The Three Lives of Thomasina

I have two copies of the book which I have read over and over, and I saw the film as a child. It has lost none of it's charm or magic. I am glad that the film is on disc so that more generations children can enjoy this wonderful magical tale from Paul Gallico.
A lonely child who has lost her Mother; a father too lost in his own grief to see how strong the bond of love between the child and her cat has become; a "witch" to weave the bonds of love together; and of course Thomasina.
Read the novel and see the movie no matter how old a child you are.

Product came on time and excellent condition. I love this movie and never knew it was available on DVD 'til now.

What a sweet movie! This movie was one I watched many times as a child. It is still as exciting and moving as I remembered it to be.

This is one of my favorite movies from childhood. It's told by the cat, Thomasina. There are some sad moments but the ending is happy. Nothing scary.
It's definitely a classic in my book!

I saw this movie when it came out in 64. I was eight at the time. I've always adored Disney films and I love cats... especially the orange tabby's which were always my favorite. I had one just like Thomasina at the time and always have throughout my life. I try to collect as many of Disney's movies as I can... except this one.

With that said, the beginning of this movie really upset me as a child and still upsets me to this day when something reminds me of it. My parents and I were caught off guard. We did not expect to see something like this on a Disney film. My parents thought I would love a movie about cats but had no idea about the disturbing content. As much as I have always adored cats, I have never been able to watch this movie a second time.

I simply could not endure watching this cat being ordered to be put to sleep by the adults at the beginning of this movie as if it was a casually disposable product instead of a living creature and beloved pet of the child. They not only order the cat to be put to sleep, they go through the actual process of putting the cat down and treating it as discarded trash. This affected me deeply at the age of 8 and still bothers me to this day when I think about this movie. The fact that the cat recovered from the botched job didn't make the horrific scene any more palatable.

A child doesn't have the luxury of placing a movie in some historic perspective. They watch a movie... literally through the eyes of a child. Things are a lot more real to them than they are to adults. But even adults are affected by movies with strong emotional scenes... so imagine what it is like for a child.

It didn't matter to me whether everything came out ok in the end or not. I just couldn't go through that ordeal again. Nor did I find any pleasure in the other mishaps the cat character was subjected to in the storyline. As a child and an adult I found this movie to be very disturbing.

I was never affected by any other movie as a child. I was not a sensitive child or adult. I was raised watching horror and space movies since I was 3. I was a fearless child and a fearless adult. Disembodied heads on monster movies didn't bother me a bit even when I was a preschooler. So for any movie to affect me in this way, it had to be profoundly upsetting about something that meant a lot to me... and my cat had been that important to me since I had been 3.

So if you have a child who is very attached to cats as I was, I strongly caution you to think twice before showing this movie to your child.

I'm sharing this because I want parents to really think about this before allowing their children to see it. Even if your child has never been upset about any prior movie, if your child is devoted to a pet cat, I really don't recommend this movie.

In some ways, the movie "Old Yeller" is very similarly upsetting when the boy's dog has to be shot. Why is it that these producers of childrens' shows and movies think it is necessary to show the death of the main animal character?

It may not seem like a big deal to an adult, but to a child, things like this can be horrific and cause unnecessary distress to a child who loves their pets so devotedly. 45 years later, I still remember how much this movie bothered me. You can choose to disregard my cautions if you like, but if you knew what a strong child I was and even stronger as an adult and retired engineering executive... you might think twice about this. If this movie can have such a profound effect on someone who has been fearless their entire life... think of how it might affect a sensitive child. You might never know about it. This is the first time in 45 years I have mentioned it to anyone. It's just my personal opinion but I thought someone should mention this issue.