The Aristocats

The Aristocats was the final movie that Walt Disney greenlit prior to his passing.  It has the same problem as most of the animated Disney movies from this era, it lacked a great story and memorable characters.  Like many of the Disney movies of the time, it also lacked a bit of cultural sensitivity that makes it a bit of a tough watch 50 years later.  While it isn’t Song of the South bad, it does have some moments that don’t play well today.

Synopsis

IMDB – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065421/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl#synopsis

Rotten Tomatoes – https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aristocats

My Take

The movie clocks in at 1:18 minutes according to IMDB, and I have to say I felt every minute of this movie. The animation was OK, and there were a couple of scenes that were better than others but overall, it was generally bland.  I do appreciate the Parisian styles of the backgrounds, and those did add to the mood. “Everyone Wants to Be a Cat” was the catchy song from the movie which is replaying through my brain as I write.  

I wanted to watch this movie to see if Disney was producing Oscar worthy stories in the 1970s that were being ignored.  This unfortunately wasn’t good enough to be considered.  While not a complete waste of my time, this wasn’t a movie that played on multiple levels that can be entertaining for both kids and adults.

I wish there was more to this movie.  I probably watched it in my youth, but I honestly don’t remember anything about it.  I remember many cartoons from that time, but not a single scene from this watch was familiar.  My guess is if I watched it again in a year from now, I’d wouldn’t remember much more than the train scene.  It was lazy animation, lazy writing, and lazy performances. 

Things I noticed

There was a moment on the train tracks where the animation made the sparks from the train to look like blood.  It was a little bit disturbing when taken out of context, but I thought to myself, “at least this is getting interesting”.  

Obviously, there are some less than sensitive moments in the movie.  That said, it seemed like they went out of the way to get a dig in for every culture.  They represented most in the “Everyone Wants to be a Cat” montage, but a couple of scenes later there was a “WigWam” reference out of the blue.  What was that about?

It was pointed out that the mouse from this movie looks exactly like the mouse in “The Rescuers”.  I know it isn’t a sequel, but Disney really didn’t put forth much of an effort to be creative for a while.  I have the greatest respect for the animators, but…  oof.    

Would this be fresh today?

Nope.  There’s just not enough there for an update.  I’m sure Disney would like to refresh all of their old properties or even get another shot at some missed ones like this one, but there has to be something there. There isn’t anything to take away from this and update.

With that said, I’d expect the Disney+ 12 episode order any day now…