The Aristocats

The final Disney animated film approved by Walt Disney and the first completed after his death

Today we are watching a snippet from the 1970 Disney musical comedy animated feature The Aristocats. The story centers on Duchess (voiced by Eva Gabor), mother cat and her kittens finding their way back to their posh Paris home after being kidnapped, assisted in their journey by an obliging stray cat named Thomas O’Malley (voiced by Phil Harris, fresh off his work as Baloo from “The Jungle Book”). Loosely based on a children’s book story and initially conceived and pitched as a live action film to be produced for television (as part of Disney’s “Wonderful World of Color” series), it was eventually reworked as an animated feature.

The backstory on the changes and reworking of the “The Aristocats” from concept to final script reflects all the sausage-making complexity film-making. Wikipedia (linked below) does a good job of covering all that, and I’m far too tired to recap it here. But suffice to say, I’m glad they stuck with it, as the film is charming, with a lively musical score that is interwoven well with the plot. I particularly appreciate that Maurice Chevalier was persuaded to come out of retirement to sing the film’s wonderful title song. Sadly, the character that was modeled after and written for Louis Armstrong could not be performed by the talented jazz man, as he had become too ill to take on the role by the time voice actors were needed.

Overall, the film is sweet and entertaining. However, the movie’s inclusion of a racist stereotype Asian character (ug Disney, that again? By 1970 I would have expected better) does make it necessary to provide suitable guidance to children with discussion around the evolving depictions of minorities in popular art and culture.

Wikipedia: The Aristocats