The AristoCats (1970) Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: The AristoCats
Year: 1970
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Country: US
Language: English

The last animated feature to be approved by Walt Disney and the studio's first animated feature to be entirely completed after his death, AristoCats was considered a financial success when it made $55 million compared to its $4 million budget. Around that same time the company was also working towards an opening date for Walt Disney World in Florida, which was a huge financial risk for them. If either film or park had been a failure it would have meant extremely difficult financial times moving forwards.

With the help of a smooth talking tomcat, a family of Parisian felines set to inherit a fortune from their owner try to make it back home after a jealous butler kidnaps them and leaves them in the country. 

Casual racism aside (there are a few not so clever Asian stereotypes) AristoCats borrows elements of a variety of past Disney flicks (most notably 101 Dalmations) but is more adult and original than anything seen before. Unlike past works of the studio, it's not obvious what demographic the film is targeted to. If it's a children's movie, then it does feature a few jokes that will go way over a child's head, even if that child is a 70's hippie. 

While the humans in AristoCats are presented as cold and two-dimensional, the animals are treated with utmost respect. They appear to have more "human" characteristics than the humans do and thus are easy to get behind and sympathize with. They have a variety of personalities so it's not difficult to tell them apart and/or have a favourite. 

Despite some poor animation and the subtle introduction of terrible cliches, AristoCats has some really good music that blends genres and takes us on a brief ride through musical history. I particularly like the memorable Everybody Wants to Be a Cat. Disney never got more jazzy than this.