- “I'm ready, 'Maestro'.”
- ―Marie, sarcastically, to Berlioz, who cracks his knuckles to get ready to play a song
Marie is a major character of the 1970 Disney film, The Aristocats. She is a white-furred kitten who is the middle and only female kitten of Duchess, the older sister of Berlioz, and the younger sister of Toulouse.
Background
Personality
Marie believes herself to be quite the little lady, and so tries to mimic the elegance and propriety of her mother, Duchess. As a result, she can be somewhat prissy and spoiled and is quick to tattle on her brothers when things don't go her way. Although Marie makes an effort to appear ladylike, she does enjoy the occasional tumble with her beloved siblings and has an insatiable curiosity once Thomas O'Malley opens her eyes to the wonders of Paris.
A hopeless romantic and daydreamer, Marie frequently is seen lost in her thoughts and sighing deeply. She also appears to be somewhat danger-prone, as she is consistently in harm's way throughout the movie. This may be because either her head is up in the clouds, or because she is the kitten who has had the least practice of "biting and clawing", and thus the least capable of fending for herself in the wild.
Also, Marie is shown to be the most open and accepting of Thomas O'Malley, and also the most eager for him to become her and her siblings' new father. She loves romance as she eagerly watched O'Malley flirt with her mother and complimented on his poetry.
Physical appearance
Marie is a small white purebred Turkish Angora kitten. She has long, white fur and bright blue eyes with long lashes; out of the 3 kittens, she bears the strongest resemblance to her mother. Her nose and paw pads are light pink, and she has 3 or 4 whiskers on either side of her face. Marie wears a large pink bow around her neck and another pink bow, which is smaller, decorating a tuft of fur on her head.
Appearances
The Aristocats
Marie is first seen at the beginning, riding in the carriage with Madame Bonfamille, along with her mother and brothers. At home, she excitedly tries to be the first one in the door, but ends up stuck in the cat door alongside her two brothers. Marie insists she should be first because she is a lady. She ends up fighting with Berlioz and Toulouse until Duchess scolds them and asks the three kittens to begin their lessons.
While Toulouse practices his painting, Marie and Berlioz have a music lesson. Berlioz plays the piano while Marie sings (though the former does some of the singing, too, as do their mother, and a painted-pawed Toulouse, who also pushes on the keys). At the beginning, Marie attempts to tattle on Berlioz after he strikes the keys in such a way that her tail gets caught. After the lesson, Edgar, the butler, brings them milk for dinner. He claims that it was prepared a special way, and it is in a way; the milk is laced with sleeping pills. The pills do their jobs and the cats are kidnapped by Edgar in their sleep and dropped off into the countryside. Unknown to the cats, they had been chosen to inherit Madame Bonfamille's fortune upon her death. Edgar had kidnapped them so that he could inherit it instead, as otherwise, he would not inherit until the cats had all died, which he thought would take years.
Marie and company awaken near a bridge, and after spending the night in the rain, are approached by Thomas O'Malley, an alley cat. Though he initially offers to help Duchess as he is enamored by her, he soon discovers that Duchess has children, after Marie appears and asks if his poetic description of Duchess applies to her as well. Once over his shock, he helps them into a milk truck bound to Paris. He sends them on their way but rescues Marie after she falls from the truck. Deciding to go along with them, O'Malley uncovers some milk for Marie and the other kittens to drink. Eventually, the driver notices the cats, and runs them out of the truck. O'Malley decides to lead them to Paris on foot. On the way, they cross a railway bridge. The cats are forced to hide from an oncoming train, but Marie falls into the river beneath. O'Malley saves her a second time.
After returning to Paris, Marie and the others spend the night at Scat Cat's pad. Like her siblings, she is impressed by the alley cats and enjoys a loud and colourful party. The next day, Marie returns home with her mother and brothers and sadly says goodbye to O'Malley. When they find that the cat door is locked, Marie comes up with the idea of meowing to get Edgar's and Madame's attention. Edgar traps the cats in a sack, with the intention of mailing them to Timbuktu, so that they cannot come back. Luckily, they are saved by O'Malley and the alley cats and Edgar is mailed instead. Marie continued to live with Madame, Duchess, and her brothers, with the addition of O'Malley and the Alley Cats, who are the start of Madame's foundation for the alley cats of Paris.
Miriya & Marie
Marie is one of the two main protagonists of the manga Miriya & Marie. In the manga, Marie is Miriya's mentor and is capable of using magic. Marie's first appearance is when she magically appears from Miriya's phone and tells Miriya that she is preparing her to become a witch. She then sends Miriya back in time to 1910 in Paris, France by unwrapping the large bow around her neck as a form of transportation. Throughout the manga, Marie takes Miriya on various magical adventures throughout Paris.
Disney Parks
Marie posing for a photo at Hong Kong Disneyland.
Marie was notably the only one of the three kittens to appear as a walk-around character at any of the Disney theme parks until 2013 when Toulouse and Berlioz began appearing at the parks as well. She appears mostly at the Tokyo Disney Resort (starting in 2005) and Disneyland Resort Paris.
In the Walt Disney World, she is seen at the French Pavilion at the World Showcase in Epcot, and near the flagpole in Main Street U.S.A in the Magic Kingdom. But as of March 2016, she has been replaced by Stitch.
She also appears in the Hong Kong Disneyland version of It's a Small World.
At the Disneyland Resort, Marie made her first appearance at the former dance party "Dancing With Disney Stars" at DCA in 2014 before it's closure. She makes occasionally appears at the resort such as a character cavalcade or a special event. In the fireworks/projection show "Mickey's Mix Magic", Marie is the central focus of the "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat" section and appears as various heads and seen dancing.
Marie appears in Fantasmic! at Tokyo DisneySea during the grand finale. She also appears in the show Big Band Beat at the Broadway Music Theatre in American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea, and performs a song called "Jazz Babies". Marie also appears at Tokyo Disneyland's electrical parade Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade DreamLights starting sometime in 2008 or 2009 during the It's A Small World finale section. Tokyo's former daytime parade Happiness is Here Parade (created for the park's 30th anniversary in 2013) had a dedicated float for The Aristocats featuring Marie, Toulouse, and Berlioz ,with Roquefort hanging on the top. The parade also marked Toulouse and Berlioz's first appearance at the resort.
Marie also appears at Shanghai Disneyland for the daytime parade "Mickey's Storybook Express" along with Toulouse and Berlioz. She along with her brothers also appear at a daytime performance show at Fantasyland.
Gallery
Trivia
- Marie was going to be voiced by Tara Strong in the sequel.
- It is unknown what happened to Marie's birth father (Duchess's first mate).
- Despite not having the lead role, Marie is the most popular and most marketed character from the film. Starting in the mid 1990s, Marie became the solo representation of the film previously being Thomas O'Malley.
- Berlioz and Marie appear to have a sibling rivalry throughout the film.
- Marie won a manga series called Miriya & Marie. The manga was previously exclusive in Japan and Brazil in 2015, but finally gained an English translation and released in the U.S. and Canada on June 2018 courtesy of "Tokyopop".
- Marie starred in her own Japanese music video called "Disney Marie - Walk In Paris" (パリのお散歩 ～ ディズニー マリー) released in 2014.
- She is named after Marie Antoinette who was the queen of France from 1774 to 1791. One of the earliest concept art for the film featured had Marie named "Marie Antoinette".
- Marie has her own day called "Marie Day" which first began on February 22, 2015, the same day as "Cat Day" in Japan mainly celebrated in Tokyo Disney Resort.
- At Tokyo Disneyland's Fantasyland, there is an entire shop that is dedicated to Marie.
- In a book called The Aristocats Join Scat Cat's Band, it is revealed that Marie knows how to play a washboard.
- In the British television series Doctor Who, one of the pins that the Sixth Doctor wears is a pin of Marie. The Doctor is seen wearing it in the episode "Revelation of the Daleks".
- In the Miriya & Marie manga, Marie is able to live on her own and actually owns her own house. Marie's house is colored pink and filled with jewelry and ribbons. As a result, she no longer lives with her mother Duchess but visits her instead.
- Marie, alongside her brothers Toulouse and Berlioz, starred in a spinoff comic series called "The Aristokittens" which ran from October 1971 to October 1975. The series featured the kittens going on various adventures in Paris, France and encountered various Disney characters. The most notable is Jiminy Cricket who shows up in the first issue.
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