O’malley, Duchess, Marie, Toulouse, Berlioz– The Aristocats Thomas O’malley is possibly the second coolest Disney animal and sings one of the most underrated Disney songs as his introduction. And he’s a classy guy who’s like “gonna help this nice lady and her kids get home, oh no I fell in love and I guess I’m a dad now”. That’s a cat OTP right there. Plus the kittens are a very realistic sibling portrayal.
Oliver–Oliver and Company He’s so small and soft and his animation really manages to capture the liquidness of cats.
Milo–Milo and Otis A good loyal friend. And he captures the spirit of those idiot cats who get themselves into trouble constantly.
Cat–Napoleon She’s just this feral cat who went crazy and thinks that a golden retriever puppy is a mouse and desperately wants to kill him and I just respect her determination and the fact that this is a real character in a real movie that I still own on VHS.
Thomasina–The Three Lives of Thomasina She’s classy and cultured and cares about her human, but is also strong and independent and doing her own thing. She also legitimately dies twice in this movie, has visions about cat heaven, and helps a nice witch lady fall in love with a veterinarian.
Jake–The Cat From Outer Space Technically he’s not a cat (he’s an alien), but he’s still excellent. And he can move things with his mind and he hustles people in pool and stole his spaceship back from the American government, so get on his level.
Mochi–Big Hero Six HAIRY BABY. He’s doing good work representing fat ridiculous house cats.
Fat Louie– The Princess Diaries 1 and 2 He’s royal and deserves respect.
Figaro–Pinocchio Look how ridiculous he looks in this picture. Plus he’s OG, I have to include him.
Mittens–Bolt She’s got the lovely mix of cat gracefulness and snarkiness.
Puss in Boots– Shrek franchise and Puss in Boots Honestly, a pretty accurate depiction of what cat’s are like. Plus he has a sword and swords are cool.
Snowbell–Stuart Little 1 and 2 Poor guy is the family pet, but Stuart is considered a child? Injustice.
Tiger–An American Tail andFievel Goes West Eventually he is worshiped as a god by a cult of mice and then he gets trained as sheriff/gunfighter. What a glo-up.
Tao–The Incredible Journey He’s OG. The inspiration for Sassy in Homeward Bound. A literary classic.
Goose–Captain Marvel Another cat that’s technically an alien, but she’s practically an Avenger and if she’d been around in Infinity War and Endgame we could have gotten through those movies with zero casualties on the side of the heroes.
Sassy–Homeward Bound 1 and 2 Sassy is the definite movie cat because no other movie cat captures the essence of cats as purely. The mix of the superiority complex, disinterestedness, snark, and need to look unperturbed in all circumstances, but the genuinely loving nature as well.
First pic: Jeffrey Katzenberg & Michael Eisner; second pic: Ron Clements, Pete Young & Steve Hulett; third pic: Ron Clements, Jodi Benson & John Musker
Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner were brought from Paramount to Disney in 1984, and they brought with them the concept of the “Gong Show.” At Paramount, they would hold pitch meetings in which everyone was given the opportunity to give ideas for future movie projects. The first Katzenberg and Eisner Gong Show at Disney was held in 1985. It was at this Gong Show that Ron Clements and John Musker first pitched two ideas that would eventually come to fruition: an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island in space.
But the belle of the ball in this meeting was Pete Young, who pitched the idea of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist except instead of human orphans, they would be cats and dogs. Back at Paramount, Katzenberg had wanted to do a contemporary version of the musical Oliver! (based on the same novel). Oliver & Company would go on to the be the first film from Walt Disney Animation Studios under the new management of Katzenberg and Eisner. Young worked on the story, but unfortunately, he passed away in October of that year at the age of 37.
photo sources [x] [x] [x] research sources [x] [x]
