The Aristocats Special Edition

Release Date: February 5, 2008
Length: Approx. 79 minutes
Rating: 2 out of 4 stars

Originally released on Christmas Eve, 1970, this charming Disney classic will put smiles on faces of all ages decades later. The final movie that Walt Disney ever produced himself, The Aristocats is a simple story of a mama cat and her three kittens set in the early 1900’s in Paris. They are catnapped, and have to rely on Thomas O’Malley (aka the Alley Cat) to get them home.

One thing striking about this movie are the famous voices that bring the characters to life. For example, Eva Gabor is the voice of Duchess the mama cat. But it’s even more interesting to hear Phil Harris (Baloo from Jungle Book), Sterling Halloway (Winnie The Pooh), and Paul Winchell (Tigger). In this movie they’re different characters, yet they sound identical to the voices that they’ve made famous.

The film featured a lot of fun traditional Disney gags (i.e. very physical humor) but the plot was a little shallow unlike many other Disney films. The music was also good, especially Everybody Wants To Be A Cat from the Academy Award winning team of Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman. It’s a fun film, but the story line is pretty simple, and the cats are adorable. Because of this, it will probably play better to a younger audience.

-Sarah