The Aristocats
There are not a lot of examples of solid Romantic relationships in kids movies, but thanks to Disney+ and our ability to watch movies from the Disney vault I have found probably my new favorite animated love story, The Aristocats. While there are some issues with the movie, there is also a surprisingly wonderful example of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
In a world of the often raunchy and inappropriate Rom Coms it is refreshing to see an example of Love wrapped in a heartwarming, charming story that the whole family can enjoy together.
The story is a rather simple one, Duchess and her three kittens, Berlioz, Marie, and Toulouse live a charmed life with a retired opera singer Madame Adelaide Bonfamille who just adores her cats. Madame does not have any children of her own and in her old age Duchess and her kitten are all the family she has, other than her butler Edgar. One day Madame brings her lawyer George over and tells him to change her will to leave the majority of her vast estate to her cats instead of Edgar. This is more than Edgar can take, he spends most of his life catering to cats and now the cats are even inheriting more than he is. Edgar takes matters into his own hands, he kidnaps the cats, and drives them to the county and drops them, basket and all, into the river. The rest of the movie is the story about how Duchess and her kittens find their way home. They do this with the help of an Alley cat they meet in the country by the name of Thomas O'Malley. On top of the amazing and memorable music by George Bruns (Jungle Book, Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood) the beauty of the film holds up. This hand animated work of art is simply a joy to watch, there was a unique magic in this area of Disney movies in the combination of animation, voice acting and stellar story that just isn't there in the more modern nimated films.
One of the central relationships of the movie is the one between Thomas O’Malley and Duchess. When he first sees her he is enchanted and offers to help her and her kittens to get back home. . Throughout the story Thomas loves, protects and provides for the kittens and it isn't because he is infatuated with Duchess. Not to say he isn't infatuated, he is, but Thomas cares for the kittens because who he is, there isn’t an ulterior motive in his kindness and that is unique in romance stories. So often the romantic trope is, get close to the kids and then the parent will love you, but not this time, he shows love to the kittens and duchess not for personal gain. Duchess does notice his love for the kittens and it does make her appreciate Thomas more, but that is not what makes her fall in love. It is important to note that this is a mutual love at first sight kind of situation. They both care about each other right off the bat, and there isn't a will they won’t they, it is mutual.
Their big hurdle as a couple is that Duchess is a house cat and Thomas is an alley cat. This isn’t a class issue and Duchess is not a snob, she treats all living creatures with love and respect, but she wants to go home to Madame, and Thomas loves being a wanderer. He also doesn’t understand the love between a cat and their person. In a moment that would never be found in a modern movie Duchess and Thomas talk about it in a mature manner. They both clearly love each other and want to be together but neither is ready to give up their way of life. What is fascinating is that this isn't a fight, they aren’t mad at each other and they end up sitting on a roof looking at the moon wishing things were different but content with their own paths. This is the example that is so often missing, these two cats had a mature conversation where they both expressed how they felt, and respected the other one enough not to fight them. It wasn’t this heated passionate thing, but a soft and sweet conversation full of love and mutual understanding. So often in movies we see relationships that are passionate, heated, and fast paced, the will they won’t they, the love/hate relationships and while those are interesting to watch they are not a good example of what a truly loving relationship looks like. The love talked about in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is what we see in these too cats and they are not self seeking or easily angered, they are kind and patient with each other, even when they ultimately want different things. That is the kind of love that we should strive for, not the kind of passionate screaming and arguing. Love can be a quiet and gentle thing and that is what is demonstrated in Aristocats beautifully. Ultimately Thomas does join the family of his own free will, not because Duchess guilts or manipulates him, but because he realizes he loves Duchess and the kittens too much to be without them. In an act of true love he sacrifices some of the things he wants because the love of a family is worth it. Duchess and Madame in turn invite Thomas’s friends to live with them and create an open home for stray alley cats.
Ok so there is also some problematic material in this movie. When Artisocats was uploaded to Disney + it received a content warning for negative depictions of people groups and cultural stereotypes. In this clingy moment a Siamese cat plays chopsticks on a piano, with chopsticks and sings nonsense about Chinese food in the more stereotypical Chinese accent that a white man can do. Is this moment worth throwing the whole movie out? I don’t think so, but it is an opportunity to talk with your kids about representation of different cultures in movies. Comparing the ways different cultures and people groups are represented in media to the actual cultures and people groups is one way to teach your kids to think critically about what they see in the media, and it is an interesting way to break stereotypes and learn new things. Or if your kids are too young for that conservation skip the most problematic moment 59:00-1:00:03.
One other moment that might give parents pause is the drunken goose moment, there is a goose who was supposed to be supper at a fine French restaurant, he was supposed to be based in white wine. But he gets into the wine before he is cooked and becomes, well, a drunken goose. This is supposed to be a funny moment as he is escorted home by his nieces, staggering and singing loudly all the way. It falls a little flat since drunkenness is really not a funny punch line. This is another conversation you can have with your kids or if you want to skip over it, you can go from 45:20-47:50 without missing anything important to the story of Duchess and the kittens.
Problems aside, Aristocats is a fun and beautifully crafted story about family and love. The music will be stuck in your head for days and it gives families the opportunity to talk, not only about the problems, but also about what love and romance looks like.
Detailed Content Advisory
Language: None
Violence: There are a lot of characters who run into things, fall off of things, and there is just a general use of slapstick comedy. Edgar stuffs the cats in sacks and boxes, he also tries to stab and skewer Thomas. Alley cats threaten to eat Roquefort the mouse.
Sexual Content: Cats are very taken with Duchess’s beauty and compliment her physical beauty
Other objectionable content: Edgar Drugs the cats in order to kidnap them. The issue with the Siamese cat as mentioned above. There is drinking and drunkenness in the section with the goose. A man sitting at a café sees a mouse chasing a group of cats and then pours out his bottle of wine.
