Walt Disney Feature Animation
Starring: Julie Andrews, Tracy Ullman
Directed by: Peter Schneider
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Created for the 40th anniversary DVD of Mary Poppins, this live action / animated short film was based on one of the chapters from the original books and tells the story of a cat who matches wits with a king.
Kitty Cameo: This story is based around the chalk drawing premise as seen in the original film. A little girl (Olivia DeLaurentis) is admiring the chalk drawings when a white cat walks up beside her.
The cat then jumps right into the painting!
Cartoon Cat: Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) takes the children into the drawing where they witness a King (voiced by David Ogden Stiers) who craves knowledge to the exclusion of everything else, including his beautiful Queen (voiced by Sarah Ferguson). The white cat in cartoon form then chases a mouse and knocks over some of the King’s books.
The cat (voiced by Tracy Ullman) assures the King that she is very knowledgable and the King challenges the cat to a contest of wits.
The two ask one another three questions. The questions are tricky and the cat ends up answering all of hers easily while she stumps the King completely.
Realizing he is not as smart as he thinks he is, the King laments that he does not know who he is.
The cat tells him to look into her eyes.
The King sees himself young and happy with his Queen and remembers who he is. As a token of her appreciation, the Queen gives the cat a beautiful necklace.
At the end of the short, having returned to the real world, Mary Poppins looks down and sees the real cat wearing the necklace.
Final Mewsings: Cats are definitely smarter than most people, even Kings.
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