Hey FOOLS! I know this doesn't make sense putting this up now in July but for those who stuck by us during the infamous web blackouts we experienced through November you'll know that I lost my last week of Moovember reviews. Me being the bad CineFOOL that I am completely forgot until now that I had neglected to post the final two reviews for Moovember. So here they are.
The Aristocats is one of those Disney films, that is regularly re-released and is considered a classic but after watching for the first time, either in a very long time or actually for the first time, I'm struggling to see why it is held in such high regard. Growing up my family were a Disney family, one of my favourites animated films is still Beauty and the Beast. But The Aristocats was a film in which my sister regularly wanted to watch and was always walking around the house singing 'Everybody wants to be a Cat!' It made me resent the film a heck of a lot, just like The Little Mermaid. But unlike The Little Mermaid, The Aristocats was a bit of a let down.
The premise of the film is that a mother cat and her three kittens are kidnapped from their rich lives of luxury. They escape from their kidnappers and try to make their way home, along with the help of a street wise alley cat. When you look at the idea of the film from that perspective this should be Disney gold filled with memorable songs, lessons learnt and the trademark Disney charm. When in reality the idea I gave is something that isn't really embelished on any further it's just stretched over almost 90 minutes, making it a little on the boring side. Even the films feature song Everybody Wants to be a Cat isn't heard until late in the film and that catchy section of the song is only used in the finale of the song. But the most disappointing part of the film is the Animation. Usually crisp and perfectly crafted The Aristocats features animation that looks as thought they ran out of time and decided to colour the sketches instead of going to the trouble of finishing the animation. It really is disappointing.
As mentioned previously there are three key elements that makes a Disney film so great. A great story, wonderful animation and a timeless feature song. Sadly The Aristocats fails to tick any of these boxes and is probably one of the weakest offerings in the Disney catalogue. A bit of a Moovember low point in my eyes. Tune in tomorrow for the Moovember finale when we talk Steven Spielberg's epic War film, Saving Private Ryan.
Highlights – not a great deal actually but the song Everybody wants to be a cat is cool. I wish there was more city life.
Lowlight – shody animation, not a great deal of plot and a pretty boring offering.