Although it isn't among the Disney's top masterpieces, it is unfairly neglected. Cats are my favorite creatures, so maybe I'm biased, but I could watch this cartoon hundreds of times. Also, I always preferred old school animation over computer one, and when you have excellent drawing and add even better jazz to it, you get unforgettable experience.8/10Everybody wants to be a cat Because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at Tell me, everybody's pickin' up on that feline beat 'Cause everything else is obsoleteA square with a horn Makes you wish you weren't born Every time he plays But with a square in the act You can set music back To the caveman daysI've heard some corny birds Who tried to sing Still a cat's the only cat Who knows how to swingWho wants to dig a long-haired gig stuff like that? When everybody wants to be a catWhen playin' jazz He always has a welcome mat 'Cause everybody digs a swingin' cat

It's pre-war Paris. Duchess is a well groomed cat with three kittens; Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse. Man servant Edgar overhears their loving elderly owner Madame Adelaide Bonfamille changing her will. She plans to leave her estate to the cats with Edgar as her heir after the cats' death. He decides to abandon the cats in the country. Stray cat Thomas O'Malley falls for Duchess and leads the family back to Paris.The song and music is big band and jazzy. It's the waning years of old school Disney animation. It is fun and light but lacks any long-lasting drama. The old school feel fits the time period and setting of the story. It doesn't have the big iconic tune although a couple of them are pretty catchy. The cats are cute. Edgar is a functional villain but the movie needs a more immediate villain in the middle while he is separated from the cats. There should be an animal villain hunting the family to heighten the drama. There is a stretch between being abandoned and returning to face Edgar where the movie lacks any tension. In any case, the movie has a good nature light fluffiness that is quite appealing.

When a very rich Parisian lady decides to leave all her assets to her cats, her jealous butler decides to make them disappear so he could have it all. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, it features a soundtrack composed by George Bruns.We are probably facing one of the most underrated films of Disney Studios. It has a simple script, based on an inheritance dispute between a butler and a family of cats. The voice actors are good and the work of designers is great. The use of softer tones, combined with a firm but discreet pencil, make it very elegant and charming. The film has some important moral messages: the union of the family, as well as help to those in peril, are values ​​visible in the way the cats help each other. On the other hand, the adverse consequences that the butler suffers show the children the punishment for his envy and greed. In the film, the "dating" between Duchess and O'Malley recalls the dating scenes made twenty years earlier for "The Lady and the Tramp".One of the most appreciated features of this film is the soundtrack, which contains a number of interesting musical moments, from the song of Siamese cats to the song that kittens sing at the piano. But the most striking piece is "Everybody wants to be a cat." It comes near the climax and it's a very fun jazz, played by the stray cats.

Think: feline version of LADY and the TRAMP. Usual entertaining Disney animation feature; but not the instant classic as so many during Walt Disney's lifetime. (I believe this is the first completed feature following his death.) Grand, beautiful and pampered pussy Duchess(Eva Gabor)leaves all her earthly possessions to her three kittens in her will.(Duchess might have really made the rounds by looking at her three different looking offspring.) A clause states whats left of the fortune goes to the butler Edgar(Roddy Maude-Roxby)in the event the cats don't survive. Greedy Edgar dumps them out in the country in hopes they will never find their way back home. But coming to their aid is alley cat Thomas O'Malley(Phil Harris).ARISTOCATS is family fun with high quality cinematography and directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. Maurice Chevalier sings the title song. And Harris sings a tune called "Thomas O'Malley Cat". A diverse group of actors lend their voices to supplement the cast: Sterling Holloway, Pat Buttram, Nancy Culp, George Lindsay, Scatman Crothers, Lord Tim Hudson and Hermoine Baddeley.