JLRMovieReviews Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, and Red Buttons lent their voices to this animated movie about a cat, Mewsette, that dreams about leaving the French countryside to see the bright lights of Paris. When she gets a chance to hop on to the back of the car of her owner going there, she takes it. When Jaune-Tom (another cat obviously), voiced by Goulet, finds out she's gone, he must go after her. He may never see her again! That's okay with his buddy, voiced by Red Buttons. She was always in the way of him wanting to hang out and have fun with Tom. Tom did seem interested in Mewsette, but showed it only by bringing dead rats to her and she was unimpressed by such tactics, while probably secretly liking him but not his uncouth, un-Paris-like ways. Such are the temperaments in this tale of love and excitement in a cat's world in France. Then there's adventures abound for Mewsette in Paris and for Jaune-Tom and buddy looking for her on the way to Paris. I thought I remembered liking this years ago, but seeing it recently, I felt it to be an odd mixture of art-like animation and simple juvenile-type humor. But is this geared towards adults or children? Children are the ones who will tire of this first, as this doesn't really grab you in the beginning. Instead it relies too much on the charm and talent of its stars, but that will be lost on children, particularly young children, who won't like the singing slowing down the picture. Adults, who love the singing style of its stars, Garland and Goulet, may like its romanticism and feeling somewhat chic, and at the same time moody, but may be feel something's lacking. Also, its silly resolution doesn't really fit in or mix well with the supposed mystique of Paris and L'Amour, L'Amour. Paul Frees gives a particularly good performance as the film's villain; one could say his hammy, over-the-top performance steals the show. Parents, who aren't Garland fans, who see this for their children may be minimally pleased. Children may like its quaintness, but won't be overjoyed by it. Judy Garland fans, who try to find everything she ever did, will probably be more impressed with it than most everybody else. Its major flaws are its ending and the lack of three-dimensional characters. But, maybe if you can find this little film, you can find more than meets the eye in Gay Purr-ee.

radomski-2 I was eight years old when this film came out. I never got to see it then but had a comic book version which I read over and over again: I loved the story, the characters, the illustrations. So, I thought that after 50 years I should finally check out the film. I was sorely disappointed. The acting (Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, Hermione Gingold, etc.) is excellent but although the orchestral background music is nice, the lyrics to the songs are embarrassingly banal. And while the drawings are fine, the animation is really poor. It reminds one of the static (limited animation) Hanna-Barbera technique. A story like this, with a star-studded cast, deserved much more than this. I think an interesting project would be to retain the soundtrack and the drawings, but bring the latter to life with modern animation techniques. One wants to experience the breadth and depth of Paris, the mystery of the felines crawling through sewers, down alleyways and over housetops, the thrill of a ship sailing rough seas to the Arctic. As it is now, it's all flat.

randall-89 This is a G rated film that features the voice talents of Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, and a host of the best voice actors working in animation at the time, including Paul Frees (Boris Badinov), Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Barney Rubble, and many more) and June Foray (Rocky the Squirrel). It combines their voices with colorful animation and beautiful dream sequences put to songs. The story takes place in France during the 1890s and involves a beautiful young feline named Mewsette (Garland) who leaves her home on the farm to become the toast of Paris. Her boyfriend (Goulet) and his small sidekick (Buttons) come after her to bring her back, but the evil Meowrice (Frees) already has her in his clutches. I enjoyed this as a child and again as an adult.

preppy-3 I remember seeing this a few times on TV as a kid. I vaguely remember liking it and had an amusing time hearing Judy Garland doing vocals for an animated cat! Seeing it now (about 30 years later) I can't figure out WHAT I ever liked about this. The story is dull, silly and trite and the animation is (and I'm being nice) 4th rate. I've seen episodes of "The Flintstones" with better animation that this! The songs were entirely forgettable, the characters were ALL annoying and it was a struggle to make it through to the end. This is getting three stars just for the vocals of Garland and Robert Goulet--they even make the bland songs sound OK. Very young children might like this but anyone over the age of eight will be bored out of their minds! Easy to see why this is mostly forgotten.