When Madame Adelaide Bonfamille leaves her fortune to Duchess and her children—Bonfamille’s beloved family of cats—the butler plots to steal the money and kidnaps the legatees, leaving them out on a country road. All seems lost until the wily Thomas O’Malley Cat and his jazz-playing alley cats come to the aristocats’ rescue.
The real beauty of the picture, which is as amusing, smoothly machined and beautifully colored as any Disney should be, is in the characterizations, sustained within a sprightly but simple format.
– ,
New York Times,
9 May 2005
fresh:
Purr-fect.
– Wally Hammond,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
fresh:
Helped immeasurably by the voices of Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Sterling Holloway, Scatman Crothers and others, plus some outstanding animation, songs, sentiment, some excellent dialog and even a touch of psychedelia.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
17 Jun 2008
rotten:
This 1970 animated feature is dull, careless, and all too typical of the Disney studio's slapdash output before the unexpected renaissance of The Rescuers.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
4 Nov 2009
fresh:
The animals' exuberance is so infectious and their "acting" so true to human life that by the fadeout The Aristocats does, indeed, give the audience paws for reflection.