Stories about animals that can talk are as old as mankind. Even in the Bible
the very first account concerning humans had a talking snake. Children
especially are fascinated with animals that can speak and no one does it better
than the Walt Disney Studios. When it comes to anthropomorphizing animals Disney
has been in the business since the beginnings of film and television. Whether it
is a talking mouse or a singing cricket Disney has been entertaining families
for many decades. Now two films from this studio are coming to DVD and they
feature the more familiar cats and dogs. The films are the classic 1970 animated
film ‘Aristocats’ and the direct to DVD ‘Snow Buddies’. Wanting to believe
animals can speak even stays with us as we become adults. Just look at the
success of the sixties television series ‘Mr. Ed’ and the popularity of the post
World War II ‘Francis the talking Mule’ flicks. Movies like this cannot be taken
seriously; they are intended for younger children who still have the capacity to
believe. For us adults the best way to watch with them is to surrender to that
inner child, sit back and forget the worries of being a grown up.
The Aristocats
The Aristocats will most likely be more familiar to the parents watching. Its
theatrical release was back in 1970 which place it in an unusual period of time.
The baby Boomers where mostly teens back then but may have had younger siblings
around that remember it. This movie was done in the old school style of Disney.
The animation, a little primitive by today’s standards, was top notch for the
day. It was also a musical like most of its Disney predecessors. It was also one
of the last animated films directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. He was at the helm
for the better known Disney classics such as ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’,
‘The Jungle Book’ and a couple of the Winnie the Poo movies. He knew the art of
animation working in that capacity on such enduring films as ‘Dumbo’,
‘Pinocchio’, ‘Lady and the Tramp’ and ‘Fantasia’. The story was written by other
long time Disney regulars such as Ken Anderson (Cinderella) and Ralph Wright
(Peter Pan). There is a simple reason why such talented people tended to stay
with t he Disney studio for so long, Disney created and defined the genre and
remained the best for all those many years. ‘The Aristocats’ is one of the films
considered in the Disney animated canon. These are animated movies made the old
fashion way with people, paper and pencils. For the youngsters out there this
was before computer graphics was even thought about. This is the kind of
animation your parents and grandparents gew up on.
The DVD for the Aristocats is enabled with the InterActual Player for use on
a computer. If you insert the disc in a regular home theater DVD player it goes
straight to the fast play menu. However, if you put it into a computer you can
opt to install the InterActual player which will access numerous extra features.
Besides the film there are buttons to select the ‘Disney Movie Finder’, ‘Disney
Birthday Club’, ‘Sweepstakes’, ‘New Letter’ and ‘Official Web Site’. All the
features require internet access. The program takes 6.44MB of drive space and is
retained after the DVD is removed.
The story begins in the city of Paris in the year 1910. Adelaide Bonfamille
(voice of Hermione Baddeley) is a wealthy, retired opera singer. She lives with
her butler Edgar (Roddy Maude-Roxby) and her cats. The mother cat Duchess (Eva
Gabor) and her three kittens Marie (voiced by Liz English), Berlioz (voiced by
Dean Clark) and Toulouse (voiced by Gary Dubin). Duchess feels a great affinity
to the life style of her mistress and teaches her kittens the best in art, music
and culture. The cats are friends with other animals living on the estate
including Frou-Frou the horse (voiced by Nancy Kulp) and the little mouse
Roquefort (voiced by Sterling Holloway). The madam has her lawyer over to
discuss her will and Edgar eavesdrops and learns that she is leaving everything
to the cats and that he will only get his chance with the wealth after the
natural life span of the cats. Edgar is not the brightest guy around believing
that this means nine lives for each, well over a century. Edgar puts a sleeping
pill in the cat’s milk and when they are out takes them out of the city. The
basket they were in falls in a river where they drift. Eventually they meet some
street cats including Tom O’Malley (Phil Harris) who is rude and crude by
Duchess’ standard but you know they are going to fall in love.
Extras on the disc include a virtual kitten, a language game and a deleted
scene. The film is in anamorphic 1.75:1 video with Dolby 5.1 audio.
Snow Buddies
This is the latest in the very popular ‘Air Bud’ live action films. This
style of film features real people along with the animal actors but the dogs can
speak, even if only other animals can hear them. There is computer animation to
get the lips of the animals to move rather realistically to the words being
spoken.
Initially the series focused on a golden retriever named Bud who could play
basketball. Through the series he ‘married’, settled down and had five puppies
that first appeared in ‘Air Buddies. The puppies are Rosebud (voiced by Liliana
Mumy), Bud-dha (voiced by Jimmy Bennett), Budderball (voiced by Josh Flitter),
Mudbud (Henry Hodges), and B-Dawg (voiced by Skyler Gisondo). Each of the
puppies lives with a different child and tend to reflect the personality traits
of their humans. When they human children are off to school the puppies get out
of the house, meet up and play ball. Each one prefers a different ball game; B-Dawg
likes basketball, Budderball football, RoseBud plays soccer, Bud-Dha enjoys
baseball, and MudBud plays volleyball. One day Budderball sneaks into an ice
cream truck for a treat and the others have to get him out. Before long the
refrigerated truck is packed in a cargo plan and is off to Alaska. There they
meet two malamutes Shasta (voiced by Dylan Sprouse) and Talon (Kris
Kristofferson). Back in California their owners and parents are worried about
them but don’t know what happened. The pups have to make their own way back
discovering some truths about life along the way.
This DVD is in anamorphic 1.78:1 video with Dolby 5.1 audio. Typical of a
modern direct to DVD Disney release it is loaded with extras. There are the ever
popular bloopers to start. From the Hannah Montana series there is a music video
by Mitchel Musso (who plays Oliver Oken on the series.) There is a look at the
puppy stars in a featurette called ‘Dogumentary’. Next there is a behind the
scenes commentary by the ‘buddies’ and finally a featurette on the magic of the
special effects.
This is a perfect weekend double feature for the family. First let the kids
watch the Aristocats to see what we grew up with and then top it off with the
Snow Buddies. Both films are very good for the young set and will even be
enjoyable to the grown ups with them. If you have a long trip planned this is a
great treat for the children.
Posted 01/26/08