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the audience applauded

So much average

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The UPA cartoons were known for their stylish art direction and in this film the backgrounds and scenery are like beautiful impressionist paintings. Unfortunately it's not enough to save this mediocre animated feature.The main character designs look generic and the performances from the impressive vocal cast (Judy Garland, Red Buttons, Robert Goulet, Hermione Gingold) are mostly bland. Voice actor extraordinaire Paul Frees does a good job as the villain.The story concerns a farm cat in turn-of-the-century France who journeys to Paris and falls in with some shady characters, while her provincial beau comes to the city looking for her. The songs are forgettable, though the musical sequences have style.The best scene is a brief lesson about famous artists of the era and their styles (Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Seurat, Degas, Renoir, etc.). It's actually quite educational. The movie has a subtle high-brow edge. Beneath the simple story and cheap laughs it wants to be artistic and intelligent.Comparisons to Walt Disney's THE ARISTOCATS (1970) are interesting, though mostly superficial. A white lady-cat, a yellow/orange tom, an adventure in Paris. Singing. Quintessential French entertainer Maurice Chevalier sings the title song for THE ARISTOCATS, while Morey Amsterdam does the narration for GAY PURR-EE in his best Chevalier voice. What people might find surprising is that the better-known Disney film was made eight years *after* this UPA feature.It's clear from other reviews that GAY PURR-EE (1962) is beloved by many who cherish the memory of watching it as children. However without the rose-tinted lens of nostalgia, the film is only interesting as a curiosity. UPA seems to be aiming for something special, but doesn't quite hit the mark. Kids might still enjoy it, though.

I love Judy Garland, I have a few of her films. And I love movies that are set in Paris like "The Last Time I Saw Paris" starring Elizabeth Taylor (another favorite actress of mine) and Van Johnson; also the Pixar animated film "Ratatouille." One last thing to say is that I am cat lover, as I said many times.Judy did a wonderful job as Mewsette, both in speaking and singing for her. And Chuck Jones did a excellent job with the production and animation of the film; Chuck Jones is one of my favorite animators. So overall, this film is an excellent piece of animation. It is colorful and beautifully animated, with songs you will remember and love.

Gay Purr-ee is the most beautiful movie I ever remember seeing as a child. Unfortunately I don't remember the story-line in great detail, because many years have passed but I remember some very touching scenes from this movie. The seemingly endless journey of two cats travelling to Paris: following the railway line they jumped from sleeper to sleeper through the long night, exhausted. The lure of this enchanting city of Paris spurring them on against great odds. The treat of a saucer of pure cream, as luxurious as the best caviar. The development of the characters and the actor's voices that brought them alive was superb. The incidental music during the movie lifted my heart, transported my emotions on a roller-coaster ride of delight and sorrow. I will hunt for this title in all the video stores in town because I absolutely must be enchanted again by this lovely work of art.

Maybe I had advanced tastes for your average eight-year-old. I don't know. What I DO know is that, ever since I saw this underrated classic on TV at about that time, I fell in love with it, and that love affair has continued down the years since. First, there's the voice casting. You will never hear a better latter-day Judy Garland than here. She's in great voice and seems to be genuinely enjoying herself in the role of Mewsette. Ditto Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, Hermoine Gingold, and company. The Harold Arlen - Yip Harburg songs, if not the classics they wrote for "Wizard of Oz," very enjoyable. In fact, I believe this was Arlen's last full-length score, after the Broadway flop "Saratoga," and, rumor has it, it was he who persuaded Garland to take the job. The animation excellent and imaginative throughout, especially the sequence where Mewsette is depicted in the styles of various artists, and even though ace animator Abe Levitow gets sole directorial credit, it's obvious that executive producer Chuck Jones had a pretty active hand in things as well.One final note: In addition to owning the video myself, we also have it in the video collection of the library where I work. When I recommend it to people as a good alternative to Disney&co for the kids, patrons will say they've never heard of it, but take it out on my recommendation. When they come back the next day, they always say almost the same thing: "Wow! This was great! My kids loved it and so did I. Why didn't I know about it before?" And I tell them "Because it's one of the great hidden treasures of animated features." Which, I think, says it exactly.