Disney Animated Marathon: The AristoCats (1970)

Movie #21 in the Disney Animated Marathon features some hip cats!

Story By: Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth, Vance Gerry, Tom McGowan, Tom Rowe, Julius Svendsen, Frank Thomas & Ralph Wright
Directed By: Wolfgang Reitherman

One would think that the downtrend in the quantity of my reviews would lead to a better quality of review here at Bill’s Movie Emporium. But, if one were to think that then they would be remiss in one key area, I am the writer of this here blog and that means quality is always, always out of the question. What does this have to do with The AristoCats you ask? Well, how about I tell you, because otherwise this entire opening paragraph is pretty darn pointless and you visited my blog for nothing.

I racked my brain for a little bit, small brain means not a lot of time is required in the racking process, in an attempt to properly express my feelings on The AristoCats. Anyone who has read my work through the years knows that this is a constant struggle for me, my head is full of ideas, it’s the getting them out of the ole dome that is the problem. All sarcasm aside, I do appreciate the people who read my blog and I feel that I owe it to you to bring a higher quality to my content. If my brain had it’s way my review of The AristoCats would consist of three words, “it was okay.” Here at Bill’s Movie Emporium I strive for a little bit more than that, but only a little because any more than that and frankly you’re asking for too much from a man of my limited acumen.

With all of that long windedness behind me, let’s truly get into The AristoCats and why my initial thoughts were those three words. Continuing what I like to call the Wolfgang Reitherman trend, The AristoCats remains consistently in the middle strata, avoiding any terrible lows or amazing highs. There isn’t a single aspect of The AristoCats that sticks out to me, and with a Disney animated feature that is an important fact. For most of these movies the deciding factor comes down to this, if I ever get a female to procreate with this ugly mug, where would this film fall in the pecking order of Disney animated features I want to expose my daughter or son to? As far as The AristoCats is concerned my answer is somewhere in the middle, maybe near the bottom, or whenever we have some free time and I’m not in the middle of yelling at the whippersnapper to pay attention to Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, I don’t care if you’re only three, you should get this!

That’s as in-depth as I can get with The AristoCats, it is a simple case of a movie feeling very flat to me and failing to resonate with me in any significant way. The animation isn’t my cup of tea and I spent most of the movie cringing at the rough and unfinished style that Reitherman chose to employ. The kittens were cute, but Thomas did little to nothing for me. The way that Reitherman chose to portray the human characteristics of the animals in relation to the presence of actual humans was highly confusing and something that never gelled with me. The AristoCats was a series of little things, some worked, some didn’t, but none floored me or made me want to flex this noggin more than I usually do, which isn’t a lot.

As cliche as it may sound, The AristoCats simply didn’t work for me, that’s all there is to it. It’s not a film I would ever label as terrible, but it certainly isn’t among Disney’s best and it most definitely isn’t part of the Disney oeuvre that I’ll be rushing to show my children. Maybe that works for you, maybe it doesn’t, but that’s the best I can offer you, and you can take that to the bank!

Rating:

**1/2

Cheers,
Bill