Animated Cats

I got thinking about animated films about cats a few months ago and remembered two I had seen in my childhood – The Aristocats and Gay Purr-ee. The first is the story about a family of kidnapped and dumped cats who must find their way home (sound familiar – how many strays and feral cats go through this!) with Eva Gabor voicing Duchess the mother cat and Phil Harris voicing O'Malley, the Alley Cat who helps them overcome an unscrupulous butler who wants to cut them out of their owner's will. I had seen this one in the cinema – my grandmother used to take all the kids to see Disney movies in the holidays. 

The second is an earlier release. I hadn't seen it in years and remembered it fondly from television on various leisurely Sunday afternoons before sports became king on the weekend programming. Gay Purr-ee is about a farm cat called Mewsette voiced by Judy Garland, who is lured from the provinces of France to Paris by the promise of romance and adventure. The male farm cat Jaune Tome who adores her and who is voiced by Robert Goulet, sets out to find her with his faithful sidekick and comes up against a multitude of slinky villains as well as the master con-cat and a madam who are grooming Mewsette to become a mail order bride for a rich American fat cat. I bought the DVD recently from Amazon and watched the feature fondly at home. I especially like the animated interpretation of various French artists' work. I've found a few clips for you to too. Check them out and if you like them, put them on your Christmas list – I've bought three copies in all to distribute to friends and family.