After a hectic week of all work & minimal rest followed by a long day at office, I decided to relax & ease a bit. I decided to watch a movie; no heavy dosage of the thought provoking kind or the extremely sentimental emotional stuff which would possibly drain me all the more. Action or thrillers would just stretch my nerves more & I crossed out every other genre except comedy & cartoons. A good combination of the two, I picked up ’The Aristocats’ from the VCD Parlour on impulse. After a cool shower, I relaxed in my ’den’ with a cup of hot coffee & the show began....
Based on a story by Tom McGowan & Tom Rowe, ’The Aristocats’ is the last cartoon made under the supervision of Walt Disney himself (or so the CD cover read). A Walt Disney Production, the music is composed by George Burns & consists of a brilliant performance by Maurice Chevalier among others, orchestration by Walter Sheets, sound credited to Robert O Cook & Music editor is Evelyn Kennedy. Edited by Tom Acosta, the movie is produced by Wolfgang Reitherman & Winston Hibler & directed by Wolfgang Reitherman.
Though uncomparable to the other Walt Disney movies like ’Beauty & the Beast’, ’Lion King’ & a whole list of animated movies, The Aristocats holds its own class & it was a real treat 4 me. Let me warm U at the start that it’s just a movie for light entertainment to be watched alone or with family (or even a girlfriend who would keep cuddling to U). It’s not recommended for those who consider cartoons to be sissy stuff or a waste of time. For all the others who keep the child in them alive, read on....
A wealthy old spinster lives in a huge mansion in Paris & the story dates back to 1910. Madame has no one in her life except a faithful butler, Edgar who has been serving her patiently for years. Her most prized possessions are her Persian cat, Duchess & the 3 naughty little kittens who have all the luxuries of the pets of the elite class. Like all youngsters, the 3 sibblings also keep fighting all the time. Marie, a miniature of her beautiful Mama Cat wants to grow up to be a charming young lady ’’Ladies do not start a fight, but they can finish it’’. Berliaz is expected by his Mama to turn out to be a true & handsome gentleman, while Toulouse dreams of venturing out to become an alley cat. Under the loving guidance of their Mama, the 3 kittens practise painting, music & singing.
Living under the same roof too is Roquefort, the mouse who conveniently happens to have a cracker nearby everytime the feline family settles down for a meal & requests for just ’a couple of dips of the cracker’ to make it more relishing. Down in the stable, is Frou frou- the horse who is the mouse’s friend & confidante. Cats, mouse & horse living in close harmony- where else can U find that except in cartoons!
Madame decides to write her will entrusting everything to her cats which Edgar overhears. The lure of the big bucks prompt him to hatch a plan to get rid of the cats. He drugs them & steals them out at night in his bike with a loose tyre & squeky wheel to the outskirts of the city. En route, near an old windmill live 2 hounds, Napoleon ’’I am the leader; I will decide when it is time....’’ & Lafayette, whose short body keeps tripping over his long ears. The leader of the 2, though old, has a keen sense of hearing & can make out precisely anything from squeeky wheels to ’rubber soled shoes of size 9.’ When they see Edgar coming along, they attack him in a hilarious round-the-mill chase, during which, the basket containing the sleeping Cat & her kittens falls under a bridge.
They wake up to a stormy night & huddle close together; scared & wet in a strange place where even a frog seems to have a ’mouth like a hippopotamus’. Next morning, along comes a street smart tomcat singing gaily ’’Thomas O Malley, Malley the alley cat’’. He spots the beautiful Duchess, stares into her ’sparkling sapphire eyes that dazzle so bright’ & falls head over heels in love with her. He flirts with her as she sits demurely licking her paws, combing her whiskers, washing herself & occasionally fluttering her eyelashes at him while the kittens watch hidden in the basket. He instantly finds a fan in ’Lil Tiger’ Toulouse while ’Lil Princess’ Marie finds him ’Oh! So romantic....’ while the ’Lil Rascal’ Berliaz watches ’the sissy stuff’. I think this part was my favorite scene. It’s really cho-cho chweet.... ;0) (OK so, I’m still a baby at heart. Big deal! :0P)
On hearing about their problem, Malley helps them to get back to Paris & into their mansion home. During the journey, they meet & makes lots of friends & have quite an adventure while their mouse friend turns into Sherlock Holmes & sets out to find them. The movie is in delightful taste which keeps U laughing or at least smiling throughout. The giggling dumb pair of ducks, Abigail (blue hat) & Amelia(pink hat) keep harassing poor Malley whose frustration grows when they cannot even understand a sarcastic retort. Their drunk Uncle Waldo is a roar & as Malley comments, ’’Basked? Marinated in wine....’’
We also get to meet Scat Cat & the gang which comprise of a Chinese, Italian, English & Russian cat. (Ever seen cats of different nationalities?) They are Malley’s friends & play a catalystic part in the climax along with Frou-frou in saving the cat family. I could go on telling the entire movie (as if anything is left). I watched every bit of it & it ended a bit too soon for me. If I could, I too would prolong the movie a bit more like Napoleon until the ’’The End’’ sign hits me & I am forced to say, ’’I am the leader & I will decide when to say The End....’’