Disney's Canceled Aristocats Sequel Went The Agatha Christie Route

During the 1970s, Disney animated films went through a bit of an unfortunate slump. With lower budgets and significantly rougher animation, films like "The Aristocats" and "Robin Hood" just didn't have the same power to impress audiences as the innovative and high-end attempts of the previous few decades. Though "The Aristocats" was a box office success and critics were fairly kind to it (save for Gene Siskel, who compared it unfavorably to the Disney classics),it has mostly become a footnote in Disney animation history. 

"The Aristocats" follows the adventures of a fancy housecat named Duchess (Eva Gabor) and her kittens Marie (Liz English), Toulouse (Gary Dubin), and Berlioz (Dean Clark) after they are catnapped by the jealous butler of their owner, Madame Adelaide, and end up lost under a bridge in Paris, where they befriend alley cat J. Thomas O'Malley (Phil Harris). "The Aristocats" is quite a bit of fun with some truly underappreciated Disney characters, which makes us wonder what "The Aristocats 2" might have looked like. 

During the height of the direct-to-video sequel craze, DisneyToons Studios was apparently set to make a sequel for "The Aristocats," and according to animator Tod Carter, it would have been a mystery set at sea.

In an interview with Animated Views, Carter explained that, once upon a time, he was hired to work on some projects for Disney under DisneyToon Studios, but that work on a planned "Aristocats" sequel never amounted to anything. He said that Disney shelved the idea, but that the story would have followed the cats as they tried to catch a jewel thief aboard a luxury cruise ship. The story would have focused more on Marie as the protagonist, even giving her an age-appropriate love interest. The ship would give them a chance to explore different characters, he explained:

"The original film takes place in Paris but we didn't feel they exploited the setting to its fullest potential. We wanted to adopt a European flair by filling our ship with a cast from places like France, Scotland, England, Spain, etc, thus creating a rich environment in both scenery and character in the era of the early 1900s.

As a sort of "'Murder On The Orient Express' without the murder," according to Carter, the movie honestly sounds like a real blast. There would have been plenty of potential for fun guest stars to play the other critters on the ship, and even more opportunities for great jazzy music. While it's a bummer that we'll probably never get to see this cat burglar vs. cat detective story fully realized, at least Disney is working on a "live action" version of the original cartoon with Questlove. Now that's gonna swing, kitties.