italian Cat (voice)
Thurl Ravenscroft
Russian Cat (voice)
Nancy Kulp
Frou-Frou (voice)
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CinemaSerf
When a wealthy Parisian lady summons her lawyer to amend her will, her faithful butler "Edgar" assumes it will all be his. Well, he discovers: maybe it will, but only after her cats have had their day first! Infuriated, he concocts a plan to be rid of the pesky felines once and for all. An overdose of a sleeping draught, a nice long drive and a nice big sack. A bridge over a fast moving river and the job ought to be done? That was the plan, but of course there'd be no film so something had to go wrong and soon "Duchess" is trying to get her youngsters back to their mansion. Luckily, along the way, they encounter the street-smart "Thomas O'Malley" who promises to help them get home. Some fun escapades ensue, the slightest hint of a love story develops and we meet some of the best scat cats this side of the Mississippi. The style of the animation used for this story reminded me a lot of "101 Dalmatians" (1961) with some similarly engaging characterisations. It's at it's best in ensemble mode - the "Ev'rybody Wants to be a Cat" number getting the toes tapping and the denouement with the cats, an horse, a large trunk and a trip to Timbuktu for the loser a fine finale for all (except, perhaps, their next door neighbours). It's good fun, moves along nicely and is perhaps the last of the original style of hand-animated Disney films that I can say I truly enjoyed.
