...not a bad film...just a middle-of-the-road one from a studio that has given us some true animated classics.
Anyway, there's not as much joy or imagination in "The Aristocats" as in some other Disney animations. Basically, the movie takes the story and characters of "Lady and the Tramp" and attempts to transpose them to the souls of cats. It almost works, but I tell you, the Wife-O-Meter, who had never seen the film before, got up and walked out, bored, after about twenty minutes. It was not a good sign.
Video:
The Disney engineers offer up an all-new, 1.78:1 ratio, anamorphic widescreen digital transfer, using a high bit rate to boot. They do not appear to have restored the picture frame by frame, however, so there are still minor elements of age with which one must attend. Although the video is fairly clean, one notices the occasional fleck or speck here and there, and there is some barely discernable but decidedly odd fluttering going on in large expansive areas, perhaps the result of a touch of print grain flickering there. Also, because of the subdued color palette the original artists chose to use, one should not expect quite as brilliant hues in the Technicolor images as in many other Disney films. Let's say the picture quality is fine, if not of the very first order. Still, it's much better than the studio's earlier full-screen rendering of the movie on DVD.
Audio:
The Disney folks have also improved the sound by offering it up in Dolby Digital 5.1 reproduction rather than the previous DVD's stereo only. However, that doesn't mean the DD 5.1 is very wide ranging or very wide spread out. To me, it still sounds like good two-channel stereo most of the time, with a few ambient sounds, like those of crickets, peeking through from the surrounds. The best qualities of the audio are its quietness, its smoothness, and its decent dynamic impact.
Extras:
Disney include a goodly slate of extras on the disc, almost as much material as the film itself. First, there's a deleted song, "She Never Felt Alone," a seven-minute segment that reconstructs the tune then and now. Next is a "Disney Song Selection" of four tunes, with optional on-screen lyrics. Following that is "Disney Virtual Kitten," a game in which you learn about each kitten's needs and care for it. Then there's the "The Aristocats Fun With Language Game," wherein you deal with questions and answers to learn about musical instruments. A four-minute featurette, "The Sherman Brothers: The Aristocats of Disney Songs," comes after that, and we learn more about these prolific songwriters. "The Aristocats Scrapbook" is an eighteen-page section of stills and drawings from the movie. "The Great Cat Family" is a twelve-minute excerpt from the old Disneyland TV show, hosted by Walt Disney himself. Finally, there's a bonus short, "Bath Day," from 1946 with Figaro the cat.
The extras conclude with twenty scene selections and a chapter insert; Sneak Peeks at a dozen other Disney titles; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English captions for the hearing impaired; and a vivid and handsomely embossed slipcase.
Parting Shots:
In fairness, there is much to like in "The Aristocats," particularly in the artwork and voice talents, and there is surely enough color, action, and sweetness to keep youngsters occupied. But for me, the good-looking drawings and the colorful voices could not make up for the thin, prosaic plot line, the lack of good gags, and the generally unremarkable songs. It is not a bad film, mind you, just a middle-of-the-road one from a studio that has given us some true animated classics.
Video:
The Disney engineers offer up an all-new, 1.78:1 ratio, anamorphic widescreen digital transfer, using a high bit rate to boot. They do not appear to have restored the picture frame by frame, however, so there are still minor elements of age with which one must attend. Although the video is fairly clean, one notices the occasional fleck or speck here and there, and there is some barely discernable but decidedly odd fluttering going on in large expansive areas, perhaps the result of a touch of print grain flickering there. Also, because of the subdued color palette the original artists chose to use, one should not expect quite as brilliant hues in the Technicolor images as in many other Disney films. Let's say the picture quality is fine, if not of the very first order. Still, it's much better than the studio's earlier full-screen rendering of the movie on DVD.
Audio:
The Disney folks have also improved the sound by offering it up in Dolby Digital 5.1 reproduction rather than the previous DVD's stereo only. However, that doesn't mean the DD 5.1 is very wide ranging or very wide spread out. To me, it still sounds like good two-channel stereo most of the time, with a few ambient sounds, like those of crickets, peeking through from the surrounds. The best qualities of the audio are its quietness, its smoothness, and its decent dynamic impact.
Extras:
Disney include a goodly slate of extras on the disc, almost as much material as the film itself. First, there's a deleted song, "She Never Felt Alone," a seven-minute segment that reconstructs the tune then and now. Next is a "Disney Song Selection" of four tunes, with optional on-screen lyrics. Following that is "Disney Virtual Kitten," a game in which you learn about each kitten's needs and care for it. Then there's the "The Aristocats Fun With Language Game," wherein you deal with questions and answers to learn about musical instruments. A four-minute featurette, "The Sherman Brothers: The Aristocats of Disney Songs," comes after that, and we learn more about these prolific songwriters. "The Aristocats Scrapbook" is an eighteen-page section of stills and drawings from the movie. "The Great Cat Family" is a twelve-minute excerpt from the old Disneyland TV show, hosted by Walt Disney himself. Finally, there's a bonus short, "Bath Day," from 1946 with Figaro the cat.
The extras conclude with twenty scene selections and a chapter insert; Sneak Peeks at a dozen other Disney titles; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English captions for the hearing impaired; and a vivid and handsomely embossed slipcase.
Parting Shots:
In fairness, there is much to like in "The Aristocats," particularly in the artwork and voice talents, and there is surely enough color, action, and sweetness to keep youngsters occupied. But for me, the good-looking drawings and the colorful voices could not make up for the thin, prosaic plot line, the lack of good gags, and the generally unremarkable songs. It is not a bad film, mind you, just a middle-of-the-road one from a studio that has given us some true animated classics.
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[release]22617[/release]