The Special Edition DVDs from Disney are some of the best available. If you just got your family a DVD player, you have to include a Disney DVD in your first few purchases. It's just an unwritten rule. Find your favorite Mouse House flick from when you were a kid or pick up one of the amazing new Pixar releases. You're very unlikely to be dissatisfied. Some of the best DVDs ever released have been of Disney classics. And that's what makes the special edition of The Aristocats a little disappointing. It may be because the film comes from an era where there weren't featurettes produced while shooting or it could be simply because the film doesn't have the same cultural importance of some other Disney classics, but the new special edition of The Aristocats may be better than your average kids movie DVD, but it doesn't live up to the standard set in the last few years by Disney DVDs.

Part of the disappointment with The Aristocats DVD has to be in the film itself, one that hasn't held up as well as you might think. It doesn't help that the supposedly remastered video transfer doesn't exactly sparkle and the 5.1 surround sound track is so in name only. To put it bluntly, The Aristocats feels old, even more so than its nearly four decades. You can watch Bambi, Cinderella, or Fantasia and still not feel their age, but The Aristocats feels like the product of an older generation, which might make it a tough sell for kids used to mind-blowers like Ratatouille or The Incredibles.

The Aristocats was the 20th film in the Disney animated canon and was released in 1970. Set in Paris in 1910, the film tells the story of a mother cat named Duchess and her three kittens, Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse. Retired opera singer Adelaide Bonfamilie wants to leave everything to her butler Edgar, but only after her cats reach the end of their lifespans. She needs to make sure they're taken care of. Edgar slips the cats some sleeping pills and takes them far away from home. Will the cats find their way home? Duchess and the kittens meet the classic Abraham DeLacey Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley the alley cat on their way home and a pair of very funny geese named Abigail and Amelia in what was by now a very tried-and-true Disney formula - the road trip home.

Cute kittens, fun songs, a heartwarming plot - The Aristocats isn't bad, it's just a little dated and Disney produced better both before (The Jungle Book was 19) and after (Robin Hood was 21). So, maybe it's not a surprise that the DVD is similarly just okay. The best special feature is an excerpt from "The Great Cat Family," a history of cats narrated by Walt himself. Hardcore Disney fans will love it. The other extras are aimed clearly at the kiddies with virtual kittens and a fun with language game. A special feature that condenses the film down to only its songs with sing-a-long lyrics should also keep kids of all ages entertained, if only for ten minutes. Disney completists won't be too disappointed with being able to add this classic to their collection, but it shouldn't be the first Disney DVD you add to your collection.