Stars: Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Stirling Holloway, Scatman Crothers, Paul Winchell

Director: Wolfgang Reitherman

Summary: When Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, the eccentric millionairess, passes away, she leaves her fortune to her cat, Duchess and her three kittens. Unfortunately Edgar her greedy butler has other ideas and catnaps Duchess and her kittens, takes them to the countryside and abandons them. There they meet Thomas O'Malley, the alley cat, and he offers to help them to return home...

Set in 1910, this Disney animated classic offers plenty of adventure, humor and music (especially performances by Chevalier). After high-society cat Duchess (Gabor) and her three kittens inherit a fortune from their mistress, a greedy butler plots to get rid of them--and collect the cash himself. The villainous servant kidnaps the entire feline family and takes them far away from their comfortable Paris home. A bunch of animal pals come to the rescue however, and help restore the cats to their proper place. The heroic rescuers include the friendly alley cat Thomas O'Malley, the gallant mouse Roquefort, and the hilarious hounds Lafayette and Napoleon. The last film personally supervised by Walt Disney himself.

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Duchess and her three kittens are enjoying the high life with their devoted human mistress until the wicked butler Edgar, with his eyes on a big inheritance, decides to dope them and get them out of the picture. How can these fragile creatures cope in the unfamiliar countryside and the meaner streets of Paris? Only by meeting the irrepressible alley cat O'Malley, a rough diamond with romance in his heart. After they get a taste of the wide dangerous world, he guides them home, and Edgar gets his just desserts at the wrong end of a horse. As always, it's really the voices rather than the animation that are the heart of the Disney magic: Phil Harris is brilliant as O'Malley, Eva Gabor as Duchess is ... well ... Eva Gabor; but perhaps the most memorable turns are by Pat Buttram and George Lindsay, who turn the old hounds Napoleon and Lafayette into a couple of bumbling Southern-fried rednecks. Their scenes with Edgar, and the musical numbers with Scat Cat and his cool-dude band, are classic. Most striking about seeing The Aristocatsnow is how deeply Disney's style of animation has changed since this was at the cutting edge in 1970. Perhaps the nostalgic, dated feel are just a result of being plonked down in Belle Epoque Paris, but the illustrations are fussier (a pity) and the animation and overall pace much less frenetic (sometimes a relief) than in more recent efforts such as Aladdin. --Richard Farr

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Making Of The Aristocats, The Aristocats, Everybody Wants To Be A Cat Sing A Long Country Cousin, O Malleys Singing And Painting Game
Year:	1970
Release Date:	November 12, 2001
Runtime:	76 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B E D 888351
Keywords:	Animated, Family, Walt, Disney, Classics, General, Animation, Childrens, Aristocats
Genre:	Childrens