Starring: Rene Auberjonois, Scott Bakula, Natalie Cole, Mark Dindal, Betty Lou Gerson Directed By: Mark Dindal Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Binding: DVD Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC Label: Turner Home Ent Number of Items: 1 Publication Date: September 03, 2002 Region Code: 1 Release Date: September 03, 2002 Running Time: 75 minutes Theatrical Release Date: March 26, 1997
Product Description: The rags-to-riches story of Danny a talented cat whose lifelong goal of movie stardom is sidetracked when he discovers only humans get the good roles in Hollywood. On the big screen animals can bark meow or moo but cats don't dance. Danny vows to break through the "species barrier" and prove that dreams really can come true.Running Time: 120 min.System Requirements: Running Time 75 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: G UPC: 053939643022
Amazon.com: Actually, cats do dance, and there are a lot of little cat feet tapping all over this odd animated film. Complaints about originality can't be leveled here; the film works within the confines of the musical genre, but there's never really been anything like this. Danny the cat is from Kokomo, and he's got a short list of things he has to do to become a big star in Hollywood. Unfortunately, he's unaware that animals, even talented ones, aren't even considered for showy parts in films. They're considered window dressing for humans, especially big stars such as Darla Dimple, the unlikely antagonist here. The music is by Randy Newman, and it's not really his best, but toe tapping may occur. The animation is reminiscent of an upgraded Animaniacs, and there's a frenetic, jittery sense to the scenes (mostly dealing with slapstick humor). Older fans of animation or bygone Hollywood will have much more to appreciate here than small children, but that's refreshing in itself. --Keith Simanton
A wonderful movie This is a wonderful film that was unfortunately over shadowed by Disney. The movie is fast paced, up beat, and full of great songs. Cats Don't Dance is a great film for people of all ages with many caricatures of famous actors such as Clark Gables, and W.C. Fields just to name a few. Unfortunately it was doomed to obscurity from the start, due to both Disney and poor advertisement. Over all it is a great film that I would highly suggest to anyone.
Did not live up to the hype of the other reviews. Good, but not that good. Daughter, who is 2 1/2, enjoyed watching the whole movie, but has not asked to see it again, which can be interpreted as a marginal thumbs down from her.
Music is good, but I didn't find myself humming any tunes afterwards. Animation is reminiscent of retro styles, which is nostalgic and kind of nice.
Fun romp It may not be a classic but "Cats Don't Dance" is a fun time killer.
PLOT - It's the 1930s and no animal has been able to reach the star status of their human counterparts: Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, etc. The only thing animals are wanted for is to say animal lines and do stereotypical animal things.
Then from Kokomo, Indiana comes the naive, humble but ambitious Danny (Scott Bakula, throwing out a voice that is decades younger than he actually is and doing his own singing), a fast tapping tap dancer who dreams of being the cat version of Gene Kelly or Bing Crosby, so he comes to Hollywood to seek his fortune, only to find a town full of crushed souls and broken dreams. He also runs afoul of Darla Dimple (speaking voice Ashley Peldon, singing voice Lindsay Ridgeway), a demented, narcissistic child star who is basically an evil version of Shirley Temple but pretends to be the sweet little girl image that the public has of her, which includes loving animals when she really despises them, when he tries to upstage her during the filming of "Little Ark Angel". Did I mention Darla's giant man-servant/hit man/enforcer Max? Despite the set backs, Danny becomes determined to lead an animal revolt that will lead his fellow animal performers to stardom.
Along the way, Danny befriends Pudge, a chubby little penguin just trying to get by, Cranston the crotchety goat (voice of Hal Holbrook), Frances the Marlene Dietrich style fish (voiced by the late Betty Lou Gerson, who also voiced Cruella Deville in the original 101 Dalmations), a warm hearted hippo woman named Tillie (voice of Kathy Najimy), TW Turtle (the late Don Knotts), the mentor figure Woolie the Mammoth (John Rhys-Davies), and of course, the sassy, cynical love interest Sawyer (spoken by Jasmine Guy, sung by Natalie Cole).
All of them had dreams of being song & dance stars, as Woolie explains to Danny. Tillie wanted to sing and dance, Cranston and Frances were a dancing duet, TW had dramatic pirate of penzance in his past, while Woolie himself is actually a very skilled piano player and had hopes of writing music for the movies, but instead he became the Mammoth Studios mascot, putting on giant tusks and blowing his snout at the beginning of every Mammoth Studio picture, much like the roaring lion at the beginning of the MGM films (he probably lucked out better than the others did in that respect). We even learn that Sawyer too once dreamed of song & dance stardom, as she was quite a dancer herself and had what Woolie called "the voice of an angel" (though it's really more along the lines of Diana Ross); Woolie even thought that Sawyer would be the one to break through. Woolie instructs Danny that Hollywood will never appreciate animal actors enough to give them their time in the spotlight, but this only strengthens Danny's resolve and, the next day, Danny gets Woolie and Pudge to join him in rallying the other animals together and inspiring them to fight for their right to be stars; he even gets Sawyer in on the back alley boogie, luring her into a pleasant fantasy where she gets to show off her dance moves, but she quickly breaks loose from it and tells Danny that it'll never happen.
What Danny doesn't know is that Darla is on to him and, fearing that Danny and his animal cohorts might threaten her stardom, she tricks Danny into believing that she'll help him and lets him use her sound stage to from "Little Ark Angel" to perform for studio head L.B. Mammoth (voice of George Kennedy). Danny then rallies his fellow animals together, taking Darla's advice to make it "big & loud", and even gets Sawyer in on the act, still unaware of Darla's plot to destroy him. Darla KO's Pudge and then plays havoc with the special effects on the sound stage, resulting in a giant water mass spill out that engulfs both LB and the director Flanigan, leads to much mayhem on the studio lot and a fight between Sawyer & Danny. When the animals are all unceremoniously fired, Darla shows up to add insult to injury, exposing that she was the one who gave Danny use of the sound stage, making him even less popular with his already angry cohorts. Even Woolie tells Danny to just go home. The next night while Cranston, Frances, TW and Tillie lament their woes and blame Danny for ruining their already miserable careers, Sawyer takes to the rainy streets and sings of her own disillusionment with the industry and her confused feelings for Danny, which Tillie overhears and encourages her to go catch Danny before he leaves town. Danny, depressed and dejected over the calamity he has brought unto himself and his friends, miserably boards a bus back for Kokomo, leaving behind his hat for Sawyer to find and his list for how he would succeed, which leaves Sawyer tearful, heart broken and alone.
But naturally Danny's resolve kicks back in and, with help from Pudge, he makes a desperate last ditch effort to break the barrier, by bringing his closest friends to the premiere of Darla Dimple's new film, where they sing and dance their hearts out, wowing the audience, and exposing Darla for the evil little thing that she is and destroying her career. From there Woolie, Tillie, TW, Pudge, Frances, Cranston, and of course, Sawyer & Danny, become big stars, headlining animal versions of "Superman", "Batman & Robin", "Grumpy Old Men", "The Mask", "Beetle Juice", "The Witches of Eastwick", and "Singing In The Rain", among others.
Surprisingly entertaining due to its unabashed good naturedness and breezy songs. Above average animation too.
Secretly Great This movie is one of a number of truly great animation productions put out during the "Second Golden Age" which have been a bit overlooked (Family Dog, Iron Giant, Balto). The animation is dynamic, the pacing is perfect, the design is amazing, the soundtrack is a classic (currently selling for as much as $90 on Amazon), the story is strong, and the dance numbers ("Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now!") are among the best ever in animation. Yes, the film is full of cliche characters and the plot is a bit saccharine, but somehow they pulled off the perfect mix to create this very engaging film. It's a shame that Warner Bros. never really built on this effort and effectively torpedoed the project with poor marketing. Anyone lucky enough to discover the film now should be very happy with it. It deserves to be remembered as a classic.
FELINE FROLICS CATS DON'T DANCE is a toe-tapping, unusual little animated film featuring a host of musically inclined animals, headed by the stubborn and determined cat of the title. As voiced by Scott Bakula, the cat is determined to make it big in Hollywood, where animals aren't supposed to be stars. His nemesis turns out to be Darla Dimple, a Shirley Temple rip-off, who is really more demon than child. Darla and her bodyguard Max are actually the funniest characters in the movie and they steal any scene they're in. With a so-so score by Oscar winner Randy Newman, CATS DON'T DANCE is an entertaining movie, with some bouncy musical numbers and the message that quitters never win.
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