Here is another character Milt Kahl didn’t particularly enjoy animating, but as usual he pulled it off beautifully. There was criticism at the time why Madame Bonfamille in “The Aristocats” looked so realistic. This lady was eccentric enough to will her fortune to her house cats, so why not design her as a nutty old woman?
Milt’s response was that the story guys thought of her as a beautiful, dignified elderly lady, as did Ken Anderson. So he refined what they gave him, not changing the character’s concept.
In an interview Milt said that it doesn’t hurt to do your straight, realistic job once in a while, knowing that you will have other characters in the picture who are eccentric and more entertaining.
And of course Milt did pride himself for being able to do assignments like this one that called for careful realistic handling.
“Realism is not the problem, it’s the way (other) people do realism that’s a problem!” he said. via Deja View
