My Review of Lady and the Tramp (1955) · 8:17pm Saturday
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, folks. This is Mr. J back with another movie review for today. This afternoon, I will be reviewing Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp”, released in 1955. This was yet another animated Disney film I learned to adore while growing up. It was never high up in my list of my favorite animated movies, but it is considerably good for what it is and the type of story it told.
This movie is about a lady who is faithfully obedient and loving to her owners until the anticipation of a newborn baby draws their attention away from her just a bit; later on, she meets a tramp who loves to do whatever he wants even if it means trouble. Will these two dogs ever fall in love?
The story is very simple and straightforward; it focuses on two different breeds of dogs from different walks of life coming together through the most unusual way possible. What sets the cherry on top is the way they interact with each other.
Lady loves her owners, obeys them, is good-natured, but she can be sensitive with the way she acts to uncomfortable situations. Tramp, on the other hand, is carefree, brave, charming, but he has a long way to go in forming a relationship.
Now you have these dogs together, and when they learn from each other, their chemistry makes sense, their dialogue seems believable, and their union is very sweet and adorable to watch. The original VAs did a great job giving these characters life and personality to make the script feel like an adventurous journey.
The animation is so gorgeous to look at! Compared to 1937’s Snow White animation, this one feels slightly more lively and cartoony.
The music is also beautiful and well-composed. I think my favorite part of the music is where Lady & the Tramp eat a plate of spaghetti together while the men were playing romantic music in the background. That’s the most iconic scene of the film!
But despite its rainbows and sunshine, it does contain its dark moments. Tramp’s fight-to-the-death with that nasty rat was so bone-chilling and epic to watch. When he fought the other dogs earlier, it was like another Tuesday for him; but when he fought the rat, it felt like his last stand. That’s how serious the boss battle was.
Now, I do have some minor issues with this installation which are thankfully few to mention: the aunt was really idiotic and annoying every time she appeared. Does she not know that she was mistreating Lady, a beloved member of the family??
It’s like she has no respect for dogs in general and doesn’t know how to look after a baby…such as OPENING A WINDOW WHERE A RAT CAN SLIP THROUGH?! Is she dumb?!
Contrary to what a lot of people think, the Siamese cats are just weird, unnecessary characters therein. Their song is overrated too. I don’t see the appeal to their singing or their charm. Coming from someone who loves cats, those two are worthless to me.
Lastly, Trusty’s apparent demise felt rushed and poorly edited. Literally in the next scene, he’s fully alive with just a little bandage on the wound. That’s it. If it wanted to surprise me, it did a poor job at that. What was the point of that scene if he was still gonna be alive?
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like he should’ve died so everyone can pay respect to him and learn of his sacrifice to help others.
But at the end of the day, this is a pretty good movie. It’s not that amazing or anything like that, but I can admit it has its charm and entertainment value. Dogs aren’t my thing, but they were fun in this film. So I’ll give it a 7/10.
Peace out. RIP to all the impressive cast members for this film.
Luckily, the 2019 remake had Lady’s owners call out the aunt for her negligence, along with Tramp taking Trusty’s place in being injured by the dog catcher’s horse carriage near the end. Speaking of the 2019 remake, I feel like it was a missed opportunity to have the rat receive a name, a speaking role (personally, I’m picking Jason Sudeikis) and a reason why he specifically targeted Jim Dear and Darling’s child. Like you said about Trusty staying dead, maybe it’s just me.
P.S. I believe Trusty’s recovery took place months later.