"Ladies do not start fights, but they can finish them." - Marie
Initial thoughts before viewing: I didn't watch this movie a ton growing up, but do I sing "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat" to my own cats on a daily basis? Abso-feline-lutely.
If you have never seen the The Aristocats or need a refresher, here is a link to the movie's Disney Wiki page where you can read the plot summary.
Highlights:
-Yaaas, Queen Marie 👑: Little Marie has become the breakout star of this movie, and with good reason: she's sassy, sweet, and hilarious. She has the best lines ("Because I'm a lady, that's why" and "Ladies do not start fights, but they can finish them") and is painted as a bit of a hopeless romantic and daydreamer. She's the most recognizable character from The Aristocats, and her face is plastered on almost all the current Disney merch you can find for the movie. Do I have Marie merch? Yes. Do I want more Marie merch? Yes.
-THAT MEOW-SIC! 🎵: "I'm Abraham DeLacey, Giuseppe Casey, Thomas O'Malley, O'Malley the alley cat!" Tell me a better intro song. TELL ME. This song is catchy as heck and serves as a PERFECT introduction to Thomas O'Malley, our smooth-talking cat hero. And then there's my own personal national anthem, a little song called "Everybody Want to Be a Cat." I sing this song every day because, well, I want to be cat. And after working from home exclusively with my 2 cats for the better part of 2020, I really want to be a cat. The song is jazzy, quick, and features Scat Cat and his colorful band of alley cats rocking the joint. The only sour note within the song is when Shun Gon, the Chinese cat, plays the piano with chopsticks and says a few nonsensical lines that most definitely perpetuate racist stereotypes. It's an annoying, dark stain on an otherwise fabulous and joyful song that I love. It's one of my all time favorite Disney songs ever.
-A little too much wine🍷: There is one random moment in this movie that I absolutely cannot get over: when Roquefort (a mouse) is seen chasing after Scat Cat and his gang by a French gentleman. The man can't quite believe his eyes and dismally pours out the bottle of wine he has been drinking. I can't explain to you the amount of joy this one scene gives me and encourage you to watch this movie for this gem of a moment.
Disliked:
-Honestly, Edgar is an idiot. 🎩 The film's main antagonist is Edgar Balthazar, butler to the Aristocats. When he discovers that the cats will inherit Madame Adelaide Bonfamille's millions before he does, he devises a plan to get rid of them. Edgar doesn't take into account the fact that he would still have control over the cats' inherited wealth. Cats can't spend money. No matter what the paperwork says, Edgar would have essentially inherited Madame's money and just had to make sure that the cats were fed and cared for. Why go through the trouble of trying to get rid of them at all?! And why kidnap them BEFORE Madame is even ill or dead? She'd probably just go out and get new cats anyway, and then Edgar would have to get rid of them too. Overall, Edgar is not the brightest Disney villain.
-So you're telling me this is set in France...❓ While there are *some* French aspects to The Aristocats (mainly character names, some dialogue, and backgrounds), this movie could easily be copied and pasted into another city. None of the main voice actors are French, and none of the main characters speak with a French accent. It's worth noting that the film's title song "The Aristocats" was sung by Maurice Chevalier, a famous French entertainer. Still, what a wasted opportunity to incorporate some real French voice talent!
-Lady and the Tramp duplicate ending 🐶 This ending looks familiar...
Random Thoughts I Had While Watching:
-What happened to the kittens' father...❓ No one (cat, human, or otherwise) addresses what happened to Duchess' first partner, the father of her 3 kittens. The kittens don't exactly look pure bred (with the exception of Marie), so maybe Duchess had her heart broken by a Thomas O'Malley alley cat type figure in the recent past? Maybe this is why she's able to see past O'Malley's smooth-guy shtick so quickly? Either way, kitten Berlioz's "Well, we almost had a father" comment is heartbreaking and makes a movie about talking jazz cats a little too real.
Closing Thoughts:
-The Aristocats has a lot of problems. The story is thin. The villain is weak. The middle part of the movie is packed with superfluous characters like hounds and geese that don't matter at all to the main storyline. The character's accents are all over the place - why do farm dogs in the French countryside (whose names are Napoleon and Lafayette for crying out loud) sound like they are from the Appalachians? None of this makes sense, and none of it makes for a good movie. Plus, the scratchy, sketchy Xerography style of animation used for the Disney films of this era looks particularly ragged and unappealing in this movie.
-And yet, The Aristocats brings me joy. Is it because I love cats? Maybe. There are plenty of movies about cats that I can't stand btw, like, well Cats (2019). I like the message about classism here: the posh upper-class Duchess & kittens are saved by Thomas O'Malley and his friends, bohemian and free loving alley cats. Although Duchess was certainly never prejudice against the alley cats to begin with, I think the film tries to show that people (er, cats) of all backgrounds can come together. By the end of the movie, Madame decides to open a foundation (aka sanctuary) for all the alley cats of Paris -- so you can bet that all those groovy cats lived on with full bellies and fuller hearts (presumably full of jazz).
My Rating: 6/10
My Rating Scale/System: 10 - Masterpiece / Award Worthy 🤩 9 - Almost perfect / Exceptional 🥰 8 - Great / Well-crafted 😁 7 - Good / Noteworthy 😊 6 - Above average / Memorable 🙂 5 - Solidly average 😐 4 - Mixed feelings / Mediocre 😕 3 - Uninteresting / Struggle bus 🥱 2 - Barely watchable 😡 1 - Failure / Why is this a thing? 💩
