Lady and the Tramp

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On paper, Lady and the Tramp is not a film that should be as good as it is- it just sounds like a cute love story, but nothing particularly special. So what makes it such a classic?

Truly, it’s the characters and their development, particularly the two leads. Their contrasting personalities and backgrounds lead to some really great chemistry, which really does make you root for them throughout, more so than some of the blander Princes and Princesses, in spite of their species. I actually care more about Lady and the Tramp than I do, for example, Philip and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, but that’s for the next review- I’m getting off track. The point is, the two leads carry the film really well. The smaller details added to their world are also very clever. For example, I love the fact that everything is from the dog’s perspective, at low angles- I also love the detail that Lady thinks her owners are actually called Jim Dear and Darling, because that’s what they call each other. 

The progression of the conflict, within the story in general and between the two leads, also feels very natural- none of it feels forced or added in for the sake of a plot, which also helps the story to develop well.

Both the animation and the music are beautiful. Well, one song is beautiful, but I’ll get to that in a minute. The film has that classic Silver Age look you will notice if you watch any other films from this era, including lots of artsy backgrounds and that solid look to the colours and the lines that I am personally a big fan of. As a said, there is some great music here too- Bella Notte is obviously as stunning as the iconic scene it is played over and He’s a Tramp is a lot of fun.

Overall, Lady and the Tramp took a very simple story and turned it into something beautiful and one of the best films of Disney’s Silver Age.

Rating

Good guys: Lady and Tramp are great characters with good chemistry. There are also two tiers of side characters, with the main ones, Jock and Trusty, being great together and as individual characters, whilst the characters in the pound scene are actually very bland, as well as being made up of various stereotypes, which does not help. Overall, the good guys get an 8/10

Bad guys: The rat has a scary design and is suitably sinister. However, I didn’t bring this up in the review itself, but the racist stereotypes portrayed in the cats make for some very uncomfortable viewing in 2017 and as characters they are actually really dull, so the movie gets 5/10 for Bad Guys.  

Animation: Visually, the film is very pretty, so the animation gets a 7/10  

Music: As I said in the review, Bella Notte is iconic and He’s a Tramp is a lot of fun, so the music gets 7/10

Plot: Whilst very simplistic on paper, the plot develops on a more complex level than many of its predecessors due to great characters and the natural nature of the conflict, so the plot gets a 7/10

Overall Rating: 34/50

  
Next review: Sleeping Beauty