The Aristocats (1970)

Plot

A wealthy and aging French socialite, Madame Adelaide Bonfamille lived with her cat Duchess, and her three kittens: Berlioz, Toulouse, and Marie. She also employed a butler, named Edgar.

Madame sent for her friend, George Hautecourt, to finalize her will. But they did not know that Edgar was listening to them. Madame considered her cats like her family and so she planned to leave everything to them. The estate would only then be handed to Edgar once all the cats die. Upon hearing this, Edgar decided to put sleeping pills in the cats' cream and he brought them to the countryside while they were asleep. However, Edgar's plans were ruined when two dogs named Lafayette and Napoleon chased him and prompted him to leave the cats in a field somewhere. The next day, the cats found themselves not in their home, but in the countryside, and met a cat named Thomas O'Malley, who offered to get the family back to Madame.

Meanwhile, back in Paris, Edgar seemed to think he got away with his little crime...until he realized that he left his hat and umbrella out in the countryside, and quickly rushed out to retrieve them. Meanwhile, Thomas, Duchess and the kids rode on a milk truck, before being found out by the driver. They then attempted to follow a train track, until a train caused them to dive off. However, little Marie fell in a nearby river. Thomas jumped in to save her, and the family followed him downstream.

They then met up with two female geese, Abigail and Amelia, who they then followed to their Uncle Waldo to a restaurant where he escaped from becoming the main course. However, he drank white wine and was tipsy.Meanwhile, Edgar returned to the countryside and managed to get back his hat and umbrella, but not before Napoleon and Lafayette attempted to nip at his heels again.

On the way home, O'Malley took the cats to Scat Cat's abode in an abandoned building. Scat Cat and his gang of alley cats entertained the family, before heading off into the night. Once the kittens were put to bed, Duchess and O'Malley shared a tender moment and shared her eagerness to return to Madame, but O'Malley felt that Madame only saw Duchess and her kittens as housepets. Duchess however, explained that Madame considered them as part of her family.

The next morning, O'Malley led the family back to Madame's mansion, only to be confronted by Edgar, who quickly threw them in a sack. Rocquefort (the house mouse) saw the whole thing, and after he went to Duchess and the kittens in the sack, he went and looked for O'Malley. Thomas headed back to the mansion, and told Rocquefort to find Scat Cat and his gang. Back in the mansion's stables, Edgar placed the cats into a trunk. He already called for a truck to pick the trunk up, when O'Malley burst in and attacked Edgar. Soon after, Scat Cat and his gang arrived to help, while Rocquefort managed to pick the lock and freed the cats. Scat Cat's gang managed to knock Edgar into the trunk and out the stable's doors, just as the pick-up service arrived, which took him away.

Some time afterward, Madame Bonfamille found that Edgar went missing for some unknown reason, and called George to repurpose her will, removing him from any inheritance. Thomas was welcomed into the family, and Madame chose to allow her mansion to be a safe haven for all the alley cats in Paris.

The film ended with Scat Cat and his gang throwing a wild party at Madame's abode.



Did You Know?

1. It was the first film to be produced after Walt Disney's death.
2. It was the last film to be approved by Walt Disney directly.
3. Some of the Duchess's dance moves were later reused for Maid Marian's moves in Robin Hood (refer to 1:06 in the video).



4. In 2003, Disney Channel considered making Marie, Toulouse and Berloiz grow into teenagers for a syndicate show.
5. Edgar originally had a partner-in-crime: a maid named Elvira.


Original Trailer