The aristocats

Year of release : 1970

Run time : 1h19min

Genre : Animation / Family / Adventure / Musical

Voices : Eva Gabor

In 1910,Paris ,retired opera singer,Madame Adelaide Bonfamille decides to leave all her fortune to her four cats, the mother cat Duchess,and her three kittens, Marie,Toulouse and Berlioz,and after their death, to her English butler,Edgar.

This doesn't sit well with Edgar who hears Madame talk to her lawyer,as he realizes the cats will outlive him,and he'll have to live his whole life catering to the cats.

So,he puts sleeping pills into the cats' food,and after they fall asleep,in the middle of the night, he takes them to the country. He is hunted by two country dogs, Napoleon and Lafayette, and drops the basket with the cats by a river.

The cats wake up,and realize they are stranded in the country. A storm starts and they seek shelter in the basket.

Madame wakes up due to the storm,to comfort the cats,but realizes they are gone.

 

In the morning, the cats meet an alley cat, Thomas O'Malley, who offers to help them get to Paris. So they embark on quite a journey,full of adventures.

Edgar is very pleased with himself,getting rid of the cats,and tells of his endeavours to Frou-Frou,the horse. He then realizes he lost his hat,umbrella,side car and even shoes,thing which can lead back to him,so he goes back to the country to retrieve them.

Roquefort ,the mouse, who is friends with the cats and Frou-Frou,hitches a ride on Edgar's motorcycle,in order to find the cats,and bring them back.

The animation is drawn in the old style animation technique,which I love.

The actors were good,they have beautiful voices,and are even funny at times.

 

The soundtrack was not quite to my liking,but it was good for that time,when the music was so loud and obnoxious. I don't like musicals,so I didn't like the singing.

The animation received positive reviews from critics, and grossed 191 million dollars against a budget of 4 million!

It's the the most widely attended movie in France and Germany in 1971, being the 20th highest grossing movie of all time in France, and the 11th highest grossing movie of all time in Germany!

The animation is on Disney+ with subscription, and for rent / sale on Amazon, Fandango at Home.

Rating : Worth a watch !