AristoCats (old)

[Guest cooby]

I bought this DVD for my granddaughter and we started watching it a couple of times but stopped because she can't understand the accents or basically, what's going on


We watched the whole thing yesterday though and I laughed the whole time and tried to explain things.


Really cute. One of the Gabor sisters, Phil Harris, goober from Gomer Pyle, mr Haney from Green Acres (they were a couple of farm dogs)...some fabulous voices and very beautiful artwork in the sceneries.

[Vic Sage]

Coobs, I think your granddaughter was right.

From 101 DALMATIONS until LITTLE MERMAID, Disney films of the 1960s-80s used a cheaper xerox technology for their animation, and they completely lacked the artistry of the hand-drawn cel animation they employed earlier, from SNOW WHITE through SLEEPING BEAUTY. The later works were feature-length cartoons, while the earlier ones were films. That being said, they could still be entertaining. DALMATIONS has a wonderful Villain that carries it, and JUNGLE BOOK has Baloo and some great songs, but, in my view, ARISTOCATS is just meh. Its story is a mishmash of elements from LADY AND THE TRAMP and DALMATIONS, but with cats. And the whole French Cat thing had been done earlier and better in GAY PUR-EE, which was produced by Chuck Jones, with songs by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg that were sung by their OZ collaborator, Judy Garland.

ARISTOCATS has a very weak villain (the put-upon butler who spends his time fighting with a horse and a dog, for no apparent reason). Also, the Chinese cat stuff is dated (some of the more stereotypical references have been cut out of the DVD in recent years). The score, too, is inconsistent. I do love the swingin' EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE A CAT number, but the rest of the songs are pretty bland.

So, for me, the movie's derivative story, low-budget animation and lackluster score make ARISTOCATS one of the weaker Disney films, even among the xerox films of that period.

But your mileage may vary, and apparently does.

and now i have EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE A CAT stuck in my head. Thanks alot.

[Guest cooby]

Oh you're welcome

And thank you! Because I thought there must be another cat film from my early youth and
Gay Purée is obviously it. I had a coloring book and for some reason it reminds me of the NY Worlds Fair so I might have gotten the coloring book there

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

My wife and daughter are cat fans and liked the movie. When we went to Disney World last year, the only character my wife would pose with was Marie -- the white cat from the movie. Me, I was holding out for Tigger.

[Frayed Knot]

Then there's the story of the lady who ordered the VCR tape (remember those kids?) of that movie for her and her grandson to watch but wound up with 'THE ARISTOC[u:2smt5pg0]R[/u:2smt5pg0]ATS' instead.

[fimg=200:2smt5pg0]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/SweetHenrietta/Blogger/The_Aristocrats_92250c.jpg[/fimg:2smt5pg0]

[Vic Sage]

now THAT'S funny!

[Edgy MD]

Then there's the story of the lady who ordered the VCR tape (remember those kids?) of that movie for her and her grandson to watch but wound up with 'THE ARISTOCRATS' instead. [fimg=200]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/SweetHenrietta/Blogger/The_Aristocrats_92250c.jpg[/fimg]

I rented a box that said Henry V and came home with Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

I shrugged and walked off to entertain myself otherwise, but before I returned it, I came back to the living room and ... "Hey Dad, how's it goi... oh, dear, Jesus, what are you watching?!"

"I'm just perusing my sick-minded weirdo son's movie selections."