Cats Don't Dance

Cats Don't Dance is a 1997 animated film, notable as the only animated feature produced by Turner Entertainment animation unit (later merged into Warner Bros. Feature Animation) and one of the last American animated films to use traditional animation cels. The film was distributed to movie theaters by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment. Set in a world where human beings and anthropomorphic animals live side-by-side, it focuses on a cat named Danny who wants to break into show business in Hollywood.

The film features the voices of Scott Bakula and Jasmine Guy, and was the directorial debut of former Disney animator Mark Dindal. It is also notable for its musical numbers, written by Randy Newman, and for Gene Kelly's contributions as choreographer. Cats Don't Dance was Kelly's final film project, and the movie is dedicated to him.

Plot
The film occurs in an alternate reality wherein various animals are anthropomorphized and coexist with humans. An ambitious young cat named Danny, who dreams of becoming a film star, travels from his small hometown of Kokomo to Hollywood. There, Danny finds animal talent agent Farley Wink and his secretary, a sassy, cynical, but stunning lady cat named Sawyer, with whom Danny falls in love. Danny is admitted into a small role in Mammoth Pictures' Li'l Ark Angel, the latest film featuring the spoiled child actress Darla Dimple, "America's Sweetheart, Lover of Children and Animals," and is enthusiastic until he realizes the role's insignificance. Determined to become more central, he takes matters into his own hands, turning his one line of "meow" into an impressive bit of music, but in so doing upstages Darla Dimple, who takes this as an insult and sends her valet Max (a massive, rigid figure resembling Boris Karloff's portrayal of Frankenstein's Monster) to punish Danny.

One night thereafter Danny learns from the studio's mascot, Woolly the Mammoth, that all of the other animals who came to Hollywood sharing Danny's ambitions are resigned to the supporting cast, including Sawyer's, while the humans assume central roles. Danny therefore organizes an impromptu dance session in an alley so as to remind the animals of their reason for coming to Hollywood. Here he convinces Sawyer, with some difficulty, to resume her former practice of dancing and begins to make a plan for the advancement of their positions. During this dance session, Darla Dimple hears the animals' music from afar in the studio and realizes that their talent may outstrip her own.

Taking the animals as a threat to her stardom, Darla invites Danny to her mansion so she could "apologize" for what Max did the other day and offers to call studio boss L.B. Mammoth to arrange a chance for Danny and his friends to perform for him. Danny accepts this offer openly and enlists the assistance of all the animals. Darla, rather than allow them the opportunity instead floods the sound stage, destroying a nearby press release and blaming the animals for it. The animals involved in the incident are summarily expelled from the studio and told that they will "never nibble kibble in Hollywood again". Outside the studio, Darla's deception was revealed when she told Danny it was "nice working with you." Defeated, Danny prepares to return to Kokomo, but soon changes his mind and conspires with his penguin friend Pudge to demonstrate the animals' skill.

Danny therefore sneaks into the studio and invites all of the animals to the premiere of Darla's film. After the film's end (and a fairly intense confrontation between Max and Danny atop Grauman's Chinese Theater, ending with Max floating away on a gigantic balloon made to resemble Darla), Danny addresses the audience, informing them that he and his friends will sing and dance as requested, Danny says, by Ms. Darla Dimple. At this, the animals perform a spectacular song and dance scene. Darla's outrageous attempts to stop them result only in enhancement to their performance and in pain to herself. The production number is a resounding success; Darla, trying to prove that she is the true star, recklessly screams at Danny through a microphone "I should have drowned you all when I flooded the stage!", exposing her activities and character. Darla is then tipped down a trap door, shouting out for Max.

Max, drifting over Paris at this point, responds slowly to her call: "Oui, Miss Dimple?"

L.B. and the director Flanagan apologize for the mistakes they have made. The animals are given starring roles from then on, creating a number of amusing parodies of classic films. After the movie poster parodies, it is revealed that Darla has lost her fame, but not her family fortune, and has become a grumpy janitor.

Voice cast

 * Scott Bakula as Danny
 * Jasmine Guy as Sawyer (speaking)
 * Natalie Cole as Sawyer (singing)
 * Ashley Peldon as Darla Dimple (speaking)
 * Lindsay Ridgeway as Darla Dimple (singing)
 * Kathy Najimy as Tillie Hippo
 * John Rhys-Davies as Woolie Mammoth
 * George Kennedy as L.B. Mammoth
 * Rene Auberjonois as Flanagan
 * Betty Lou Gerson as Frances Albacore
 * Hal Holbrook as Cranston Goat
 * Matthew Herried as Peabo "Pudge" Pudgemyer
 * Don Knotts as T.W. The Smell of Danger Turtle
 * Mark Dindal as Max
 * Frank Welker as Farley Wink
 * David Johansen as Bus Driver

Soundtrack album listing

 * 1) "Our Time Has Come" - James Ingram, Carnie Wilson
 * 2) "I Do Believe" - Will Downing
 * 3) "Danny's Arrival Song" - Scott Bakula
 * 4) "Little Boat on the Sea" - Lindsay Ridgeway, Scott Bakula
 * 5) "Animal Jam" - Scott Bakula
 * 6) "Big and Loud (Part 1)" - Lindsay Ridgeway
 * 7) "Big and Loud (Part 2)" - Lindsay Ridgeway
 * 8) "Tell Me Lies" - Natalie Cole
 * 9) "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" - Natalie Cole, Scott Bakula, Kathy Najimy
 * 10) "Darla's Premiere" - Steve Goldstein
 * 11) "Once Upon a Time..." - Steve Goldstein
 * 12) "Danny's Theme" - Steve Goldstein
 * 13) "Farley's Office" - Steve Goldstein
 * 14) "Reporting for Work" - Steve Goldstein
 * 15) "Max Enters" - Steve Goldstein
 * 16) "Tea Time for Danny" - Steve Goldstein
 * 17) "The Flood" - Steve Goldstein
 * 18) "Battle with Max" - Steve Goldstein
 * 19) "Triumph of the Animals" - Steve Goldstein
 * 20) "Our Time Has Come" [Movie Version] - James Ingram, Carnie Wilson

Release and response
Warner Bros. attached Pullet Surprise, a newly produced Looney Tunes short featuring Foghorn Leghorn, to Cats Don't Dance for its original theatrical release.

Cats Don't Dance was released to fair reviews (it has a 67% 'fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and became a casualty of the Turner/Time Warner merger: it received a traditional theatrical release in 1997 but without fanfare and did not draw an audience, perhaps due to minimal advertising, a lack of promotional merchandise (only two book adaptations and a set of toys from Subway) and having only one theatrical trailer prepared. It was also overshadowed by the overlapping releases of Disney's Hercules, Batman and Robin, Good Burger, and the "Star Wars" special edition. Its total domestic theatrical gross was a mere $3,566,637, making it a huge box office bomb in contrast with its $60 million production budget.

Despite its box-office failure, the film won the Best Animated Feature at the 1997 Annie Awards. As a result, it has a devoted cult following today, thanks to video and DVD releases and occasional TV airings on ABC Family and Cartoon Network.

Pop culture references
The film takes place in April 1939 (the date is posted on Danny's script) to the early 1940s setting, allowing it to parody the Golden Age of Hollywood, and it features caricatures of Mae West, Laurel & Hardy, W.C. Fields, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, King Kong, and Toto from The Wizard of Oz. The art and directing styles of the film reflect the influence of 1930s/1940s cartoon makers such as Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and the artists at the Fleischer Studio. The main antagonist, Darla Dimple, is a caricature of Shirley Temple, Jane Withers, and Darla Hood all rolled into one. Mammoth Pictures is a caricature of MGM, with L.B. Mammoth as Louis B. Mayer. Coincidentally, Warner Bros. and Turner Entertainment own the MGM pre-1986 library.

Before the end credits of the film, many parody posters of famous movies starring the animals are shown. They include Singin' in the Rain, Casablanca, The Mask, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Witches of Eastwick, Grumpy Old Men, Superman, Beetlejuice, Twister, Batman and Robin and Free Willy.

Home Video Releases
Cats Don't Dance got its first home video release on VHS and Laserdisc on August 19, 1997. While a standard 4:3 VHS, the Laserdisc was special in the fact that it remains to this day the only way to watch the film in its theatrical widescreen format in North America (the film is available on DVD in widescreen in Europe). The Laserdisc was never re-released and has become very rare. The VHS re-released for its second and final time on March 2, 1999.

The film saw its first DVD release on September 2, 2002, as a 4:3 panned DVD with no bonus features. The most recent release was a re-release of the same DVD, but bundled with Quest for Camelot, which was released on May 2, 2006. In July 2008, Cats Don't Dance was released on DVD in widescreen in Germany, Spain, and the Benelux countries.