The Aristocats (1970)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1970
	Director: Wolfgang Reitherman (Robin Hood, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book)
	Actors: Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Sterling Holloway
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation
	Conditions of visioning: 08.01.2018, in-flight entertainment system 10" screen.
Synopsis: Duchess and her three kittens live the perfect aristocratic life, well taken care of by Madame and Edgar her butler. That is until she puts the cats in her will before him.
Review: I enjoyed a lot watching old Disney classics like Lady and the Tramp, Dumbo and Pinocchio, and I hadn't seen The Aristocats since I was a kid so that needed correction. A few things strike me in that movie. First the music is as omnipresent as I remembered, and I could this time appreciate for the first time the original soundtrack with all its funny lyrics, including the opening song half in French by Maurice Chevalier. I loved to hear all those songs, from the classic one to hummed melodies to the street performance by O'Maley to the explosion of the Skat band. Then I was also impressed by the drawings which don't have the perfect quality look of their predecessors, decades older, from the prime time of Disney. Less details can be found in The Aristocrats, in the background for example, and I found the drawings of the cats a bit rough at the edges, almost unfinished, but this gives them a realism that is hard to describe. Moreover beyond the rough lines, the animation of the animals' movements is nothing short of extraordinary, rendering perfectly small movements, dances, swings and the weight of those animals, like I have rarely seen in a hand-draw animated film except for the best Disney like The Jungle Book (by the same director), Dumbo, or by the modern genius Bill Plympton (I Married a Strange Person!, Revengeance). Also movies of that time were on the short end, under 80 minutes for this one, and production was costly so you can see the economy in every frame: everything that is shown is interesting to watch because a lot of work and heart were put into it. There are some scenes that I likes less, for example the two ones between the butler and the dogs, but they are largely compensated by all the ones with cats, geese, mouse... Almost half a Century later, still a great animated film to watch for adults and children alike.
Rating: 8 /10