The AristoCats (1970)

With the help of a smooth talking tomcat, a family of Parisian felines set to inherit a fortune from their owner try to make it back home after a jealous butler kidnaps them and leaves them in the country.

Director:

Wolfgang Reitherman

Writers:

Larry Clemmons (story), Vance Gerry (story),

Stars:

Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Sterling Holloway

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Phil Harris	...	O'Malley (voice)
Eva Gabor	...	Duchess (voice)
Sterling Holloway	...	Roquefort (voice)
Scatman Crothers	...	Scat Cat (voice)
Paul Winchell	...	Chinese Cat (voice)
Lord Tim Hudson	...	English Cat (voice)
Vito Scotti	...	Italian Cat (voice)
Thurl Ravenscroft	...	Russian Cat (voice)
Dean Clark	...	Berlioz (voice)
Liz English	...	Marie (voice)
Gary Dubin	...	Toulouse (voice)
Nancy Kulp	...	Frou-Frou (voice)
Pat Buttram	...	Napoleon (voice)
George Lindsey	...	Lafayette (voice)
Monica Evans	...	Abigail (voice)

Storyline

Retired madame Adelaide Bonfamille enjoys the good life in her Paris villa with even classier cat Duchess and three kittens: pianist Berlioz, painter Toulouse and sanctimonious Marie. When loyal butler Edgar overhears her will leaves everything to the cats until their death, he drugs and kidnaps them. However retired army dogs make his sidecar capsize on the country. Crafty stray cat Thomas O'Malley takes them under his wing back to Paris. Edgar tries to cover his tracks and catch them at return, but more animals turn on him, from the cart horse Frou-Frou to the tame mouse Roquefort and O'Malley's jazz friends.

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Plot Keywords:

butler | cat | mouse | 1910s | dog | 

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Taglines:

Meet the cats who know where it's at...for fun, music and adventure!

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Music

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Disney DVD [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 December 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Los aristogatos

Filming Locations:

Walt Disney Studios, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 9,320,000 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Aristocats was inspired by the true story of a Parisian family of cats, circa 1910, that inherited a fabulous fortune.

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Goofs

The color of the ribbon on the cats' basket is normally blue, but as Edgar makes his second escape from the dogs with it, it is pink.

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Quotes

Thomas O'Malley: That's quite a family. Come to think of it, O'Malley, you're not a cat, you're a rat. Right? Right.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the final reprise of "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat" Lafayette says, "Hey, Napoleon. That sounds like the end". Napoleon responds, "Wait a minute. I'm the leader, I'll say when it's the end". The title "The End" bumps into Napoleon's head and he says, "It's the end". The title then throbs to the music. During the final fade out we hear Toulouse say "Oh, yeah."

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Connections

Featured in Once Upon a Halloween (2005)

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Soundtracks

"She Never Felt Alone"
Words and Music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Performed by Robie Lester

User Reviews

Sweet, Romantic and Completely Underrated!

This is NOT the masterpiece that is Snow White, Cinderella, or Bambi, but it IS a very sweet, enjoyable, romantic, well-done Disney animated feature.

There are, of course, lessons included herein for the kiddies, and some very appropriate kiddie-cheek, but there is plenty herein for the adults, as well.

While this is somewhat of a regurgitation of the Classic Disney RomCom Adventure, it still holds some elements, which solely belong to the AristoCats. O'Malley is the "tramp" and Dutchess is the "lady," but Dutchess has several kittens and they are all trying to get home.

Phil Harris is our tomcat O'Malley. You may recognize his voice, as he also furnished the voice of Baloo the Bear in the Jungle Book, and Little John in Disney's Robin Hood. Eva Gabor lends her silky sweet voice to Dutchess.

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, who directed, or worked on, every Disney animated film worth mentioning until his death in 1985.

This is among my very favorite of the Disney animated feature films, and belongs in any Disney collection. The 2-Disk Special Edition Is Due Out This Summer (2007).

This rates an 8.4/10 from...

the Fiend :.