- “I'm ready, Maestro.”
- ―Marie
Marie is a character from the film The Aristocats. She is a white-furred kitten who is the middle child of Duchess and the big sister of Berlioz and the little sister of Toulouse. She was voiced by Liz English.
Appearance
Being a kitten, she is fairly small. Out of the three kittens, she bears the strongest resemblance to her mother. Marie has a fluffy white coat, and blue eyes. She has a pink bow tied around her neck, and another, smaller pink bow on her head between her ears.
Personality
Though Marie is kind, cute, caring and beautiful, she can also be somewhat prissy and spoiled. She is also prone to tattling on her brothers. Marie thinks of herself as a lady, despite her brothers' protests and tries to act ladylike. She seems to be somewhat danger-prone.
Role in the Film
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 and 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 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, she 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, the cross a railroad 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. There are 3 reasons possible reasons why Marie fell of the bridge: her claws were not strong enough, she accidentally missed, and it was a dumb idea for toulouse to make her the caboose while playing train on the bridge.
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. The next day, Marie returns home with her mother and brothers, and 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 presumably 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.
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 Berloiz began appearing at the parks as well. She appears mostly at the Tokyo Disney Resort, and in the Walt Disney World Resort, she is seen at the French Pavilion at the World Showcase in Epcot. She also appears in the Hong Kong Disneyland version of It's a Small World.
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".
Trivia
- Marie was going to be voiced by Tara Strong in the sequel, but this was abandoned when Disney canceled all other projects to convert with Pixar Studios.
- Marie is the first Disney character to wear a pink bow. The others are Pinch Raccoon from PB&J Otter and Isabella Garcia-Shapiro from Phineas and Ferb.
- Despite not having the lead role, Marie became the most popular character from the film.
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