The Aristocats is a 1970 animated film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released on December 24, 1970. The 20th animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon, the film is based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe, and revolves around a family of aristocratic cats, and how an alley cat acquaintance helps them after their butler, Edgar, catnaps them to gain his mistress' fortune, which was meant to go to them. The title is a pun on the word aristocrats. The film's basic idea — an animated romantic musical comedy about talking cats in France — had previously been used in the UPA animated feature Gay Purr-ee.
Disney began production of a sequel, The Aristocats II, in December 2005, set to release in 2007, but production was cancelled in early 2006.
The film is noted for being along with The Jungle Book (1967) the last film project to be approved by Walt Disney himself, as he died in late 1966, ten months before the film was released. While the film gained overall favorable reviews and a solid box office performance, it did not match the earlier success of 101 Dalmatians or The Jungle Book. Today, while the film is very iconic, it is seen as a modest success by the Disney company.
Rating[]
The Aristocats received a G rating by the MPAA. This is the twentieth Disney animated movie to be rated as such in the US after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone and The Jungle Book.
Credits[]
Gallery[]
United States[]
Trivia[]
- A copyright renewal for the film was registered on June 29, 1998.[1]
- The title "Aristocats" is a play on words, combining "aristocrats" and "cats".
- This film was one of five Disney films with the sketchy animation style of xerography to have had a THX certified home media release at some point. In the case of this film, it's 2000 "Gold Collection" DVD.
- This is the last movie to end with "A Walt Disney Production", and the first of the Walt Disney Animated Classics to open with "Walt Disney Productions Presents". This would continue up until The Fox and the Hound in 1981.
- Robie Lester, who had done Duchess' singing voice in the film, would also later narrate the Read-Along version of the film.
- The Aristocats, more specifically "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat", was later briefly shown in the live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians, which the puppies ended up watching before switching to Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.
- A deleted scene shows that when the train comes on the bridge, the train derails, and with Marie nearly drowning.
- Scat Cat was originally written with Louie Armstrong in mind, with his original name being Satchmo Cat. Unfortunately, illness kept Armstrong from being able to play the character and the character was recast with Scatman Crothers and given the song "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat" replacing the one the Sherman Brothers wrote for Armstrong, "Le Jazz Hot".
- The car that Georges drives resembles a 1913 Mercer 35J Raceabout.
- Shun Gon the Siamese Cat has caused some controversy in recent years due to his appearance as a Chinese racial stereotype.
- The number of sleeping pills Edgar put in the milk for the cats would likely have killed them in real life.
- Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse have an Uncle Antoine that only appears in the books, but not in the movie.
- Almost all the characters from this film appear in House of Mouse, except for Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse.
- There are no end credits at the end of the movie, but there are opening credits at the start.
- Duchess' late voice actress, Eva Gabor, later voices Miss Bianca from The Rescuers, whom coincidentally is very much alike in spite of being a mouse rather than a cat.
- Roquefort narrates the Disneyland Records adaptation of the film.
- In Disneyland Records, some of the main characters namely Roquefort, Napoleon and Lafayette, Abigail and Amelia Gabble are voiced by their original voice actors and voice actresses, but Duchess and her kittens are not.
- Toulouse was originally named "Dopey" (almost named after one the dwarf of the same name from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) seen on one of the early storyboards until his name was changed.
- Marie is named after Marie Antoinette, Berlioz is named after Hector Berlioz, Toulouse is named after Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the French city, Toulouse.
- An ongoing graphic novel series revolving around the kittens Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse, called The Aristokittens begun publication during Spring 2022 with the first two books "Welcome to the Creature Cafe" and "The Great Biscuit Bake-Off" released on April 19, 2022, with the third book "The Fantastic Rabbit Race" releasing October of that same year .
- During the train scene, the whistle sound was originally used in the 1948 short film Desert Empire and it is in fact a Star Brass 5 chime whistle.
- A live-action remake of the same film is planned for the future, but its release date is currently unknown. However, in January 2022, development for the remake has started.[2] In August 2025, it is revealed that Disney has decided not to move forward with the film.
- At the end of the UK VHS, the last thing that happens is the Disney Videos logo, which features the announcer saying, "Watch out for future releases from Disney Videos."
- Shockingly for a film released within a well cherished but relatively infamous period of Disney animation where the next feature would reuse much of the animation and many other assets from previous features, especially when being directed in part or entirely by Wolfgang Reitherman, The Aristocats actually does this the least, Even less so than more acclaimed films like One Hundred And One Dalmatians and The Jungle Book. The former is actually the only other film The Aristocats borrows animation from while all of the other recycled animation in it was made for it originally.