I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Waste of time

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

In 1997, Warner Bros. and Ted Turner released an animated musical feature called Cats Don't Dance, which was intended as a tribute to Hollywood musicals from the 1930s. With direction from Mark Dindal (who would go on to make The Emperor's New Groove) and some choreography taught by the legend himself, Gene Kelly, this seemed like a sure fire hit....that is if it really were. While the film was decently well received by critics, it wasn't marketed very well and sadly flopped at the box office. Luckily, it has garnished a cult following over the years, and after seeing it myself, I can more than ever see why.Set in Hollywood in the late 1930s, the film centers around the optimistic and talented cat Danny who wants to make it into showbiz. The only issue, he's a cat and all other animals are only treated as second rate props behind human actors, including the nasty Darla Dimple. Upon getting into trouble with Ms. Dimple, Danny decides to bring all the animals together to make it big in the movies. Yeah, right off the bat, the plot is rather predictable and it's not so different from the usual underdog story we normally see in some animated movies. That being said, the film makes up for the weak plot with some highly entertaining scenes and jokes, fast paced animation, likable characters, and a true passion for Hollywood.In terms of the characters, Danny is the highly ambitious albeit naive protagonist who wishes to be a star, even if he has to fight hard to get his dream, which is something many people still go through today so he is a little sympathetic. Sawyer is the disillusioned albeit beautiful white cat who neglects Danny's hopes at first, but soon supports him and the other animals to become big as well. Also, can I just say that Danny and Sawyer are absolutely adorable? I love cats as it is, but they are so charming and delightful to watch....anyway, the rest are rather one dimensional, but are still humorous in their own right, like the giddy Tillie, the bad tempered curmudgeon Cranston, the superstitious T.W., and the chubby albeit charming Pudge.And then there's Darla Dimple, who is absolutely hilarious from her voice to her design. As she is a parody of Shirley Temple, she may seem like an adorable animal loving angel, but she's really an egotistical monster who will do whatever it takes to sabotage the animals just so she can be the big shot. In addition, her butler Max just cracks me up almost every time, mainly from how huge and deadpan he is. Speaking of Darla's prejudice of animals, the most interesting thing about the story itself is how, as stated before, the animals are viewed. Many of the animals themselves have dreams to be big in the theater, but they're sadly looked down upon by the humans who top them. If not for the fact that they were animals, this film probably could have been a social commentary on how African Americans were mistreated in showbiz until the 1960s....damn, this film is smart.As for the animation, in accordance to the film's upbeat and whimsical tone, the general style is reminiscent to the Looney Tunes and cartoons by Tex Avery. The characters are designed from the ground up to be cartoony, and their fast paced squash & stretch movements are perfectly timed. Not to mention, given how Gene Kelly did some choreography for the animators, the dance moves are superb, really bringing out a lot of jive and soul from each animal. The way the movie recreates Hollywood is solid enough, but the dance movements bring out that extra flavor of fun for the audience. It's also cool how the film utilizes a perfectly contrasted color scheme to set the tone: saturated when optimistic and happy and neutralized when sad and hopeless.Now I will admit, the musical numbers done by Randy Newman are rather hit or miss. Some like I Do Believe, Danny's Arrival Song and Tell Me Lies do come at their given times and are well directed and choreographed, but they don't leave enough impact to be memorable enough to sing along to. That being said, others like Animal Jam, Big and Loud, and especially Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now are highly entertaining, catchy and worth getting off your seat and just dancing to. The last one mentioned is a special highlight, not just because of the shenanigans Darla Dimple gets herself into, but also by the jazzy and upbeat tone that stands as a true finale highlight, complete with solid colors, lyrics, and dances. So yeah, the songs are either average or very good, but the good ones stick out more.I don't know how this film would have gone had it been marketed properly, but I do know that it would have been somewhat of a classic. Cats Don't Dance is a highly entertaining and fun feature that stands as an enjoyable tribute and rendition to musicals from Hollywood's golden era. Even if the plot is fairly standard and most of the characters aren't particularly grand, the wacky fast paced animation, lovable main protagonists and antagonists, catchy songs, and comedic tone make it an enjoyable feature worth your time. If you're a fan of Hollywood movies from the 30s and 40s, musicals, animated features with talking animals, or even cartoony animation, then definitely seek this one out for the whole family. Give this film as much love and support as it needs, and make it big and loud (wink wink).

Cats Don't Dance is probably best remembered for being a box office bomb. However, I never see people bring up the movie as a movie? Was it a good movie? A bad movie? A mediocre movie? Well... it's actually good.However, I would not judge anyone who didn't see it because the advertising for it was awful. Watch the one and only trailer for it. It is bad. Look at the poster for it. It looks bad and uninteresting. Even the title sounds mediocre. This means that all forms of advertising for this movie were bad.I will start with the bad in this movie so that I can end on a high note:The Main Character: Danny is the main character and most problems people have with this movie is Danny. Most people see him as a one dimensional wooden character, and to a certain extent he is. He seems upbeat almost 24/7 and when he is down, he isn't down for awhile. The other issue he has is that he is incredibly naive. Now, I don't have an issue with this. Why? Because these are characteristics of real people I know. Danny is incredibly naive and upbeat, but that doesn't make him one- dimensional. It just means he doesn't have a super complex emotional journey. Imagine Tack from the unreleased "Thief and the Cobbler". Tack isn't a super complex character, yet you can tell that he is thinking and what his character is by his facial expressions. The same is with Danny. He may not say a lot, but you can tell he is definitely thinking.The Plot: The biggest issue I had with this movie was that the plot didn't seem to travel or go any real distance of time. It seemed over too quickly. The ending was actually the most generic aspect of this movie. The ending song wasn't very spectacular and it held the movie back a little bit. The romance was also a little forced.Those are the only issue I could find with the movie.The positives:The Cast: This movie has a really nice set of characters. All of them are entertaining, funny, unique...ish, and creative. I couldn't think of a character that actually annoyed me. The villain was easily one of the funniest aspects of the movie. The way Darla could express so much while saying very little.The Animation: For a movie running on a minimal budget, the animation is very nice. It is smooth, has a nice art style, and helps express the characters. Everything is very fluid in this movie, and it helps with the characters a lot. The First Half: The first half of the movie builds up the world and the characters very nicely. I initially thought this movie was going to be a lot better by its first half. Everything is quick, but the world is built up quite well.Summary: Cats Don't Dance is very well animated movie that is both incredibly funny and entertaining. Its biggest drawback is that it has some forced clichés thrown in here and there that don't seem as creative as the rest of the movie. All of the characters were likable. I was surprised that such a good movie could not be remembered by the general public.Also, did anyone feel like this movie could've been speaking about racism... ever so slightly.

I caught a rendering of a scene on Deviant Art, and was told that the scene was from an animated feature called "Cats Don't Dance". I took a chance on it, and saw a film that I think could have been better than it ultimately became.When I think of classic MGM cartoons I immediately think of Tom and Jerry, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel and a few others. Well, "Cats Don't Dance" is none of those, but it does have a certain charm. A lot of the classic ultra violent slapstick that is that hallmark of the classic cartoon has been replaced with high energy benign comic styleings that, to be honest, don't really hit the mark. I'm sorry, but even kids know that comedy is the misfortune of others, largely because it makes us feel superior to the poor guy who suffers misfortune, because he's done so through his own stupidity.Now, not all humor has its genesis in laughing at the other guy's plight, as there are a lot of humorous things that can be done through expressions, reactions and close calls of all sorts. But when you strictly base humor solely on the benign, or rather delegate the bad- taste humor because it involves cartoon violence to the "black hats" in the piece, then you're making a value judgment that the public is smart enough to figure out.People can get swept up in trends and hysteria, but to presuppose that children, or specifically all children, will mimic violent slapstick, is perhaps not unrealistic, but perhaps making too much of an assumption of the human character (regardless of age).And that's the real problem with this film. It tries to make up for a lack of humor by injecting tons of energy into every routine, every bit, every gag that's displayed for the audience. It thus feels like a quickly put together patch job of gags that were story boarded and retrofitted to a basic story and plot.The voice acting is fine, the sound effects and other facets of the production are first rate, but, as I say, we essentially have a neutered production. The small evil Shirley Temple like antagonist is over the top and cliché, the protagonist is cliché, pretty much the whole array of characters are from central casting. Even so Bakula and Guy do a respectable job of thesping the part, but they're hard pressed to carry a production that has other issues.To be honest it's not a production I'd take my kids to see (if I had any). Not because it's offensive or lacks morals, it's just not that good, and at times is so high energy as to be incomprehensible. Give it a whirl if you must, but watch at your own risk.An okay production, but nothing sterling.

This is one of those movies I remember seeing a couple times as a kid, and really really loving every second of. After going many years without seeing it again, I recently had the impulse to find and watch the film. To my surprise, it still held up just about as well as it had when I was younger, and in fact if anything I appreciate it more now.The animation in Cats Don't Dance is superb. There are few other animated films which have the same level of color and distinctive, characteristic charm to them, and the brilliant animation style makes the characters themselves similarly memorable and very expressive. It's a perfect example of the animation complementing the characters and events, as well as adding to the overall excitement of the movie.The story is relatively straightforward, and ostensibly isn't anything new: it's the classic story of a naive out-of-towner pursuing a Hollywood dream, discovering Hollywood's real-world coldness, and manages to ultimately find the strength to overcome the obstacles before them and make it big. However, it's executed very well and cleverly enough that it doesn't feel very clichéd.The characters are great as well, and I wouldn't say any of them are underdeveloped or uninteresting. Danny, the protagonist, is naive and optimistic on entering the Hollywood scene. Although the ruthlessness and cruelty of show business breaks his naiveté, he never really loses his optimistic edge, which I think is what makes him work as a character: throughout the entire film his determination to make it big only grows, and as the story progresses he increasingly desires to help the other animals as well. Once simple enough to accept Darla Dimple's word as trustworthy enough, he finds himself only further hardened in his will and he, in the end, manages to beat her at her own game, thoroughly upstaging her in the process (with the other animals accompanying, of course.)Sawyer shares Danny's romanticism about the Hollywood dream and herself had been similarly ambitious, but had adopted a more realistic, cynical attitude towards the possibility of her own dreams of fame being achieved. Nonetheless, she does not come off as overtly bitter, and in the beginning of the movie she seems almost satisfied with (or at least accepting of) her simpler clerical work, with none of the "broken dreams" attitude one might expect. Danny becomes determined to bring her back in touch with her dreaming persona, and although she resists initially she slowly rediscovers her larger ambition. The dynamic between the two characters grows into a love interest as Danny becomes attracted to Sawyer's romantic edge and seductive energy, and she eventually to his undying dedication and determination.The antagonist, Darla Dimple, is a very effective villain: she is sadistic, cruel, and completely self-serving, and hides it from the public under the guise of innocent, angelic childhood. Most of the animals know enough not to get in her way, but Danny is naive enough to trust her with his and the other animals' lives, giving her ample opportunity to crush them completely (she literally attempts to drown them, but failing this, at least frames them for flooding the studio.) Unfortunately for her, her facade of sweetness can barely be kept up as Danny attempts to bring himself and the other animals a last crack at making themselves seen and heard, and when her effort to sabotage their show backfires she loses it and exposes herself, before the audience, to be the monstrosity that she is.The supporting characters are also entertaining. The various animals deal with their lost dreams of fame in their own ways, and in each case they seem, as with Sawyer, to have accepted it (even Flanigan the goat, bitter as he is, just seems to be generally grouchy more than anything else.) However, they all lack the same degree of hidden ambition and, up until the end, feel they'd rather continue on as regular little people than put themselves on the line again. Nonetheless, they still retain their same love of their talents and, when they finally see a perfect opportunity before them at the end, they give it their best. Max, Ms. Dimple's gargantuan butler, is surprisingly amusing despite (okay, because of) the outward stupidity of his character. Even more interesting is that he can be made to be both terrifying and funny, often simultaneously.One last unique aspect of the movie is the pop culture references, which are all 1930s-based: people such as Laurel and Hardy and Cary Grant appear, among a number of others. Although most children won't get these references, I personally appreciated it as I last watched the film. The end credits began with a series of parody movie posters, which are interesting in that the movies they're based off of mostly came out at around the same time Cats Don't Dance did.Overall, this is one of those movies I just have endlessly fond memories of, and I highly recommend it. It has stayed off the radar for many people, simply because it was never very well-publicized, but for anyone who gets a chance to watch it it's well worth the time.