The Aristocats

I'm currently in the process of uploading all my vacation pictures to my computer, so hopefully, I'll have them for you in the next day or two. In the meantime, I thought I'd briefly post about the movies that I saw on the flights to and from Europe.

First of all, I have to say that movie technology on airplanes has really improved. Instead of just one movie showing on common screens, now, you have a small screen in front of you where you can select from 30 different choices. Not only that, but you can play them whenever you want, and even pause and rewind. No more wondering what happens to Britney Spears at the end of Crossroads just because you fell asleep!

I watched 4 movies total in between my two transatlantic flights: Shrek the Third, Ocean's 13, Someone Like You, and The Aristocats.

Shrek the Third was ok, but not as good as either of the first two. The introduction of the Arthurian story for new material was fun, but part of me is starting to think that maybe Shrek needs to pull his act together, stop scratching his ass in public, and be slightly more dignified every once in a while. He doesn't have to change who he is, but he could learn to adapt to different social situations more readily.

Ocean's 13 was a lot of fun--much better than Ocean's 12, I think. The return to the big-scale casino heist worked really well, and there were quite a few good laughs. I'm planning on renting this one again to watch it on a slightly bigger screen.

Someone Like You was a pretty typical chick flick. Ashley Judd, Greg Kinnear, and Hugh Jackman all star in it, and it was enjoyable, except for the ending kiss, which looked as if the two stars were trying to bite each other, rather than kiss. C'mon folks. Make me believe that you're in love.

I watched The Aristocats because I saw it as a kid, but hadn't seen it for maybe 20 years. I was curious. And of the movies that I saw, this was the one that made me stop and think the most.

For those of you who haven't seen it in a while, it's the story of Duchess and her three kittens, who live with a wealthy noblewoman in Paris. The noblewoman is going to leave her entire fortune to her cats, and once the cats are gone, to the butler. The butler gets greedy and tries to get rid of the cats, so that he can get the money first. Duchess and her kittens end up in the French countryside, far away from home. Thomas O'Malley, the alley cat, helps them return to Paris, where they thwart the evil butler. Thomas and Duchess fall in love and live happily ever after.

As with many older Disney movies, some of the animal characters are noticeably supposed to be a particular nationality. There are British geese, a Chinese cat, and, of course, Thomas O'Malley. He's clearly supposed to be Irish, which is an interesting juxtaposition to the high-class, French Duchess. It's scary that a seemingly innocuous, classic kids' movie about animals is actually teaching children to think about different nationalities in terms of wealth and class.

The other really interesting thing that struck me about the movie was where the kittens came from. Duchess is this genteel, high-class, cultured cat, yet she's clearly a single mother. I'm definitely not saying that single-mothers can't be high-class--far from it. But the movie was made in 1970, and it's set in 1910, and there is NO mention of a father for the kittens. Ever. Not even that there once was a "Duke" cat, but he got hit by a carriage or something like that.

This marked lack of any mention of a father really makes you wonder who he is. Did the Duchess have a one-night stand somewhere along the line? Because if she did, that would be a pretty radical thing for both the class/time period of the setting, as well as when the movie was made. Or was she bred with a neighbors cat? If that's the case, why not have them marry? My most interesting speculation is that there is perhaps past history between Thomas and Duchess, which would explain one of the kitten's intense desire to be an alley cat, as well as the fact that he looks a lot like Thomas (the rest of the plot of the movie doesn't really back up this theory, though).

More about my actual trip later this week!