Steineded How sad is this?

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Jesper Brun A wonderfully energetic cartoon with lots of laughs and a colour pallette of the entire spectrum. By the director who brought us Disney's "The Emperor's New Groove" you can't go wrong (exept with Chicken Little). You can spot some similarities in the design of Cats Don't Dance. It was an exiting burst of energy watching Cats Don't Dance and I recommed it to all families around the world. With its witty movie references tfor the parents and bouncy animation for the kids and animation lover cause those were its highlights. Darla Dimple and her butler Max made me laugh several times, because I guarantee you that some of those facial expressions by Darla and a stellar voice performance by Lindsay Ridgeway make her enjoyably insane. The angles used on Max are just priceless, and him doing his thing with his stiff-upper-lip attitude and yet Frankenstein's monster like appearance literally just steals the screen. The musical numbers are enjoyable and a couple of them memorable, and the animation truly shines during them with well choreographed dancing and all that jazz. Be sure to watch it when you are not tired, because it will perhaps exhaust you.Good family fun.

popcorninhell Cats Don't Dance (1997) is a hyper-saturated animated feast for the senses and an especially fun treat for those familiar with the musicals and screwball comedies of the 1930's. Having been accustomed to the beautiful detail of Pixar and the delicate touches of Disney's golden age, I was pleasantly surprised by a movie that takes absolute advantage of the slapsticky world of cartoons.Danny (Scott Bakula) is our wide-eyed feline protagonist who sings and dances his way into a big studio picture headlined by America's Sweetheart Darla Dimple (part voiced by Ashley Peldon and sung by Lindsay Ridgeway). His friends/critics include cynical bit players Tillie the Hippo (Kathy Najimy), Cranston the Billy goat (Hal Holbrook), Wollie the Elephant (John Rhys-Davies) and Pudge the Penguin (Matthew Herried). Also in the mix is obvious love interest Sawyer (voiced by Jasmine Guy and part sung by Natalie Cole). I say obvious because she absolutely despises Danny through two thirds of the film and she's the only other cat in the film. Call me crazy but I think that relationship is a lock.Danny learns quickly that animals aren't considered star material in Hollywood. His hamming on the set captures the attention of an infuriated Darla yet gains the respect of the other animals. This dynamic is reminiscent of how African Americans were treating during the time. Those who made a go of acting were type-casted as slaves, maids and shoe shiners. Those lucky enough to take full advantage of their roles like Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind (1939) received death threats.It's interesting to not that in addition to the barrier breaking Gone with the Wind, The film also makes references to The Wizard of Oz (1939), regalia of the LGBT community instilling since of community. Maybe the creators of Cats Don't Dance wanted to make a modern day fable holding to the maxims of equality and acceptance towards all. Though the more reasonable rationale for both films getting their names in lights is they were both released in 1939.There are other sly riffs on Hollywood classics such as The Footlight Parade (1933), The Ten Commandments (1956), Singin' in the Rain (1952) and Bringing Up Baby (1938). That is in addition to the Darla Dimple character being an obvious parody of Shirley Temple at one point ravenously biting off the heads of animal crackers in front of the beleaguered Danny. They even have an onslaught of throwaway gags involving King Kong (1933), Zsa Zsa Gabor and The MGM Lion among many, many others.Yet those not looking to reduce an animated movie to a game of "I Spy" will still find a lot to take away. The plot while well-worn is nevertheless genuine and interesting, the animation is eye-popping- ly goofy and the songs are entertaining if occasionally a little bland. One would wish that the characters were given a little more breathing room since the pace of the film is near neck-breaking yet seeing the gang sing "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" makes it all worthwhile.Directed by the man who gave you The Emperor's New Groove (2000), featuring songs written by the considerably talented Randy Newman and starring the Captain of the Starship Enterprise NX-01, Cats Don't Dance is infectious fun. Overall not quite up there with The Lion King (1994) but comparable to Disney's Hercules (1997) released the same year. It's certainly not a film deserving of its obscurity so track it down and watch it if you can.http://www.theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com

Blueghost 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.

vegeta3986 without gushing, this is my favorite American animated movie of all time. When i first rented it back in 98, i had to rent it again at least 4 more times. Then i bought it on VHS, and most recently, on DVD. This movie was a part of my childhood and is still a part of me to this day. Every character in this movie is bright, wonderful, and a joy to watch. now i know i said i wouldn't gush. oh well. The movie is about a cat named danny who wants to be a Hollywood actor. So when he arrives in Hollywood he is shocked to find that it treats animals not quite as he thought, causing them to live in despair. along the way he meets sawyer, a white cat who had given up on her desire, a little penguin named pudge, a hippo named tillie, a MGM lion parody named woolly the mammoth, a turtle voiced by don knotts, and a tango duo of a goat and a fish. his main obstacle is a shirley temple joke named Darla Dimple with her HUGE servant named max. She tries everything in her power to stop him from becoming a star. now i would tell you what happens, but this movie is too good to be spoiled. This is the way movies should be. The characters are all incredibly enjoyable (even the villain), the songs are so memorable i've been singing them for 11 years (especially the intro song, danny's arrival song, and nothing's gonna stop us now), the animation is beautiful, flowing and very pleasing to the eye, and the theme, while being a bit overused is still great and warming to the heart. that if you try hard enough, you can do anything. More movies need to be this level of quality. a movie that is so good it makes you look past the tiny flaws. This movie will always have a special place in my heart, but this isn't just through the rose colored glasses of my youth, i just saw this movie again this evening and i still feel the warmth and joy i did when i first saw it. the same can't be said about some of my other movies (magic voyage. that's right. you stink). I praise this movie and i will ALWAYS praise this movie. with amazing characters, visuals, songs, and storyline, cats don't dance gets 10 big and loud cats out of 10.