#his voice is inspired by pat buttram

[tom-grape]

“I keep tellin’ ya, I ain’t got nothin’ to do with them no more! Pa’s got someone else he can look after, and who can look after him. It ain’t mine or Rosie’s business. I don’t wanna hear a word about bein’ a bad son - he wasn’t there for me growin’ up. He just threw me and Rosie into the spotlight and expected us to be the perfect little stars. Well, I didn’t want to be an actor, how about that? But did he ever talk to us about what we wanted? You bet he didn’t!”

Tom took in a deep breath, steadying himself again. “Y’know, it ain’t easy having a pa who prides himself in bein’ lazy. Enough to call himself a pirate of doin’ nothin’! But of course he adopts that scallion and suddenly he’s the perfect pa? Bull. Shit.”

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #123 - Back to the Future Part III

Spoilers below.

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes!

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes. #385.

Format: Blu-ray

1) I like really enjoy this film and I don’t know why. In some ways it is my favorite of the trilogy (but not really, the first one is my favorite). There are just so many things I love about it. The Western genre, the greater emphasis we get on Doc, Thomas F. Wilson as Mad Dog, there are just a lot of things about this film that really work for me on a base level. Outside of the original, this is the one I watch most of the trilogy.

2) Universal decided to unveil a new logo at the start of this film because 1) it was the studio’s 75th anniversary and 2) this was their most popular series at the time. It is the rare occasion when a logo actually adds to the weight of a film, as it feels more magical and we have a greater sense of time than we did with past logos.

3) Because the last film ended with the climax of the first film, and because this film’s opening scene was the ending of the last film (kudos if any of that made sense to you), this means that the end of the clock tower scene is the only sequence to appear in all three Back to the Future films.

4) The film’s opening theme actually introduces a new love theme from composer Alan Silvestri. A lighter melody which reoccurs throughout the film which I always tied to Doc and Clara’s relationship. But in hindsight it could just as easily be used to relate Doc and Marty’s friendship.

5) I mentioned in my post about Back to the Future Part II that the sequels play with the idea of history repeating itself by recreating scenes from the original in new circumstances. This trend continues in Part III immediately when Doc doesn’t believe that Marty actually came back FROM the future and refers to him as, “future boy,” only for Marty to talk to Doc through a locked door and convince him otherwise.

6) Doc reading the letter his future self wrote to Marty from 1885 is great. We get to see a lot of fun from 1955 Doc in reacting to ideas like the flying Delorean and briefly thinking that, “Einstein,” was someone other than his own future dog. Also it makes both Doc & Marty tear up. I’m all for tearful bromances.

7) As I mentioned before, this film does succeed in some nice emphasis on Doc’s character. Before he was a funny enthusiastic scientist and we didn’t get MUCH of his backstory, but here we get nice little details which flesh out his character more. Notably, his love for Jules Verne inspiring his desires to be a scientist. We also learn that he LOVED the Old West and as a kid he wanted to be a cowboy. That’s such a fun idea!

8)

Marty [after finding a picture of his great-great-grandfather Seamus McFly, also played by Michael J. Fox]: “That’s him. Good looking guy.”

9) So Doc is about to send Marty into the old west dressed as a “cowboy” and Marty points out he never saw Clint Eastwood dress like this.

Doc: “Clint who?”

Marty [looking at the movie posters]: “That’s right. You haven’t heard of him yet.”

The movies featured at the drive-in - Revenge of the Creature and Tarantula -both actually feature a young Clint Eastwood in them!

10) According to IMDb:

The drive-in theater was constructed specifically for this film. It was built in Monument Valley, and demolished immediately after filming. No films were ever screened there.

I would have LOVED to go to that drive in. Like that would be a must see destination for sure.

11) This is a nice callback to the original:

1955 Doc (telling Marty about how he’ll have to drive through the desert): “Remember where you’re going there are no roads!”

12) The gag with the Native Americans is pretty clever. For those of you who haven’t seen the film: Marty is concerned about running into the drive in wall with the Native Americans on it but is concerned he’ll hit them, but Doc points out he’ll travel back in time when there was no wall. Except when he travels back in time, there’s a group of (possibly stereotypical) Native Americans charging right at him (because they’re being chased by the cavalry).

13) Michael J. Fox as William McFly.

Fox continues his excellence of acting out multiple characters from the first film with his performance as Marty’s ancestor Seamus. He plays it totally different than he does Marty. Quieter, kinder, a little less brash, and with a killer Irish accent. Like his acting in the previous film, you never feel like you’re watching Fox play against Fox. They’re two totally different characters and he does well to show that.

14) Not only does this film play well with preexisting gags, but it also adds to them.

Marty: I had this horrible nightmare. Dreamed I w-... dreamed I was in a western. And I was being chased by all these Indians... and a bear.

Maggie McFly: Well... you're safe and sound here, now, at the McFly farm.

Marty: McFly farm? (Marty jolts out of bed to see Maggie) Why, you're my, you're my, my...(realizes he’s never actually met this woman in his whole life, as opposed to all the times he’s done this with his mom.) Who are you?

15) Just as Fox plays Seamus well, Lea Thompson does a great job as Maggie McFly.

Maggie is so different from Lorraine or...huh, I guess she’s only played different versions of Lorraine before. But she’s a little fiercer, being an immigrant at all, is able to hold her own with her husband, and again the Irish accent is great! I very much enjoy Maggie.

16) Robert Zemeckis directed Who Framed Roger Rabbit before the two Back to the Future sequels...

17) Think about this: we have seen seven full generations of Marty’s family.

His great great grandparents, Seamus and Maggie.

His great grandfather, William (as a baby).

His grandparents, Sam and Stella (in the original film)

His parents and his mother’s siblings (in the original film)

His parents.

Him and his siblings.

His children.

That gets to an excellent point about this series: it’s not about random time travel, it’s very much about family and the relationships we form between blood and friends. The fact that we meet seven generations of one kid’s family I think illustrates that perfectly.

18) Marty wandering through town illustrates how he wanders through town in the earlier films, giving us some nice throwbacks/foreshadowing (I don’t know which it is in a time travel movie) when we see A. Jones Manure Company.

19) The three bar patrons:

Dub Taylor, Harrey Carey. Jr., and Pat Buttram made careers out of playing sidekicks, town drunks, and colorful townsfolk in hundreds of westerns and television shows. Buttram in particular provided memorable voice over work in The Fox & The Hound as Chief and Disney’s Robin Hood as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

20) Bufford ‘Mad Dog’ Tannen.

This was Thomas F. Wilson’s favorite film to shoot out of the Back to the Future trilogy because he got to be a cowboy pretty much. Wilson is truly underrated throughout this film. In so many ways Mad Dog is a wildly different character from Biff and Griff. He’s more of a classic thug, he feels like he’s straight out of an old western and Wilson is chameleonic in the part. You don’t see Biff or Griff or any of other Wilson’s work, you just see Mad Dog and I will forever shout to the heavens that Thomas F. Wilson does not get enough credit for his work in this film.

21) These films really lucked out in their pop culture references. From the original we’ve had references to films, TV and music which have stood the test of time. These include Star Wars, “Star Trek”, Jaws, and - in this film - Clint Eastwood and Michael Jackson. Marty’s Michael Jackson dance when Mad Dog asks him to Dance is great!

22) In each film Marty pisses off a Tannen family member in a place to drink and is chased through town by him and his gang. This film is a bit more serious with that idea, as Mad Dog and his crew ride their horses and practically hogtie and lynch Marty. It’s the one time the town chase has not ended with Marty coming up on top, needing Doc’s sharpshooting to save his life. According to IMDb:

Thomas F. Wilson who plays Buford Tannen, performed all his horse riding stunts himself. He also did the trick where he lassoes Marty just before we meet the 1885 Doc.

When "Mad Dog" tried to lynch Marty, Michael J. Fox was accidentally hanged, rendering him unconscious for a short time. He records this in his autobiography "Lucky Man" (2002).

23) I never knew how amazing Doc Brown as a badass gunslinger would be until I saw this film.

24) It’s interesting to note that Doc does not remember helping Marty get to the Old West when he did so thirty years earlier. My working theory is this: we know that Doc hit his head a lot, so I’m guessing at some point he just banged himself up so much he forgot his own future in the Old West.

25) The Mayor in Part III was a part which was offered to Ronald Reagan after his presidency, as he was a fan of the original film. He ended up turning it down.

26) The whole idea of an act committed by Marty and Doc changes the name of Clayton Ravine to Shonash Ravine then to Eastwood Ravine is basically a more obvious version of the Twin Pines/Lone Pine Mall joke in the first film.

27) Clara Clayton.

With the exception of Lorraine, the Back to the Future films don’t exactly excel at representing female characters (they literally left Jennifer on the porch in the middle of the last film and she won’t show up again until the end of this film). Mary Steenburgen as Clara Clayton is a nice change of pace for that. Although largely introduced as a love interest for Doc Brown, she is developed into an interesting character to match Doc’s. She has the same love for Jules Verne and science as he does (a rarity in the Old West), she’s able to fend for herself around Bufford Tannen, but she and Doc also connect on a really fascinating level. Even though they just met, the chemistry between Lloyd and Steenburgen make you really believe that these two love each other (the scene where Doc agrees to fix her telescope is so cute!). I love Mary Steenburgen in this film, and she’s a worthy addition to the trilogy.

28) With the extension of the story to a trilogy, we get to see when the famous Hill Valley clock starts clicking in 1885 (in Part III) and when it stops clicking in 1955 (in the original film). Thinking it through, you can figure out exactly how long the clock ran. The clock in the clock tower started running at 8:00 p.m. on September 5, 1885 (the date is provided by the caption on the photograph Doc gives Marty at the end of the movie). The lightning strikes the clock tower at 10:04 p.m. on November 12, 1955. This means that the clock tower operated for exactly 70 years, 2 months, 7 days, 2 hours, and 4 minutes.

29) Much like how Huey Lewis made a cameo in the original film, ZZ Top (who sings the song “Doubleback” which plays during the credits) cameos as the 1885 town bad during the dance.

According to IMDb:

According to the book "Billy Gibbons: Rock & Roll Gearhead", ZZ Top was hanging around the set and was asked to be the town band. During one take, the camera broke. While waiting for the camera to be repaired, Michael J. Fox asked if they would play "Hey Good Lookin'" which they did. Afterwards, more requests were played. Two hours later, someone inquired if the camera had been repaired. Robert Zemeckis replied that it had been fixed for quite a while, he just didn't want to stop the party that had evolved.

Also the song they’re playing is an acoustic version of “Doubleback” from the film.

30) I’m sharing this largely for the first 22 seconds.

After watching the modern “Doctor Who” series I immediately think of this:

You Whovians get me.

31) I’ve seen this film probably around ten times (maybe eleven now) but this was the first time that the actor playing the Colt salesman looked familiar to me.

Well that’s because the last time I watched this film and my most recent viewing I’d see Blazing Saddles twice and, well...

32) And of course this has to continue because it wasn’t resolved in Part II:

Mad Dog [to Marty]: “You yella?”

Again, I don’t have an issue with this as much as other people do, but it’s hardly my favorite aspect of the trilogy.

33) This part makes me laugh every time:

Mad Dog: Then let's finish it, right now!

Gang Member #1: Uh, not now, Buford. Uh, Marshal's got our guns.

Mad Dog: Like I said, we'll finish this tomorrow.

Gang Member #2: Tomorrow, we're robbin' the Pine City Stage.

Mad Dog: What about Monday? Are we doin' anything Monday?

Gang Member #1: Uh, no, Monday'd be fine. You can kill him on Monday.

Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen: I'll be back this way on Monday!

34) Doc and Clara stargazing melts my cynical heart.

(GIF sources unknown [if these are your GIFs please let me know].)

35) The only time in the entire trilogy when the catchphrases are flipped!

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

And I laugh every time.

36) It is a truly fascinating scene to watch when Doc tells Marty he wants to stay in 1885, but Marty knows Doc so well he is able to pretty easily convince him otherwise (mainly by appealing to the scientist in him). It shows just how great a friendship these two have.

37) You know what I never got: why does Doc not want to take Clara with them to 1985?

SHE’S SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD ANYWAY!!!!

38) My heart breaks every time Doc tries to tell Clara the truth about himself, and each time I watch this film there’s a part of me that thinks it won’t happen this time. I’m always wrong.

(GIF originally posted by @whatshouldwecallme)

39) This fucking scene:

Doc [after a traveling salesman tells him you never know what the future holds]: “Oh...the future. I can tell you about the future.”

(Feel free to stop watching after 1:44)

40) I’m starting to realize this film has some of my favorite gags in the whole trilogy.

Marty [after Doc faints after taking a shot]: “How many did he have?”

Bartender: “Just one.”

Marty: “‘Just one’?”

Bartender: “Now there’s a man who can’t hold his liquor.”

41) Marty realizing what we all should when dealing with someone like Tannen:

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

42) If I didn’t ship these two enough, just listen to how Clara describes Doc:

Clara [asking about Doc]: “Was this man tall, with great big brown puppy dog eyes and long silvery flowing hair?”

I love it!

43) Originally Mad Dog Tannen (after falling in manure) was arrested for killing Marshal Strickland and this was said by the deputy. However, this scene was deleted as the filmmaker decided it was too dark. They pointed out the fact that no one dies and stays dead in the Back to the Future films. Hence the re-dub.

44) When Doc blows the train whistle he gleefully exclaims, “I’ve wanted to do that all my life!” This sentiment would be repeated by the main character in 2004′s The Polar Express, also directed by Robert Zemeckis.

45) The entire climax with the train - while no Clock Tower scene from the original - is a great ride! It keeps the film’s standard for exciting and well done action in check while also feeding in incredibly into the western genre. It’s just a lot of fun!

46) This moment:

(GIFs originally posted by @gif-weenus)

HIS FACE! HE’S JUST SO HAPPY AND I LOVE IT! YES!!!!

47) It’s so sad when we think that Marty will never see Doc again because the Delorean is destroyed. Thank god for time travel.

48) Needles looks like a moron. Did people really dress this way in 1985?

49) In the last film it was established that Marty got into a car accident with a Rolls Royce after being called chicken, a decision which sent his life spinning down the toilet. This time we see the scene itself and while Marty decides not to race Needles (and in doing so he avoids the accident), because of time travel something is different this time:

JENNIFER IS IN THE PASSENGER SEAT OF THE CAR! JENNIFER WOULD’VE FREAKING DIED!

That could’ve been very bad for Marty.

50) I have a lot of fan theories in my head that fill up a lot of plot holes, but one thing I can’t figure out is how did Doc get the barriers to the railroad to drop before he traveled back in the time train to meet Marty & Jennifer?

51) Jules & Verne.

If you watch carefully, you can see the younger of the two - Verne - doing random stuff with his hands during the wide-shot. That’s because a crew member was in charge of doing things with his hands that the child actor would mirror, mainly with petting the dog. But when the crew member started gesturing for someone to come by them Verne continued mirroring him. And it’s in the final film.

52) This is a great closing message for the entire trilogy.

I love Back to the Future Part III. I love all the Back to the Future movies honestly, but something about Part III just really does it for me. I love the Western setting, I love the emphasis on Doc, I think Lloyd and Wilson get to really shine, and Clara is such a wonderful addition to the story. It’s just a really great way to close out one of the best film trilogies in movie history! So go watch it! Not just this film, the whole trilogy. You won’t be sorry.

[placetobenation]

The Fox and the Hound

Release Date: July 10th, 1981

Inspiration: “The Fox and the Hound” by Daniel P. Mannix

Budget: $12 million

Domestic Gross: $39.9 million

Worldwide Gross: $63.5 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%

IMDB Score: 7.3/10

Storyline (per IMDB): When an adopted fox and a to-be hunting hound become inseparable friends as pups, their friendship grows stronger every day in their “childhood.” But as they grow older, they grow farther and farther apart, to the day when the two old comrades’ bond is put to the ultimate test.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on as we start a brand new decade and a new era seems to be dawning at Disney as the group known as the Nine Old Men were being phased out and a new group of animators looked to make their mark. This is one of those films that I might have seen once or twice before, but have absolutely no recollection of and this is another film that some consider a very underrated film. Now I claimed that the Rescuers was the most underrated film to this point and I also thought it was a great film, and we will see if this film reaches that same level or ends up falling short.

Voice Cast: So to this point, we have had a lot of the same actors return to do these films and they had become very well known to this point, and aside from a few big names we wouldn’t see a lot of big name actors appear in these films. But it seems like that trend might seem to be changing as we saw Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor appear in the previous film and now we have some more big names appear in this one. We do have several returning actors appear here with the first being Jeanette Nolan who voices Widow Tweed in one of her last film appearances, and then we have Pat Buttram who voices Chief the dog in one of his last appearances as well. Next, we have John Fielder who voices the porcupine as he would soon transition to being on TV as well as being in film, and then we have John McIntire as Mr. Digger the badger in one of his last appearances. Finally, we have Paul Winchell who voices Boomer the woodpecker and we can clearly see that this generation of actors was starting to wind down and the next generation would soon take their place. Now moving onto the new voices we hear in the film, we have the legendary Mickey Rooney who voices Tod the fox as he was getting into the twilight of his career, and we have Keith Mitchell who voices Tod when he was a cub in what would be his film debut. We then have another top star in Kurt Russell who voices Copper the hound in what would be his only appearance in an animated film, and then we have child star Corey Feldman who voices Copper as a puppy as he was just getting his career started. Next, we have legendary musician Pearl Bailey who voices Big Mama the owl in what was her final film appearance, and then we have another legend in Jack Albertson who voices Amos Slade in what was his final film appearance prior to his death that same year. We then have TV star Sandy Duncan who voices Vixey the fox in one of her few film appearances as she would mainly stay in TV, and finally we have Dick Bakalyan who voices Dinky the finch in one of his only appearances in an animated film. This was an interesting film as you had a lot of big names with a few of them marking their final appearance in a film as well as veterans nearing the end of their run as well, and it will be interesting to see who steps up to take their spots throughout the next few films.

Hero/Prince: On the surface, this doesn’t seem like the film that would have a hero in it but after delving deeper into it, I do have to give mention to both Tod the fox and Copper the hound who become friends when they are young despite being natural enemies. When they become adults, Copper believes that they can’t be friends anymore and after his mentor Chief is injured, he believes Tod to be responsible and vows revenge. Copper and his owner Slade are close to killing Tod and Vixey until a grizzly bear attacks them and Tod risks his life to save Copper and Slade. After seeing Tod save him, Copper returns the favor and prevents Slade from killing him as they finally go their separate ways remembering their days as friends. While both of them did save the other in the end of the film which does in essence make them heroes, they will probably not rank high and might even end up close to the bottom against the other heroes.

Princess: N/A

Villain: Much like I mentioned earlier, on the surface it seems like there is no real clear villain in this film aside from one and that is the grizzly bear that attacks Slade and Copper only for Tod to fight him off and send him to his death by pushing him over the waterfall. But interestingly enough, Amos Slade is also considered a villain in the Disney canon as he is the grouchy owner of Copper and Chief, and he has a serious hatred of foxes and makes no bones about it as he threatens to kill Tod even while he is under Widow Tweed’s care. After Chief is injured, Slade vows revenge on Tod and even trespasses onto a reserve to hunt him, and even after Tod saves them from the grizzly bear he still wants to kill him and it is only when Copper stands between them that he gives up his desire and walks away with Copper as he reconciles with Tweed. Unlike some of the other villains in the Disney canon, Slade has motivation to do what he does even though he is not truly evil and he is just relying on his hunter instincts, and because of that he is relatable in a way and as we see he eventually lets his hate for Tod go if anything for Copper’s sake. As a result, he is definitely not going to rank high in terms of the villains and if anything, the grizzly bear will probably rank high than him.

Other Characters: I had mentioned before that the number of other characters in these films seems to be fluctuating constantly and we go back to a film that has a pretty light amount of characters with most of the focus being on the main characters. But we do have other characters that play an important role with the first being Widow Tweed, an elderly woman who takes care of Tod when he was a cub before putting him in a reserve to protect him from Copper and Slade. We then have Chief who is Slade’s dog and he becomes Copper’s mentor before he has his leg broken when he is hit by a train, and then we have Big Mama the owl who looks over Tod before giving him to Tweed and then she brings Tod and Vixey together. Speaking of Vixey, we have her next as she becomes Tod’s love interest and narrowly avoids being killed by Slade and Copper, and finally we have the animals in the forest like Dinky and Boomer who help Big Mama as well as the badger who comes into conflict with Tod and the porcupine who tries to help Tod get acclimated to the forest. While these characters are pretty instrumental in being important to the story, there is no question that the focus of the film is on the main characters of Tod and Copper and their struggles.

Songs: Much like the Rescuers before it, this seemed like a film that wouldn’t have any songs in it if only because of the source material, but due to it being adapted into a family-friendly film you had to guess that they were going to shoehorn in some songs. We first have the signature song of the film which is “Best of Friends” sung about the friendship between Tod and Copper despite their differences and it is a nice little song to put over the main premises of the film. The next song to talk about is “Lack of Education” which Big Mama sings to Tod as she tries to warn him that Copper will become a trained killer and it was more of a spoken song as opposed to be sung, and then we have “A Huntin’ Man” that Slade sings as he comes back from his hunting trip and it is about as basic as you can get. The next song that we hear is “Goodbye May Seem Forever” which Tweed sings as she prepares to release Tod into the wild and it is a fine ballad recounting their relationship, and the final song we hear is “Appreciate the Lady” which Big Mama sings to help Tod court Vixey. While the first song is the best remembered song from this film, the other songs are just fine for the film and that’s pretty much all there is to say about it.

Plot: This is another film that I did not know was adapted from a novel and I do not recall ever hearing about a book called “The Fox and the Hound” at any point in my life. Reading about the novel and comparing it to the movie, it is astonishing at how different the film is compared to the novel though given the content of the novel it makes sense why they would change it up to be more family friendly. In the film, a young fox cub named Tod befriends a hound puppy named Copper and Tod believes they will be friends forever, but Copper’s owner Slade does not like Tod and vows to kill him if he trespasses onto his farm and the forest animals warn Tod that he and Copper are natural enemies. When the two grow up, Copper tells Tod they can’t be friends anymore and his mentor Chief hunts Tod only to be hit by a train and suffers a broken leg, and Slade and Copper vow revenge as Tod becomes close with a vixen named Vixey. In the end, Copper and Slade are close to killing both foxes until a grizzly bear attacks them and Tod risks his life to save Copper and Slade, and then Copper prevents Slade from killing Tod and they go their separate ways as Tod and Vixey return to the forest and Copper goes home with Slade. This is one of those cases where I would love to read an interview or watch something with the author of the novel and get their opinion on how they felt the film turned out, and the only reason is because I know some authors hate on the adaptations turn out and others enjoy them very much so this is definitely one of the times where I would love to find out the author’s thoughts.

Random Watching Thoughts: For being a family friendly film, this opening intro feels pretty dark and may be lulling you into a false sense of security; One of the big points of this film is that it was during the production of this film when Don Bluth and various animators walked out due to differences with the higher ups at Disney, and they would go onto form their own studio and become Disney’s main competitor for the next decade; As a result of this upheaval, the film was pushed back from its Christmas Day 1980 release to being released during the summer of 1981; Much like when Bambi’s mother was killed, we have another instance of a mother sacrificing herself for her child; I couldn’t imagine how the owl came by the name Big Mama; Tod was so scared of Big Mama at first though he quickly warmed up to her and wanted to be with her; I feel like the running gag of Boomer and Dinky trying to get that worm was added to bring some levity to the film since it does appear heavy for the most part; Poor Boomer was lucky that his beak didn’t bend further when Tweed slammed the door on him; Of all the things they had to grab, it was her undergarments; Considering how wild they are, Tweed had no problem bringing Tod into her home even though he was a fox; I find it funny how Tweed decided to call him Tod just because he was a toddler; Chief got so excited thinking that Slade had some meat for him only to find out it was a puppy; Copper was so keen to be buddies with Chief and it took a while, but eventually Chief started warming up to him; That’s quite the service of Tweed shooting milk from Abigail’s udder right into Tod’s mouth; Tod was just trying to have fun, but that chicken had to assume that he was going after her chicks and then all hell breaks loose; Tweed was ready to lay the hammer down on Tod, but he manages to get out of it by being a cute pup; I wonder how hard it was for Paul Winchell to try and laugh not like he would when he is voicing Tigger; Considering how small that worm is, how are Boomer and Dinky exactly going to split him evenly so they both get a fair share?; With as much pecking as he does, it’s a wonder that Boomer’s beak doesn’t get all bent out of shape; That brief few seconds where Boomer forgets he’s a bird and doesn’t fly to safety so he doesn’t hit the ground; For only being a puppy, Copper already has a keen sense of smell if he could smell Tod from that far away; Grits and fatback, the breakfast of champions; I wonder how many adults heard Chief’s voice and realized it was the same guy who voices the Sheriff of Nottingham in ‘Robin Hood”; That’s quite the pipsqueak howl that Copper had; To steal a quote from the great Elvis Presley, Copper ain’t nothing but a hound dog though he ain’t crying all the time; Big Mama sings about Tod and Copper being the best of friends when they literally just met; He runs off twice and Slade finds it necessary to tie him up so he doesn’t run off anymore; Tod really had no fear of Chief if he just walked on top of him and toyed with him until he woke up; Slade didn’t seem the kind of guy to have chickens; That was quite a scoop that Chief made to get all those chickens in his barrel; How was Chief able to get freed from that tree?; Considering Tod was only a puppy, Slade made no qualms about shooting him; Slade had quite a good aim with that gun even while driving, and he had no problem shooting at Tod even though he could’ve hit Tweed; Slade and Tweed as neighbors seems like a real low rent version of the Hatfields and McCoys; Considering that she shot his radiator at point blank range, the fact that it still worked is pretty much a miracle; It seemed like there was more than enough room for all three of them to sit up there especially since Copper was just a puppy; Leave it to an owl to try and teach Tod about the ways of nature; Poor Tod so desperately wants to believe that he and Copper will remain friends even though everyone tells him otherwise, and they even go as far as to show him skinned animals to prove their point; Wouldn’t Boomer and Dinky have already gone south for the winter and not try to put up with the cold?; That worm just took it upon himself to make himself at home in Tweed’s house; It was interesting that they put a lot of focus on Copper growing up and becoming a hunting dog, it’s as if they tried to make a point to the audience that Big Mama would be proven right to Tod; Copper went from being outsmarted by a rabbit to finding a family of quail with Slade getting one of them; Considering it’s only been a few months, Tod and Copper have grown into big animals; Big Mama just throws a pile of leaves out and doesn’t care where they land as she throws them on top of Tod; Tweed even went to the trouble to give Tod a collar; That was a bit rude by that worm to eat that plant while he was staying in the house; That worm literally became a glowworm thanks to some electricity; That area where Slade and Tweed are living seems to be a weird place to have train tracks, and you wonder how many trains actually come by that area; For as bad as he hates Tod, you can’t deny the love that Slade has for Chief and Copper; Even at this point, Tod still wants to believe that he and Copper can still be friends; You can tell Copper is torn because he wants to be friends with Tod, but he feels that it goes against being a hunting dog; Not only are there train tracks by the houses, but there’s a whole old station nearby with a bridge; Of course this would be the one time a train comes through; So in reading up on the production of the film, the original plan was for Chief to be killed by the train as it was in the book, but the director decided against it despite the pleas of the animation team and it was changed to Chief having a broken leg; Even though Tod technically didn’t have anything to do with Chief getting hurt, that was a pretty tense scene where Copper swears revenge on Tod; You would’ve thought Slade was going to just barge in Tweed’s house and shoot Tod on the spot; You do feel bad for Tweed because she had become so attached to Tod and had to let him go to protect him; It was weird that Tod didn’t try to chase after Tweed when she drove away which is a common trope; I know he didn’t Tod intruding on his home, but that badger was being a bit of an asshole about it; That was a kind porcupine to let Tod bunk with him; Slade is willing to break the law by hunting on a game preserve just to get Tod; Chief was lucky to escape with just a busted leg considering that fall he took off the train tracks; Slade is willing to put those traps in a game preserve not caring what ends up in them; Another interesting note is that the original director wanted to add a musical scene in the second act to make it stronger, but it was cut because they felt the scene made no sense and didn’t fit; Vixey asks what Tod looks like even though Big Mama told her he was a fox; I thought the porcupine took Tod away from the badger’s home yet the tree was right above it and Tod just happened to land on it; So Big Mama is not only a guardian to the forest, she apparently is also a matchmaker; He was so convinced that nothing was beautiful until he laid eyes on Vixey; He tries to come up with the right thing to say to her and all he ends up saying is “Hi”; He asks her if he can call her by her first name, I don’t know of many animals that have last names; He’s so confident in his ability to catch fish and yet he fails so miserably; I understand that Tod is upset, but he was out of line in yelling at her when he was trying to impress her; He presents one flower to her and she is immediately smitten with him; What is it with 6 being the right amount of children to have because Maid Marian said the same thing in “Robin Hood”?; Slade is so lucky that there was no law enforcement close by because he probably could’ve faced jail time for hunting on a private game preserve; That’s a lot of traps that he brought for just one fox; Isn’t the forest usually quiet?; That was some fancy footwork by Tod to avoid all those traps; How traumatizing must it have been for kids watching two former best friends fight each other; Not only is he hunting on a game preserve, but now Slade is creating fires; He was so confident that the foxes would have to come out towards them, but instead they throw him for a loop by going out the back way; That is the largest grizzly bear I have ever seen, even for an animate film; Of course Slade would get caught up in his own trap; Even after fighting him, Tod still thinks enough of Copper to save him from the bear; That bear must have some super thick skin that he can withstand multiple bites from both Copper and Tod; The bear was so focused on killing Tod that he ultimately cost himself is own life; That was a powerful moment for Copper to keep Slade from killing Tod and Slade finally lets his hate go, and Tod and Copper share one more smile before parting ways; Boomer and Dinky finally look to get the worm only for the worm to turn into an electric butterfly; That was mighty big of Tweed to be willing to assist Slade in helping heal his foot.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, this film was a pretty solid film though it was not up to par with the Rescuers and unfortunately, I don’t think it is deserving of being declared underrated as I feel I am properly rating it. It’s funny that there was so much turmoil going on during the production of this film in terms of the director stepping down and Don Bluth leading the exodus of the animators, so I’m not completely surprised that this film did fall a bit flat in the end. We are only a short year into the 1980s and there appears to be a feeling of flux within Disney as the theme parks were continuing to grow and they were about to expand their reach overseas. As a result, it is going to be interesting to see how things play out in the animation studio as we hit a major milestone in the Disney film canon. As for this film, it is a perfectly fine film that is probably not as underrated as some people think, but it is just fine as it is.

Final Grade: 6.5/10

[placetobenation]

The Rescuers

Release Date: June 22nd, 1977

Inspiration: “The Rescuers and Miss Bianca” by Margery Sharp

Budget: $7.5 million

Domestic Gross: $71.2 million

Worldwide Gross: $169 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

IMDB Score: 6.9/10

Storyline (per IMDB): When a bottle containing a plea for help from a little girl named Penny makes its way to the Rescue Aid Society, a mouse organization in the basement of the United Nations building dedicated to the rescue and well-being of anyone in need, it is up to the brave mouse Miss Bianca and her chosen partner, the shy janitor Bernard, to rescue the girl. Searching for clues at Penny’s home at Morningside Orphanage in New York City, the two mice discover that the girl has been kidnapped by the evil pawn shop owner Madame Medusa and her companion Mr. Snoops. On the back of Orville the albatross, Miss Bianca and Bernard travel to the terrifyingly gloomy Devil’s Bayou where they learn the shocking truth: the innocent young girl is being forced down into a dangerous, dark underground pirate’s cave where she must find the Devil’s Eye, the world’s largest diamond and Madame Medusa’s greatest obsession.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We now come to the last Disney film of the 1970s and the second film released in 1977 as we have the first instance of two films being released in one calendar year. If you ask some people, they will say that this film is still one of the most underrated films in Disney’s history and is one that doesn’t get talked about enough as being one of the best films ever. I’ll be honest, I might have seen this film only once as I was more of a fan of the sequel which we will get to down the road, but hopefully this film will prove those people correct that this is one of the best films ever that doesn’t get the credit it deserves.

Voice Cast: As I mentioned in the last film, we were getting to a point where the number of returning stars for these films is starting to dwindle as a new crop of talent were starting to emerge and fill the gaps. Now unlike the previous film which was mostly made up of returning stars and only a few newcomers, this one has a lot of newcomers while also having a few returning voices. For the returning voices, we have the return of Eva Gabor as she voices Miss Bianca in a pretty memorable role and this is the role I think she is better remembered for as opposed to Duchess, and then we have Pat Buttram making his return as he voices Luke the muskrat. We then have James MacDonald return as he voices Evinrude in what would be his last film role as well as his last film in general while working at Disney, and then we have George Lindsay who voices Deadeye the rabbit in what would be one of his last roles. Finally, we have John Fielder who voices Deacon Owl as he continues to become a familiar voice for the Disney films, and as mentioned the list of returning voices is definitely getting smaller with each passing film. Now moving onto our debuting actors, at the top of the list is comedy legend Bob Newhart as he voices Bernard in a memorable role, and then we have Geraldine Paige who voices Madame Medusa in what would end up being her lone animated film and she makes the most of it. Next, we have child actress Michelle Stacy who voices Penny in her first major role and quite possible her most memorable role, and then we have Joe Flynn who voices Mr. Snoops in what ends up being his final film role as he sadly passed away prior to the film’s release and the film was dedicated to him. We then have Jim Jordan who voices Orville in what was his first film role after retiring 40 years ago and it would also be his final film role overall, and then we have John McIntire who voices Rufus the cat in one of two animated films he would appear in for his whole career. We then have Jeanette Nolan who voices Ellie Mae the muskrat in what was one of her first animated film appearances, and then we have Bernard Fox who voices the Chairman of the Rescue Aid Society in his first animated film appearance as well. Finally to quickly finish things off, we have Larry Clemmons who voices Gramps the turtle, Dub Taylor as Digger the mole, and Bill McMillian as a TV announcer to fill out the remainder of the film. It is going to be interesting as we head into the next decade how many of these new actors return and how much longer the returning ones stick around and continue to contribute to these films.

Hero/Prince: For the third time in the last few films, we have a pair of heroes to talk about here and that is of course the pair of Bernard and Miss Bianca. Bianca is an agent for the Rescue Aid Society and is chosen to go on this mission though she needs a partner and to everyone’s surprise, she chooses Bernard who is working as a janitor. They are sent to investigate the kidnapping of an orphan where they discover the orphan is being used to find a valuable diamond, and with the cooperation of other animals they manage to save the orphan and retrieve the diamond which leads Bernard to being declared an agent and he becomes official partners with Bianca. The pair are about as opposite as you can get as Bernard is overly cautious and very superstitious while Bianca is fearless and is willing to dive head first into this mission, but there is a chemistry between them as Bianca is very fond of Bernard hence why she chose him to join her. Despite being mice, they are able to use their resources along with the help of their fellow animals to thwart the villains and save the day, and they are perhaps the most underappreciated heroes in the Disney canon and could potentially rank high in the list.

Princess: N/A

Villain: We once again have a film with multiple villains as it will be interesting to see going forward if this is a common theme or if we end up going back to one main villain and some henchmen. But we do have a pair that dominates the majority of the film and the brains of the outfit is Madame Medusa, a pawnshop owner who obsesses with finding the world’s largest diamond called the Devil’s Eye. She enlists her partner Mr. Snoops into kidnapping an orphan and they take her to the Devil’s Bayou where the diamond is rumored to be, and when they find it Medusa betrays Snoops and looks to keep the diamond for herself only for Bernard, Bianca, and the other animals to foil them. Medusa is about as basic a villain as you could get as she wants the diamond to potentially sell and make a lot of money off of it, and she even goes as far as to betray her partner so she can reap the benefits. Snoops is an example of just going along for the ride until he realizes that he is being screwed over, and he is more guilty by association as opposed to being a real villain. I should also call out Medusa’s pet alligators Nero and Brutus who serve as her weapons until the end when even they turn on her and try to eat her in the end. While greed is definitely a strong motivator to do bad things, it can also cloud one’s judgment which it does to Medusa and her ultimate demise, and honestly she will not rank high as a villain when comparing her to the other ones.

Other Characters: Much like the last couple of films that have come out especially in this decade, the majority of the other characters in this film are animals and they dominate the majority of the film aside from a few humans. Aside from Medusa and Snoops, we have one other main human in the film and that is Penny, the orphan who is kidnapped by Medusa and forced to find the Devil’s Eye diamond though she is saved by Bernard and Bianca before being adopted by a family. We then have Orville the albatross who helps bring Bernard and Bianca to New Orleans and then leaves despite being sucked through Medusa’s airboat, and then we have the various animals living in the bayou led by Evinrude the dragonfly who all despise Medusa with a passion and they help Bernard and Bianca save Penny and the diamond. Finally, we have the members of the Rescue Aid Society who we see at the beginning and the end of the film as they support Bianca in her decision to go as well as her choice of Bernard as her partner. This was a clear example of aside from a few of these other characters, a lot of the focus is on the main characters and these other characters are simply there to help move the plot along and fill out the scenes.

Songs: Going into this project, there were a few films that I wasn’t sure if they had any songs in them or not, and this was one of them as I didn’t think there were be songs in it but to my surprise there were a few. Amazingly, all of the songs aside from one are simply done in the background to serve really as transitional songs as opposed to songs that are recognizable to the film. The one song that is sung by characters in the film is the theme song for the Rescue Aid Society, which was simply a chant sung by its members to outline their call to duty. As for the other songs in the film, the one thing they have in common is that they are all sung by singer Shelby Flint, and the first one is the song played during the opening credits called “The Journey” which doesn’t feature much singing and is rather an orchestral piece. The next song is “Tomorrow is Another Day” which is sung while Bernard and Bianca are flying to New Orleans with Orville, and it is a fine piece that showcases Flint’s ability as a musician. The final song is “Somebody’s Waiting for You” which is sung in essence to Penny to let her know that better days are ahead of her, and it is a fine ballad sung by Flint and serves as a solid anchor song for the film. While these are not songs that will rank highly amongst the more recognizable songs from the Disney canon, they are still fine songs and are perfect for the film.

Plot: Going through the catalog of these films, there are a few that legit surprised me that they were actually based on a novel or some sort of short story because I had no idea that there was a children’s novel called “The Rescuers”. I’m also probably going to assume that most of the general public that saw this film did not know it was based off a novel either, especially since the plot had nothing to do with the actual novel. The plot sees a group of mice called the Rescue Aid Society that serve in the shadow of the United Nations, and when they receive a call of a kidnapped girl that needs saving Bianca volunteers to go and chooses the janitor Bernard as her partner much to everyone’s shock. Arriving in New Orleans with their new friend Orville, they learn from the various animals that the girl named Penny is being used by Medusa and Snoops to find the Devil’s Eye diamond. The two mice help Penny retrieve the diamond and Medusa tries to escape with the diamond herself, but with the assistance of the other animals Bernard and Bianca save Penny and recover the diamond as Medusa is left to fend for herself. In the end, the diamond is delivered to the Smithsonian Institute and Penny is adopted by a family, and Bernard is welcomed into the Rescue Aid Society as they receive another call to aid. The plot of the film is pretty solid for this film and it is always fun seeing a group of animals outwit a human regardless if the human is smart or not, and it works well for this film and it also does open the door for a potential sequel which we have yet to receive to this point.

Random Watching Thoughts: We finally get our first film without opening credits, but as soon as I say that here they come; That bottle went through quite the journey to get to New York; I wonder if all these delegates in the UN actually knew that mice were traveling with them; For being the janitor, the delegates seem to like Bernard in that respond to him when he says “hello” to them; It’s a wonder why Euripides Mouse hasn’t appeared in history books for his contributions to society; Considering that they are there for an emergency, they still have the time to sing their theme song; Bernard must’ve been working there for so long if he knows the theme song as well; Only mice would use a comb as a ladder; I don’t know what math Bernard is using because there are way more than 13 steps on that “ladder”; The only way that note could be so worn out is if water got into the bottle, but that cork seemed pretty secure on there; You can tell that Bernard clearly has some sort of affection for Bianca if he didn’t want her to go, but she also sees something in him if she was willing to choose him to help her; Bianca must be pretty popular in the Society if all those men were wanting to be her partner; That is quite a trek to the orphanage and if they could save time by going through the zoo, why not take it?; If that lion is in a cage, why is Bernard so scared when he knows the lion can’t chase him?; Bianca just assumes that Bernard did something to make the lion mad and determines that being woken up at this time at night made him grumpy; Was Penny gone that long that they were willing to put a “hold until further notice” sticker on it?; It’s not often that a cat is wearing glasses; Bernard did make a good point that Penny would’ve taken her stuff with her if she was adopted; One of the rare films where a human can understand an animal talking as Penny has a detailed conversation with Rufus; Is it just me or does Penny’s teddy bear have a striking resemblance to Winnie-the-Pooh?; A fun fact is when Rufus tells Penny the story about the bluebird, the bluebird that we see flying by is from “Alice in Wonderland”; I wonder what happened to Penny to cause her to lose her front teeth like that; Not many cats probably like ginger; The police must not be doing a good job in trying to find Penny if they gave up weeks ago; Penny must know enough not to get into the car with Medusa; That is quite the pawn shop that Medusa owns; Why would Medusa keep Penny’s book in her office?; It’s not often that you hear someone call their pawn shop a boutique; I thought maybe that the Devil’s Bayou was based on a real place, but it turns out it’s not; Medusa is clearly in a rush that she’s not even bothering to pack her suitcase correctly; Fun fact, the original villain for the film was supposed to be Cruella De Vil and if you look closely at Medusa’s car, it is designed the same way as Cruella’s; Medusa didn’t do a good job in securing everything if her suitcase went flying out of her car that easily; At least Bianca was honest in saying that a lady has to pack a lot of things; So this must be set prior to the invention of the airplane since the airport is a standard building and they use helicopters; For all the people that come and go at that airport, you would think someone would notice Orville’s place and question why a bird would have his own air service; Poor Bernard and his premonitions about the number 13; Orville made fly beautifully, but he needs some work on his landing especially if he considers that one of his better one; It would be Bernard’s luck that the steps leading onto Orville would be 13; Bianca is willing to sacrifice herself and not buckle up tightly because she doesn’t want to get her dress wrinkled; Orville really needs to work on his conditioning if he gets real winded just by running to takeoff; So of course the fun fact about this film that everyone remembers is that on some of the early video tapes of this film, if you pause it at a certain frame when the three are flying through the city you can see a photo of a topless woman in one of the windows of the buildings; A roller scoater?; Not only does Bianca not buckle up tightly, but she runs red lights too; That flight from New York to New Orleans was quite the trek, they are lucky that Medusa didn’t find the diamond prior to them making it; Medusa must’ve trained those gators real well that they just are trained to find Penny and not attack her; Medusa must be a fan of Greek mythology if she named the gators Nero and Brutus; Considering how rickety that airboat is, it’s no surprise that Medusa has constant trouble starting it up; That is a crap load of fireworks that they have in that boat, where were they able to get that many?; Again, of all the luck for them to be flying right as they are setting off those fireworks; Is it just me or do the fireworks look like they are live-action shots?; Whatever Luke is brewing, he needs to adjust the formula if he is constantly burping up fire; That was a dick move by Orville just moving away and letting Bernard and Bianca fall into the puddle, why couldn’t he just catch them?; Great, Luke just made Bernard an alcoholic; Orville couldn’t wait to get out of there and was in such a rush that he ended up being sucked into Medusa’s airboat; A typical boat in the bayou is a leaf being pushed by a dragonfly; They went so fast in that they managed to pull ahead of the gators and they got brushed aside by them when they swam by; It is a bit sad that they treat Evinrude just like a simple motor; It was a bit of a cool moment that Snoops used the fireworks to spell out “Got Girl”; Just like Snoops to pass the buck onto the gators; That is quite the stash of jewels that they were able to find, but of course Medusa only cares about the one diamond that matters; Medusa saying she has a way with children is the biggest oxymoron I’ve ever heard; How strong is Bianca’s perfume that the gators were able to smell it so strongly?; That organ is so out of tune it’s not even funny; You wouldn’t think that gators would be versed in working an organ and knowing which key blows the air out of which pipe; I always find it funny when a woman sees a mouse, they jump onto a chair and pull their dress or skirt up; Where did Medusa pull that gun out from?; The gun runs out of ammo and she assumes that it jammed or it malfunctioned; Considering the flak they got for the topless woman photo showing up which they should’ve, I’m surprised more people didn’t freak out about a little girl basically being shown half naked for a brief time; I’m not going to lie, Medusa is pretty ugly and I’m surprised the mirror didn’t break; Is it just me or do those two deer look exactly like Bambi and his mother?; I don’t think it’s safe for Penny to be walking on those boards barefooted as she could get a splinter; She actually has a nightcap for her teddy bear; At this point, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Penny can understand Bernard and Bianca when we saw her conversing with a cat earlier; There aren’t many boats that I remember that ever had an elevator in them unless they were cruise ships, and that ship was a very old ship and didn’t seem to merit an elevator; Penny did a pretty spot on impression of Medusa despite having only known her for a few days; Poor Evinrude had to fly right into that flock of bats and cost him precious time to get to the rest of the animals; As much as I don’t like spiders, I do feel bad for that one having his web destroyed by Evinrude and the bats; I wonder if the Devil’s Bayou is located at the Gulf of Mexico since they can only have Penny go in at low tide without the risk of drowning; Penny knew that pirates used that cave because the skeleton happened to have a pirate’s hat, clothes, and a sword; Considering how many jewels they already had thanks to Penny, the fact there are even more down there is astonishing and it makes you wonder why they didn’t just demand her to grab all that as well as the Devil’s Eye; Bernard tries so hard to be brave but at times just can’t bring himself to do it unless he has to help Bianca; I wonder how that big diamond managed to be squeezed into that skull; Much like the fireworks, that diamond looks like a live-action diamond; Does Medusa know that if Penny doesn’t make it out, then she won’t be able to get the diamond?; That must’ve been a tense scene in the theaters when Penny, Bernard, and Bianca went down in that whirlpool and could’ve drowned; Typical heel move for Medusa to cut Snoops out of his promised cut; Another tense scene as Evinrude knows the bats are waiting for him and his home is just mere feet away; Evinrude just escaped with his life from those bats and everyone crowds around him like he didn’t just fly for his life, but then Luke’s brew is just the thing to bring him a new burst of energy; That is the biggest rag-tag group of animals brought together to help Bianca and Bernard; Of all the places that Medusa would put the diamond, she had to use Penny’s teddy bear; They were lucky that Brutus and Nero just barely fit into that elevator or their plan would’ve been shot; Another pretty risky scene having Medusa shooting a shotgun at a child; Not only is Luke’s brew basically alcohol and an energy drink, now it apparently works as gasoline for this airboat; You could tell that Brutus and Nero finally had enough when Medusa used them as jet skis and was whipping them; I don’t want to sound negative because Penny deserved to get a loving family, but it is a bit coincidental that this story comes out about her finding this diamond and then she gets adopted; If Penny wasn’t a child, her telling the reporter that mice talked to her and helped her would make believe think that she was absolutely insane; How did Evinrude manage to make that long trip from New Orleans all the way to New York?; Of course they had to show the calendar and reveal it was Friday the 13th; Every time he goes flying, Bernard is going to comment that they should’ve taken the train.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, I thought that this film was a great film and I firmly believe to this day that it still does not get the credit that it deserves and is still one of the most underrated films in the Disney canon. This period of time leading into the mid-80s is widely considered one of the weakest stretches in history and I feel this film gets lumped in with the rest of those films, and I feel that is grossly unfair because this is a really good film that stands out even though it doesn’t quite compare to the classics that came before it. We come to the end of the 1970s and it has been a pretty interesting decade to say the least, and we head into the 1980s where little did anyone know that there was some turbulence going on behind the scenes and it would affect them for at least a little bit. As for this specific film, it is a great film and deserves to be recognized as one of the best films in the Disney canon and earn its proper rating while no longer being considered underrated.

Final Grade: 8.5/10

[placetobenation]

Robin Hood

Release Date: November 8th, 1973

Inspiration: The legend of Robin Hood

Budget: $5 million

Domestic Gross: $32 million

Worldwide Gross: $35 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 54%

IMDB Score: 7.6/10

Storyline (per IMDB): An imaginative Disney version of the Robin Hood legend. Fun and romance abound as the swashbuckling hero of Sherwood Forest and his valiant sidekick plot one daring adventure after another to outwit the greedy Prince John (Sir Peter Ustinov) and his partner as they put the tax squeeze on the poor.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on through the 1970s with one of the more polarizing films in the Disney canon as this film has its fans, but also certainly has its detractors as well. This has always been one of my favorites films growing up and I remember watching this one constantly along with another film that we will get to down the line, and I’m hoping that this film has managed to hold up well since it has been a long time since I’ve seen it.

Voice Cast: This last few years has seen a lot of the same names show up for these films and we see a bunch of them return here, but this also is the last appearance for a couple of them as some new voices show up towards the end of the decade. At the top of the list for the returning actors is Phil Harris who voices Little John which is basically a carbon copy of Baloo since both characters are bears and this would be his swan song with Disney. We then have the pairing of Monica Evans and Carole Shelley return as they voice Maid Marian and Lady Cluck respectively, and sadly this would be Evans’ final film role as she would retire after it while Shelley wouldn’t return for quite a while. We then have Pat Buttram return as he voices the Sheriff of Nottingham in a pretty memorable role, and then we have George Lindsay return as Trigger the Vulture and then we have Barbara Luddy who voices the Sexton’s wife in a minor role. Finally we have Candy Candido as the Captain of the Guard and J. Pat O’Malley as Otto the blacksmith in one of his last film roles as he would transition into TV shortly after this. We then come to our debuting actors as we have Brian Bedford who voices Robin Hood in what would be his only appearance in an animated film, and then we have country singer Roger Miller who voices Alan-a-Dale in one of his few film appearances. Next, we have Andy Devine who voices Friar Tuck in what would be one of his final appearances, and then we have Peter Ustinov who voices Prince John as well as King Richard though he is better remembered as Prince John. We then have Terry-Thomas who voices Sir Hiss as he was starting to wind down his career by this point, and then we have Ken Curtis who voices Nutsy the Vulture though he was more famous at this point for being in Gunsmoke. We then have John Fielder who voices Friar Tuck’s Sexton though he would become famous for another role shortly after this, and finally we have the quartet of Billy Whitaker, Dana Laurita, Dori Whitaker, and Richie Sanders as the children Skippy, Sis, Tagalong, and Toby. Again we have a few voices debut here that would become standard bearers for the next couple of films while we bid farewell to a few, and again it will be interesting to see how much longer before the idea of returning voices starts to fizzle out.

Hero/Prince: I had neglected to mention this back in the One Hundred and One Dalmatians review that it was the first time I had a pair of heroes, and now we have the second instance of that happening as we have the duo of Robin Hood and Little John. They are deemed outlaws by Prince John as they rob from the rich and give it back to the poor who is taxed by the Prince, and things come to a head at first at an archery tournament where Robin and John escape the Prince’s plot. Prince John eventually has the entire town arrested after overtaxing them and Robin and John free them while also taking all the Prince’s wealth, and Robin escapes death again and he and John are deemed heroes when King Richard returns to reclaim his throne. Now in most circles, Robin Hood is the main hero and Little John is mainly his sidekick while Robin also had his band of Merry Men who are mysterious absent in this film, but Robin and John are in essence treated as equals and they are fine heroes for the film.

Princess: I was debating whether or not to include this character as a princess since she is never considered a princess even in the folklore, but I feel that she does deserve mentioning and that is Robin Hood’s love interest Maid Marian. She is the niece of King Richard and serves in his court as she remembers Robin Hood when they were children, and she reunites with him and falls in love with him as she is supportive of him in spite of Prince John. After King Richard returns, Marian and Robin get married as Richard muses that he now has an outlaw for an in-law. Again, she technically is not considered a princess though I felt it necessary that she should at least be mention, but she will probably rank at the bottom of the list of princesses.

Villain: We have had 20 films in the Disney canon prior to the release of this film and to this point, Pinocchio had the largest number of villains as they had 5 different villains throughout the film though they were not united under one cause. Here, we once again have 5 villains though they are united in one cause and that is the capture and/or death of Robin Hood as well as taxing the poor. At the top is of course Prince John who was placed in charge of England when his brother King Richard went off on the Third Crusade, and John would extort the poor people in taxes while being aided by his assistant Sir Hiss. He would have his personal collector the Sheriff of Nottingham be the main one in charge of capturing Robin Hood and he uses the vultures Nutsy and Trigger as well as John’s army to do so. They first try to capture Robin by holding an archery tournament which ultimately fails, and John in a fit ends up overtaxing the population of Nottingham and has them all thrown in jail. They devise a plot to lure Robin Hood out by threatening to hang Friar Tuck, but Robin and John save everyone and recover the taxed gold much to John’s chagrin. Before John can retaliate, King Richard returns to reclaim the throne and upon learning of John’s actions, he has John, Hiss, the Sheriff, Nutsy, and Trigger all arrested and working hard labor. Prince John is a classic example of a little brother being extremely jealous of his older and more successful brother, and when he takes the throne in Richard’s absence he becomes drunk with power by taxing the poor and living in excess with the Sheriff serving as his main henchman. He puts on this façade of a great leader, but in reality is a petulant child who complains when he doesn’t get his way, even going as far as to call for his mother and suck his thumb like a baby. Sir Hiss is basically a yes man to Prince John though he does call him out on some of his decisions, while Nutsy and Trigger try their best but are pretty useless as the Sheriff’s main henchmen. It is going to be interesting to see where these villains, in particular Prince John rank amongst the other villains, but in terms of the legend of Robin Hood they are all worthy villains to the great outlaw.

Other Characters: This is interesting because we have quite a number of characters that make up this film, but we have already covered quite a decent number of them and they are the main focus though there are some other characters that get some good time as well. At the top of the list we have Friar Tuck who serves as a protector to the people of Nottingham while supporting Robin Hood, and at one point he is captured by the Sheriff and is set to be lynched only for Robin and Little John to save him as well as the other townspeople. We then have Lady Kluck who is Maid Marian’s friend and lady-in-waiting and at one point fights with Prince John’s men during the archery competition, and then we have Alan-a-Dale who is the minstrel and serves as the narrator to the story though he is also a member of the town. We then have the brief appearance of King Richard at the end when he reclaims the throne from Prince John and has him and his minions arrested, and then we have the townspeople of Nottingham who are supported by Robin Hood and are oppressed by Prince John and his army. While a lot of the film focuses on the main characters of the film, the supporting characters are fine to help fill out the story though they are mainly just there as filler.

Songs: Given that this was a Disney film, you knew that they were going to come up with some songs to fit into the film even though to my knowledge no previous Robin Hood adaptation had featured any songs. The first song from this film is the song played during the opening credits titled “Whistle-Stop” and while it was mainly whistling and no singing it was a pretty catchy song and gets you fired up for the film. The next film is one of the centerpiece songs which is “Oo-De-Lally” sung by Alan-a-Dale which is another fun song early on, and the next one we have is the other centerpiece song “Love” which is sung as a love ballad for Robin and Marian. We then have “The Phony King of England” that Little John sings with the townspeople as they mock Prince John and that is another fun song, and finally we have a slight downer song in “Not in Nottingham” which is sung when the townspeople are imprisoned by Prince John. Again, the songs might not rank up very highly with the rest of the songs in the Disney canon, but they are still pretty good songs and fit just fine into this film.

Plot: When it comes to English folklore, there is perhaps no bigger story besides the story of King Arthur and that is the story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men to the point that there is still question as to whether Robin Hood was in fact a real person. The story is pretty much the same as King Richard leaves to go on the Third Crusade and Prince John is given control, and unlike his respected brother Prince John is a greedy ruler who taxes the poor. Robin Hood is still loyal to Richard and is deemed an outlaw by John due to Robin stealing from the rich and giving it to the poor, and John employs the Sheriff of Nottingham to track down Robin who is assisted by Little John and Friar Tuck. Prince John tries several plots to capture Robin Hood including imprisoning the townspeople only for Robin to free them and steal back the gold, and finally Richard returns and has Prince John along with his minions imprisoned as Robin marries Marian. There had been numerous adaptations of Robin Hood on the big screen and TV prior to this film and even a few animated films made about it as well, but this would arguably be the biggest and most successful adaptation until 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. While most adaptations are more action and have some suspense to them, this version is a fun adaptation though it does have a few dark moments in the film which was common for Disney films.

Random Watching Thoughts: Once again we have the storybook beginning; I find it funny they had to specify each animal as if they thought kids wouldn’t know what each animal was; It was a bit weird they called Marian a “vixen” and not just a “fox”; This is also the second film in a row where we see animations that will be used numerous times throughout the film during the opening credits; Reportedly, the reason while there are so many recycled sequences from previous films was because the film fell behind schedule and they did it to catch up and make sure the film released on time; Another fun fact is that Friar Tuck was originally going to be a pig and not a badger, but it was changed as they felt that having the friar be a pig would be offensive to the Catholic Church; Alan-a-Dale needs to watch how tight he pulls the strings on his lute if one broke up that easily; Robin scoffs at the notion that they are taking too many chances while an arrow is embedded in his hat near inches from going his head; Bit of fat shaming of John by Robin when he says the Sheriff and his posse couldn’t get him off the ground to hang him; It’s funny they tried to avoid the arrows only for John to then use one of them as a back scratcher; Prince John has got himself quite the convoy with a pack of elephants, hippos, and rhinos as his security; Is he that paranoid that he needed 6 padlocks on that chest?; So they had to have either been returning to or coming from London if they are going through Nottingham; It was interesting they had it be a plot by John and Hiss to send Richard off on the Crusade when in real life Richard went willingly; It’s mentioned about how John sucks his thumb, but what’s not talked about enough is how he tugs on his ear at the same time; Did Robin and John have these outfits stashed away somewhere because they were not carrying them at all when we first met them; Funny how Little John says there’s a law against robbing royalty, but yet they do it all the time by robbing the rich which would probably be royalty; A note is that Robin takes Prince John’ ring off before kissing his hand, but when he puts his finger in his ear the ring is on the finger though it is missing the jewel; Robin is quite the actor knowing he was having to say those nice things about Prince John and he didn’t believe them; Prince John’s name did go down in history, but not the way he probably wanted it; How much gold does Prince John have that he was able to have gold hubcaps for his carriage?; Little John must’ve had quite a bit of room in his dress to be able to fit all that gold; A bit scandalous scene there of Little John teasing the rhino guard; How was Robin able to coerce Prince John into giving him his robe?; The guards just kept right on going not even realizing that Prince John had falling out of the carriage; So Prince John offered 1,000 pounds for the capture of Robin Hood; Nottingham was quite the slum with all those houses being seized for taxes; Of all the places to hide the gold, why would you hide it in Otto’s cast?; It’s amazing that with such a large family that the mother can keep track of everyone’s birthday unless a bunch of them are twins; The Sheriff is real cold to not only take Skippy’s birthday present, but to also take the two other pieces of gold from the beggar not knowing it is Robin in disguise; I don’t know if I would be giving a 7 year old a bow and arrow as a gift; We got three rabbits and a turtle as friends because this was many years before “The Tortoise and the Hare”; Considering he only had one arrow, Skippy should’ve taken his sister’s advice and not shot it so high that it went into the castle ground; Of all the things do to when taking that oath, they had to cross their eyes?; I always thought badminton was first created in the 19th century, well apparently not since Marian and Lady Kluck are playing it; The shuttlecock goes down Kluck’s dress yet somehow manages to land exactly next to the arrow; Sis is eager to throw Skippy under the bus for exposing them yet it was Tagalong’s sneeze that gave them away; The children are so keen to see Marian marry Robin yet she thinks he’s forgotten her; Kluck was spot on in her mocking of Prince John all the way down to the thumb suck; The poster on the tree offered 1,000 pounds for Robin’s capture yet the one that Marian has in her closet says 1,000 ingots; Robin and Little John carved themselves out quite a bachelor pad in the forest; The pot was boiling over at one point yet Little John was able to pour several spoonfuls of water into it without it spilling over; That was a bit rude of Friar Tuck to just help himself to whatever they were making and he was quite a good amount of it; This archery tournament was quite the elaborate plan for Prince John to come up with to try and catch Robin; Another animation snafu is the ring Prince John is wearing is missing a jewel when he goes to rub his ear, but in the next shot the jewel is there; Hiss must really admire Prince John if he is willing to take his abuse that much; Bushel britches is quite the nickname that they came up with for the Sheriff; In case anyone was wondering, what Prince John said in French was “Such know how, brilliance, verve, and dynamism”; A nice callback there as Prince John remembers what happened last time and doesn’t let Little John kiss his hand; That is quite the array of archers competing and the shaggy dog can’t be bothered to carry his bow as he drags it on the ground; How was Hiss able to get into that balloon and considering that it could be filled with either oxygen or helium, how is he able to breathe easily without suffocating?; They haven’t seen each other since they were children yet Marian was quickly able to realize it was Robin in that disguise just by staring into his eyes; Again, how much gold does Prince John have that he can just have a golden arrow made?; The shaggy dog had to blow his fur up to see, yet it came back down and blocked his vision when he made the shot; If Robin wanted to not make it as obvious, he should’ve botched the first few shots intentionally and then picked it up towards the end especially since he tells the Sheriff he’s not that good right before he hits a perfect bullseye; I do like the touch of Robin using a bow and arrows made out of branches; The Sheriff says he can spot Robin through his disguises not realizing that he’s talking to Robin in disguise; If Hiss says he doesn’t drink, he’s going to be in trouble if he stays in that barrel for too long; It’s funny because Prince John is a whiner and a child, yet he is more devious than you think because he has clearly deduced the stork is Robin and is playing along with everything; They said to move the target back 3 paces yet Nutsy looked like he took a good 10-15 paces back; Prince John was not fooling around by sentencing Robin to sudden, instant, and immediate death, and he even had the executioner there to do it; Prince John tells Little John not to choke him so hard yet he says nothing about the sword jabbing into his back; Prince John was all tough until Robin knocked the sword out of his hand and he went running like a coward; Kluck tells Marian that this is no place for a lady as she jumps right into the fight; That’s quite the expensive honeymoon going to London, Normandy, and Spain; That’s an exact number of children to have and Marian seems way too eager considering she then bumped it up from 6 to a dozen; An interesting fun fact is during the scene where Kluck fights off the guards, the music is a mashup of the fight songs for the University of Southern California and the University of Wisconsin; As expected, Hiss proves himself to be a lightweight when it comes to drinking; As great a sequence as this is with “The Phony King of England”, it does hurt a bit when you know that most of the animations are borrowed from other films; You know the song became catchy when even the Sheriff and Hiss are singing it even though it is mocking Prince John; Does Prince John realize that by taxing the townspeople so much that they ended up in jail and now no one there will be paying him taxes?; This is a pretty sad scene seeing all of the townspeople in jail; That was a quick appearance by the Sheriff as he showed up right as the Sexton’s wife gave Friar the farthing; That’s quite a threat from the Sheriff to hang a man of the Church; I was wondering if Prince John was thinking of punishing Marian but didn’t because she is family; It’s safe to say that Prince John is obsessed with Robin that he is willing to have Friar Tuck executed just to draw Robin out; Nutsy was so willing to test the trapdoor even though he knew the Sheriff was standing on it; They were hiding behind one wall and then a second later they managed to sneak to another wall right behind Nutsy; Nutsy says that it’s 1:00 yet the clock clearly says 3:00; Trigger was so confident his crossbow was safely locked yet he shot the arrow just like that; The Sheriff was smart to have Trigger go ahead of him; Why would Little John just think to slam the door like that?; You would think that after being robbed as much as he has that Prince John would keep the gold locked up and under constant guard, not in his bedroom just begging to be taken; I feel that Friar saying that line about the tax rebate was an inside joke since most religions are tax-exempt; Ironically one of the prisoners was a stork that looks suspicious like Robin did when he was in disguise; That was a super quick turnaround for Little John to kidnap the Sheriff, tie him up, takes his clothes, and then take his place in the chair; I wonder what time of year it was that the sun was already starting to come up at 4AM; One of the arrows pierces a bag yet amazingly nothing falls out of it; Was that another inside joke to have the raccoons dressed as robbers?; How strong was Alan-a-Dale’s lute that it deflected the arrows with none of them piercing it?; Those guards are not great shots since it seems like they are missing Robin quite often; The Sheriff should’ve been a bit more cautious if he’s going to swing a flaming torch around like that in a closed space; Prince John was so confident Robin was killed even though he never saw the body float up to the surface; The look on Robin’s face when Skippy said he could’ve swam twice that far; Considering that Robin was standing there for quite a while, you would think Prince John would’ve told his archers to keep firing at him; Prince John was able to clearly spit out his insults to Hiss and chase after him while keeping his thumb in his mouth; Why does Prince John have to use the bigger hammer and the Sheriff gets the smaller hammer?; Good callback by King Richard saying he has an outlaw for an in-law after Kluck made the joke earlier to Marian; Did Skippy’s mother really give him permission to go with Robin and Marian?; That arrow must be bouncing off a lot of things for them to have to constantly avoid it.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, this film was still just as enjoyable as it was when I was a child, but it was not quite as good as some of the other films in this canon. It is interesting to see these films get good reviews when they come out only for the reviews to become more mixed to negative as the years go on, and sadly this is one of those films that suffers that as it is not held in high regard like when it first came out. The early part of the decade has been pretty tumultuous around the world with the American populace being fed up with the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal was dominating the news, and Disney was experiencing some highs with the opening of Walt Disney World two years earlier. It will be a few years until the release of the next film and we were about to see a major shift in the animation studios, but we will get to that when we get there. As for this film, it is a solid film and is still a lot of fun though it doesn’t reach the same status as some of the other legendary films released to this point.

Final Grade: 7/10

[placetobenation]

The Aristocats

Release Date: December 11th, 1970 (released nationwide December 24th)

Inspiration: “The Aristocats” by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe

Budget: $4 million

Domestic Gross: $55.7 million

Worldwide Gross: $191 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 66%

IMDB Score: 7.1/10

Storyline (per IMDB): Retired opera star Adelaide Bonfamille enjoys the good life in her Paris villa with even classier cat Duchess and three kittens: pianist Berlioz, painter Toulouse and sanctimonious Marie. When loyal butler Edgar overhears her will leaves everything to the cats until their death, he drugs and kidnaps them. However retired army dogs make his sidecar capsize on the country. Crafty stray cat Thomas O’Malley takes them under his wing back to Paris. Edgar tries to cover his tracks and catch them at return, but more animals turn on him, from the cart horse Frou-Frou to the tame mouse Roquefort and O’Malley’s jazz friends.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We now enter a new decade as we roar right into the 1970s with the 20th film that Disney has released, and it is crazy to think that this is only the 20th film since Snow White came out back in 1937. This is one of those films that has garnered an interesting reputation as some think it is a fun film that still holds up to this day while others feel it is a lackluster installment and that time has not been kind to. This is another film that I always had a fondness for when I was a kid and it has been a very long time since I last saw it, so we will see if I feel it lands in the first opinion or the second opinion.

Voice Cast: As I have mentioned in the last few reviews, the number of returning actors is seemingly going down with every film going forward though we do have a few familiar voices for this film. For the returning actors, we have Phil Harris back as he voices Thomas O’Malley in a memorable role though I do wonder how many people watching this after watching the Jungle Book and realized it was the same actor that voiced Baloo since he does have a very distinctive voice. We also see Sterling Holloway return as he voices Roquefort the mouse in a fairly memorable role, and we also see Thurl Ravenscroft return as well as he voices Billy Boss of the Scat Cat Band in a good role. We also have the return of Tim Hudson as he voices Hit Cat of the Scat Cat Band in a fairly small role, and the final returning actor is Bill Thompson as he voices Uncle Waldo the goose in a small role. Leading the charge of the new voices is legendary actress Eva Gabor who voices Duchess in a very memorable and it wouldn’t be the last time we heard her in a Disney film, and a note is that Robie Lester provides the singing voice for Duchess. We then have the trio of Gary Dubin, Liz English, and Dean Clark as the kittens Toulouse, Marie, and Berlioz and they do a good job in giving the kittens their own personality and they have good singing performances as well. Next we have Roddy Maude-Roxby as Edgar Balthazar and he does a fine job in making this villain still have class and dignity for the most part, and then we have jazz artist Benjamin “Scatman” Crothers who voices Scat Cat and also provides the singing voice. Rounding out Scat Cat’s band were Paul Winchell who voices Shun Gon in a fairly controversial role and Vito Scotti as Pippo as they both provide pretty memorable moments during their appearances. We then have Pat Buttram and George Lindsay as Napoleon and Lafayette the dogs in a pair of fun roles, and they would become regular voices that we will hear throughout the rest of the decade. Next we have Hermione Baddeley who voices Madam Adelaide Bonfamille in a small role, but she makes the most of it even though we don’t get to hear her sing since the character was an opera star. We then have legendary actor Charles Lane who voices Georges Hauthcourt as he was starting to wind his career down, and then we have Nancy Kulp who voices Frou-Frou the horse in what would be her final film role and we should also mention Ruth Buzzi who provides the singing voice. We then have Monica Evans and Carole Shelley as Abigail and Amelia Gabble the geese and this wouldn’t be the last time they starred in a film together, and finally we have Peter Renaday who voices a few of the other humans that don’t play much of a role. There are a couple of actors here that would become regulars for the next couple of years as we transition out of the old guard from the last few decades and get a new group of carry the films for the next few years.

Hero/Prince: We do have a hero to talk about for this film and that is the street cat Thomas O’Malley, or as he reveals as his full name Abraham de Lacy Giuseppe Casey Thomas O’Malley the alley cat. We first meet him traveling the countryside when he comes across Duchess and the kittens after they were left behind by Edgar, and he helps get them back to Paris while keeping them out of danger including saving Marie on two occasions. After regroups with Scat Cat and his band, O’Malley returns Duchess and the kittens to their home only for Edgar to capture them again and Roquefort lets O’Malley know so he can help. While Roquefort gets Scat Cat and the band, O’Malley battles with Edgar and eventually Scat Cat and his cats arrive to help O’Malley free Duchess and the kittens while sending Edgar into the trunk to be shipped to Timbuktu. In the end, O’Malley, Scat Cat and his band are welcomed into Bonfamille’s home and he becomes like a father to the kittens. O’Malley is an interesting character in that he is clearly smitten with Duchess and she comes to like him, but she realizes her place is with her owner and O’Malley is willing to accept that as he thinks he is nothing more than an alley cat until he is welcomed in by Bonfamille. While he ultimately won’t rank that high when compared to the other heroes and princes, he is a good hero for this film.

Princess: N/A

Villain: Up to this point, we have had characters that are bad from the get-go and they are easily defined as villains, but for this film we have a villain that doesn’t start out like that and gets worse as the film goes on. This character is Edgar Balthazar who serves as Madam Adelaide Bonfamille’s butler and he is very faithful to her and the cats, but he begins to turn when he learns that the cats will inherit Bonfamille’s fortune before he will which leads him to plot to get rid of the cats. He first tries to dump them in the countryside only to run into Napoleon and Lafayette who chase him though he escapes albeit losing some items, and he returns to the same site to retrieve his items and put the dogs in their place. He thinks he has succeeded only to learn that Duchess and the kittens have been returned thanks to O’Malley so he decides to send them to Timbuktu in a trunk, but O’Malley, Scat Cat, and his friends save them while leaving Edgar in the trunk to be sent to Timbuktu instead. Edgar is an interesting villain in that he genuinely enjoyed serving Bonfamille and the cats, but as they say greed is a powerful motivator and he was willing to do anything to get rid of the cats so he could claim the fortune. He is a bit of a bumbling idiot and the fact that he is beaten by a bunch of animals does make him a bit of a loser, but he is still a good villain for this film even though he doesn’t rank too highly as a memorable villain.

Other Characters: It is a bit funny that I am including many of the main characters in this category, but that’s only because they don’t fit into any of the other categories so they have to be mentioned in here. Right at the top of that list is Duchess and her kittens Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse who are under threat of Edgar who tries to get rid of them, but Thomas O’Malley takes care of them and eventually saves them before becoming part of their family. We then have the dogs Napoleon and Lafayette who deal with Edgar twice during the film and they steal some of his items after their first encounter, but Edgar gets his revenge and recovers his missing items while outsmarting them in the end. We then have Roquefort the mouse who is friends with Duchess and the kittens as he does what he can to help as well, including nearly being eaten by Scat Cat and his band before he mentions that he is a friend of O’Malley. Speaking of Scat Cat and his band, we have them next as they show their skills to Duchess and the kittens before helping O’Malley save them from Edgar and they are also welcomed in by Bonfamille. We then have Abigail and Amelia Gabble the geese who first “help” O’Malley from drowning before leading the cats into Paris where they meet up with their Uncle Waldo who is nearly turned into a meal by a chef. We also have Frou-Frou the horse who mainly keeps to herself until the end when she helps O’Malley and the cats save Duchess and the kittens before kicking Edgar into the trunk. We also have Madam Adelaide Bonfamille who is a retired opera singer who looks to leave her vast fortune to her cats which leads Edgar to try and get rid of them, and finally we have her lawyer Georges Hauthcourt who is a very eccentric man and helps Bonfamille pen her will. There does seem to be a trend of animals being the main characters and the humans playing a minor role, and we will see how much longer that lasts before the page turns on that.

Songs: Going into watching this film, I was under the belief that there were only two songs in the film but there were actually two other ones that I had forgotten about only because the two I remembered were far more memorable as we will talk about. The first song to mention is the title song “The Aristocats” sung at the beginning and a fun note is the man who sings it, Maurice Chevalier was brought out of retirement to sing it and it would be his last major film contribution prior to his death two years later. The next song to mention is “Scales and Arpeggios” sung by Duchess and the kittens which was a fine song though not that memorable, and then we have “Thomas O’Malley” which Thomas sings as he introduces himself to Duchess and he makes himself very likable through the song. Finally we have the song that is best remembered from this film which is “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat” sung by Scat Cat and his band, and it is a really fun song that has a real catchy beat and makes you want to dance. Once again, the majority of these songs work well for the film though they aren’t as memorable as some of the other songs that we have heard to this point and they won’t hold up well against songs yet to come.

Plot: Going into re-watching this film, I never knew that it was actually based off a novel and I always thought that it was just an original idea conceived by the folks at Disney, and not only that apparently the story was also inspired by a real life family of cats that inherited a fortune. This family of cats is owned by a former opera singer and she plans to leave her vast fortune to them much to the chagrin of her butler who is set to inherit the fortune when the cats pass away, and he tries to get rid of them so he can take the fortune for himself. A random alley cat named Thomas encounters Duchess and her kittens and he offers to take them back to Paris, and they encounter his friend Scat Cat and his band as he and Duchess start to bond though she can’t leave her owner behind. Thomas returns them to the house only for the butler to kidnap them again and try to ship them to Timbuktu, but Thomas and his friends Duchess and the kittens while leaving the butler to be sent to Timbuktu and Thomas is welcomed into the family. The plot itself was fairly basic with the classic trope of the street-tough boy meeting and falling in love with the high-class girl, and interloping that with having the once loyal worker turn bad to take the fortune for himself was not too much and helped keep the story going until the end.

Random Watching Thoughts: We are back to having a title song for the film; It is unique watching the animation in the background during the opening credits knowing we will see it again at some point in the film; The opening credits mention a song titled “She Never Felt Alone” which was ultimately cut from the film, so it was weird to see it called out here since we never hear it in the film; So this film was set in 1910 and Paris was looking as beautiful with no one realizing what was coming with World War I in a few years; Berlioz didn’t just ride on Frou-Frou’s back, he was on top of her head; Edgar seemed like such a loyal butler, it’s almost a shame what happened to him when greed took over; We never know what Hauthcourt’s age is though he has to be close to 100 if he says he’s not as spry as when he was 80; How many houses back in 1910 actually had an elevator inside them?; Hauthcourt seems to have that type of luck that he would escape any injury while Edgar takes the brunt of it; Bonfamille must’ve amassed a vast fortune from being an opera singer that she has that big of a mansion just for herself and her cats; I have always wondered if Hauthcourt and Bonfamille had feelings for each other or if they really are just good friends considering he serves as her lawyer; Amazing they are able to dance so seamlessly without stepping on either of the kittens as they go for their feet; Why would Hauthcourt first think Bonfamille wants to sue someone when she pretty much lives like a recluse?; I always find it weird when someone leaves their fortune to their pets, what are they really going to do with it? It would make more sense to donate it as I’m sure someone will put it to good use; Bonfamille must be real confident that Edgar will outlive the cats; Now the greed officially takes over Edgar and he becomes the villain; Strong words from Toulouse for saying that females never fight fair; Duchess is really trying hard to make sure the kittens are well-behaved, but kittens will act like kittens; A weird animation note I saw was Duchess’ paws turning to fingers when she adjusts Marie’s bow before going back to paws; For being a kitten and using his paws, Toulouse made a pretty good portrait of Edgar even though he was making fun of him; Berlioz got Duchess to break a bit when he called Edgar “Pickle-Puss”; Considering that he dumped the entire bottle of sleeping pills into the milk, it’s makes you wonder if Edgar was just wanting them to fall asleep or he wanted to kill them; Edgar nearly blows everything by almost tasting the milk; Berlioz is quite the piano player; Berlioz was just wanting to play the piano and Toulouse had to butt in, especially with his paws covered in paint; Crème de la crème de la Edgar; You would think that given how many sleeping pills he put in the milk that the cats would’ve gone out immediately; Of all the things Roquefort has to go with the milk, it would be a cracker; Why would Edgar poke his head out of the cat door and not just open the door slightly to see if anyone was there?; Do Napoleon and Lafayette belong to anyone as they are just there to go after any vehicle that drives past them if Lafayette says they bit 6 tires today?; I do wonder where Edgar was taking the cats before the dogs attacked him; Lafayette really put a hurting on Edgar’s leg by biting it repeatedly like that; That must be the weakest windmill ever if it got pushed that easily when Edgar ran through it; Somehow Toulouse managed to stay in the basket while the rest got thrown all over the place; Toulouse was onto Edgar the whole time as he briefly opened his eyes and saw him before they drove away; Of course Bonfamille would have a nightmare about Duchess and the kittens on the night that they are kidnapped by Edgar; It was admirable for Roquefort to go out into the storm to find Duchess and the kittens even though it would be for naught; What kind of a name is Abraham de Lacy Giuseppe Casey Thomas O’Malley and how did he come about getting that name?; Toulouse is thrilled to see an alley cat while Marie sees it as a potential love story between Thomas and Duchess; The way Thomas says this makes it seem like he’s pulled this same thing on other cats; Duchess immediately through Thomas’ sweet talk for a time; Now he refers to himself as J. Thomas O’Malley though none of his names start with a “J”; Thomas must have a lot of confidence that the truck is going to Paris and not going somewhere else; So I did look up about the idea of cats having 9 lives and they really don’t, but the saying comes from their ability to land on their feet and can withstand accidents without being fatally wounded; Thomas is quick to judge that humans don’t care about pets while Duchess thinks otherwise; The shot where Bonfamille is standing at the window with the light on makes it look like she is Lady Tremaine from Cinderella; Edgar was so proud of himself that he pulled off the perfect crime before realizing that he left some of his things behind as potential evidence; That was quite lucky that the truck that Thomas stopped was a food truck that had a thing of cream for the kittens to drink from; How many trains have the kittens actually seen that Toulouse knew what sounds to make?; That was a nice catch by Duchess; Marie nearly lost her life and Toulouse is upset that she fell off the bridge; So Abigail and Amelia are on vacation from England, but that was quite a journey for them to take; They see Thomas in the water trying to get to shore yet they think that he is learning to swim; Thomas tells the geese that he’s not Duchess’ husband and they immediately assume he is trying to play Duchess; They set them up in a V like when a flock of geese fly together and then they all have to waddle like them though you’ll notice Thomas walks normally; Waldo goes to Paris for a vacation and he nearly becomes the special of the day for the café, yet he’s upset that they used white wine and not sherry; Did Roquefort really think he was going to make it in that broken light the whole way?; So in a fun fact, Napoleon and Lafayette were only supposed to be in the one scene where they chase Edgar away, but the animators enjoyed the actors so much they added this extra bit where Edgar goes back to reclaim his missing items; Another fun fact is that Edgar was supposed to have an accomplice/romantic interest named Elmira who worked as a maid for Bonfamille and they were even going to have a duet in the film, but she was scrapped entirely and Edgar was made the sole villain; Edgar took a long time to realize his shoes were squeaking so loud that he finally had to take them off; Give Napoleon credit for guessing the type of shoes Edgar had just by listening to the squeak; He realizes the hat is getting pulled up yet Napoleon doesn’t think to look up; Leave it to having to scratch Napoleon repeatedly to finally reclaim his hat; What was the item that Napoleon referred to as a “bumbershoot”?; Lafayette says that he wasn’t hurt because he was hit on the head; I do wonder how the time worked to when Edgar was dealing with Napoleon and Lafayette if Duchess, Thomas, the kittens, and the geese arrived to Paris; He says that his pad is peaceful and quiet, but on cue the band starts playing and he knows Scat Cat and company are there; In another fun fact, legendary jazz artist Louie Armstrong was set to voice Scat Cat but had to pull out due to illness; In today’s stuff you would never see in 2020, Shun Gon the Chinese cat and his pretty racist dialogue; The kittens were complaining that they were tired, yet they had plenty of energy to sing and dance with the rest of the cats; I wouldn’t be surprised if some people suffered from epileptic seizures during this scene with the flashing lights; Given how loud some of the music was, it’s amazing that the whole city wasn’t shouting to turn it down especially as they were dancing and playing in the streets; You can tell that Duchess wants to be with Thomas but is not willing to leave Bonfamille so Thomas makes the sacrifice to take them back home; Roquefort’s way to stop Edgar is to tie his shoelaces together; So Edgar had time to get to his feet, untie his shoelaces, and grab a sack before letting the cats in; Kudos to Marie for being able to remember the whole name to try and tell Roquefort; Roquefort has so much trouble remembering Thomas’ name for Scat Cat and the gang and it is only when they are about to kill him when he is able to remember so they can get on his side; I don’t blame that guy for dumping out that wine when he sees Roquefort running behind the cats, he probably is questioning everything in life at that moment; It is weird of all the places that Edgar decides to send the cats, he chooses Timbuktu; Edgar made a quick recovery to getting knocked over by Frou-Frou to chasing after Thomas with that sickle, and then he made another quick recovery after getting knocked over on the ladder to trying to find Thomas in the hay with the pitchfork; Roquefort tells everyone to be quiet and they oblige so that he can open the padlock, and then they get back to what they were doing; Again, Edgar must have great pain tolerance if he took a giant haybale right to the head and didn’t get knocked out; Edgar gets knocked into the trunk and the padlock is not there, yet when it slides outside it looks like it has been padlocked shut; The way they talk about Edgar makes you wonder if they had him factored in some other way, but he was so obsessed with getting rid of the cats that he ultimately missed out; Thomas had quite the look on his face when Bonfamille mentioned potential future kittens; Roquefort appears when he hears the word “cheese” and gets blinded by the flash; She is quite the gracious host to be willing to welcome any and all of the alley cats of Paris; Again, the music is so loud that we see the geese dancing and singing to it, and even Napoleon and Lafayette can hear it out in the countryside; Napoleon says that as the leader he determines when it is the end, but then the actual words hit him in the side of the head so he decides it’s the end.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, this was a very solid film that was still very enjoyable though it was a step down from the Jungle Book, but in fairness it was going to take a great effort by this film to match the perfect score of that one. This is one of those films that some people are going to really like and some people are going to think it is a disappointment, and I’m on the side in that it was a good film and I was entertained. We are entering a very tumultuous decade for Disney as they were without their patriarch though they still had big things planned including the new theme park in Orlando, and we will see how the rest of the decade plays out for the animation department. As for this film, it is a pretty solid film that does hold up fairly well with time though it is not a classic like some of the films I’ve seen to this point.

Final Grade: 7/10