Lady And The Tramp

Reviewer: Alyice Edrich

The Cartoon

The Plot

A well-mannered, highly refined cocker spaniel, by the name of Lady, meets an ill-mannered, street mutt, named the Tramp and against all odds they fall in love and learn to accept their differences as they build a life together.

Starring

Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Peggy Lee, Bill Thompson, Bill Baucom, Stan Freberg, Lee Millar, and more.

The Review

I love it when Disney comes out with new editions of their classic stories, and the Diamond Edition of Lady and the Tramp is no exception. The enhancements in color, from our worn out VHS version are amazing!

I’ve been a fan of Lady and the Tramp for years. It’s one of those classics that truly is timeless and a joy to watch, over and over again.

It all begins with Darling and Jim Dear celebrating a quiet Christmas at home. Jim Dear surprises Darling with a beautiful puppy. The puppy is named Lady and soon becomes a big part of the family. Everything is moving along nicely, and then it happens…

The couple get pregnant and poor Lady is pushed aside as they focus on having a healthy baby… and for the very first time, Lady is swatted for wanting to play when Darling is busy knitting something for her unborn child.

Time passes, the baby arrives, and Lady is once again given a prominent position in the home as she helps care for the baby. But when Darling and Jim Dear leave for a little vacation, and Aunt Sarah arrives to care for the baby, Lady is once again pushed aside, only this time being forced to wear a muzzle!

When Aunt Sarah takes Lady to the pet store to be fitted for a muzzle, she escapes the clutches of both the store clerk and Aunt Sarah only to be chased by three vicious dogs. Luckily for her, though, Tramp happens to see Lady being chased and backed into a corner and arrives just in time to save the day!

It’s that chance meeting that connects the two for life… only they don’t know it yet.

After an evening out on the town, Tramp agrees to return Lady to her home only to lose her and have her get captured and locked in the pound. When Aunt Sarah arrives to pick up Lady, she is banned to the outdoors. Grief-stricken, Lady tries to understand how things went from good to bad.

Then she sees it, a rat! A very dangerous rat who seems determined to break into the house and get at the baby! When she can’t break lose from her chains, Tramp rushes into the house and attacks the rat, thus saving the baby’s life.

But Aunt Sarah, having a keen dislike for dogs, accuses them of attacking the baby. She immediately locks Lady up and calls the pound on Tramp. It’s then that Jim Dear and Darling arrive home…

Lady shows them the rat, and they immediately take off after the dog catcher’s buggy to save Tramp from death row!

There’s a lot to like about this cartoon. It’s definitely got charm, excitement, and humor, but what I really like is the way it’s written from the dog’s point of view… even going so far as to showing the humans from the waist down when the dogs are in their presence.

I really enjoy the storyline… the way Lady enters the family; the way Tramp barges in on Lady’s life, disappears, and then returns later to save the day; the mischievous Siamese cats; the romantic spaghetti dinner; and the heartwarming welcome Tramp gets into Jim Dear and Darling’s home.

But what tugs at my heartstrings is the idea that two completely opposites can not only find love, but find a way to make it work… and since I have lived with my complete opposite for over 20 years, I guess you could say the storyline resonates with me.

Your Task

As you watch Lady and the Tramp with your children, pause at the part where lady runs away and explain to them how very dangerous it can be run away from home, and how very important it is for them to talk you if they feel they’re being treated unfairly.

Or if you prefer, wait until the film is over, and then talk to them about how the Siamese cats blamed Lady for their wrongdoings, and why blaming others for our own mistakes or bad behavior is wrong. Talk to them about the importance of never judging a book by its cover, and learning to accept people for who they are, even if we don’t always agree with their choices. And talk to them about what it really means to love someone.