In 1890s in the south of France, Mewsette (Judy Garland) lives a simple existence as a farm cat with her boyfriend Jaune Tom (Robert Goulet) who is often prone to mousing with his friend Robespierre (Red Buttons). When Mewsette learns of the glamour of Paris from her owner's sister, she becomes disillusioned with "plebian" existence and angrily rejects a mouse from Juane Tom that leaves him feeling dejected. Angered with Mewsette's outburst, Robespierre tells Mewsette to go to Paris if she's so miserable which she does by stowing away in the baggage of the departing buggy. When Jaune Tom learns that Mewsette has left he sets out for Paris intent on finding her with Robespierre in tow. Meanwhile Mewsette arrives in Paris and meets Meowrice (Paul Frees) who claims he can help turn her into a proper Parisian unaware he has his sights set on an underhanded and lucrative matchmaking deal.
Gay Purr-ee is a 1962 animated musical from UPA and distributed by Warner Bros. Which marked the second and final animated feature project of UPA as well as the first animated feature to be distributed by Warner Bros. UPA originally setup the project at United Artists but took it to Warner Bros. After financing was taking too long to get together. With Judy Garland cast as one of the leads at her suggestion Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg who wrote the songs for the Wizard of Oz were brought on at her suggestion. The male lead had initially been positioned for Gene Kelly who dropped out before production began and Elvis Presley had been considered as a possible replacement until Robert Goulet was secured who took a week long hiatus from performing in a Broadway production of Camelot to record the role. While the film received positive reviews at the time and was given an aggressive promotional push by Warner Bros., contemporary sources claim the film's box office was underwhelming and the financial failure of the film was a contributing factor to UPA to abandon animation. There's some good elements on display in Gay Purr-ee, but they come more from the strength of the art direction and voice work rather than the sum of the movie itself.
Artistically speaking while the movie features simpler shapes and more limited animation in comparison to the productions of Walt Disney's productions, the way in which Paris is realized is quite unique and colorful and you can see why the film was critically lauded for its art direction. One particularly standout sequence involves a scene where Meowrice is describing several paintings of Mewsette by notable artistic figures ranging from Vincent Van Gogh to Pablo Picaso where Mewsette is not only rendered in the style of each painter, but we also get some background on the artistic processes involved. With Robert Goulet and Judy Garland in the voice cast, it should surprise no-one that the music and voice acting is really on point with even comedic songs like "Bubbles" (a song about getting drunk on champagne) catchy and pleasing to listen to thanks to Goulet's voice. The actual plot of the movie is where I feel things start to unravel, from a worldbuilding perspective there's really no reason the characters are cats and when you have strange aspects like the fact these cats care about human currency or background gags of cats wearing clothes while the main characters act like real cats, it doesn't really create much of a sense of immersion. Character motivations also aren't especially well conveyed particularly with Mewsette herself and I think having Jaune Tom and Mewsette together at the beginning of the film undercuts the narrative to a degree.
While there's some solid work on display in Gay-Purr-ee especially in regards to its voice cast and art direction, on a story level it feels like it's lacking in polish and refinement. The movie's worth a look for fans of Goulet and Garland as well as animation fans but it's decidedly less than the sum of its parts.
