The Aristocats is a 1970 American animated musical adventure-romantic comedy movie. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. It is the 20th Disney animated movie. The movie is based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe. It is about a family of aristocratic cats. They are kidnapped by their greedy butler, Edgar. Edgar wants to gain the fortune that the cats' owner has left to them in her will. An alley cat named Thomas O'Malley helps them make their way back home. O'Malley also helps them defeat Edgar. In the end, O'Malley becomes a part of the family. The movie was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. It features the voices of Eva Gabor, Hermione Baddeley, Phil Harris, Dean Clark, Sterling Holloway, Scatman Crothers, and Roddy Maude-Roxby.
In 1962, The Aristocats began as an original script for a two-part live-action episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. It was developed by writers Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe and producer Harry Tytle. Following two years of re-writes, Walt Disney said that the project would be better made as an animated movie. The project was placed in turnaround as The Jungle Book continued production. When The Jungle Book was nearly complete, Disney appointed Ken Anderson to develop preliminary work on The Aristocats. It was the last movie project to be approved by Walt Disney before his death on December 15, 1966.
The Aristocats was released on December 11, 1970. It received positive reception and was a box office success.