Cats Don't Dance

Cats Don't Dance is a 1997 American animated musical comedy film distributed by Warner Bros. under their Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label.[3] It is the only fully animated feature produced by Turner Feature Animation, which was merged during the post-production of Cats Don't Dance into Warner Bros. Animation after the merger of Time Warner with Turner Broadcasting System in 1996. Turner Feature Animation had also produced the animated portions of Turner's The Pagemaster (1994).

Cats Don't Dance
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed byMark Dindal
Produced byBill Bloom
Timothy Campbell
Paul Gertz
David Kirschner
Screenplay byRoberts Gannaway
Cliff Ruby
Elana Lesser
Theresa Cullen
Story bySandy Russell Gartin[1]
Starring
Music bySteve Goldstein
Edited byDan Molina
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • March 26, 1997 (1997-03-26)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$32 million[2]
Box office$3.6 million[2]

The film was the directorial debut of former Disney animator Mark Dindal, and stars the voices of Scott Bakula, Jasmine Guy, Matthew Herried, Ashley Peldon, John Rhys-Davies, Kathy Najimy, Don Knotts, Hal Holbrook, Betty Lou Gerson (in her final film role), René Auberjonois, George Kennedy, and Dindal. Its musical numbers were written by Randy Newman and includes Gene Kelly's contributions as choreographer, before his death in 1996. The film was Kelly's final film project and is dedicated to his memory.

The film became a box-office failure by grossing around $3 million domestically due to lack of marketing and promotion at the time of its release. Despite this, it generally received some positive reviews with praise from critics and audiences toward its colorful animation, humor, voice performances, and musical numbers.

Plot

In 1939, Danny, an optimistic young cat, dreams of Hollywood stardom, so he travels from his hometown of Kokomo, Indiana, to Hollywood in hopes of starting a career there. After meeting a new friend Pudge, Danny is selected by agent Farley Wink to feature in a film that is in production at Mammoth Pictures called Li'l Ark Angel, alongside Wink's secretary: A white cat named Sawyer. Upon joining fellow animals; Tilly, Cranston, Frances, and T.W., Danny is dismayed on learning how minor his role is and tries to weasel his way into more time in the spotlight. Danny angers Darla Dimple, a popular, extremely spoiled child actress and star of the film, so she assigns her butler Max to intimidate Danny into no longer trying to enlarge his part.

Danny learns from the studio's mascot Woolie the Mammoth, that human actors are normally given more important roles than animals. He longs for the spotlight and tries to make a plan that will encourage humans to provide animal actors with better scenarios, such as by assembling a massive cluster of animals and putting on a musical performance for the humans.

Later, Danny is given advice by Darla through song on how to interest and satisfy audiences. He takes this information to heart and groups the animals for an audition on the Ark in hopes of attracting the humans' attention. However, Darla, fearing that the animals will jeopardize her spotlight, has Max help her flood the stage, while L.B. Mammoth, the head of Mammoth Pictures, and Flanagan, the film's director, are giving an interview, getting the animals blamed and dismissed for the collateral damage. The animals are depressed at being barred from acting in Mammoth Pictures (especially Danny, who was convinced by Darla that she was trying to help the animals). Woolie tells Danny to return to Kokomo. Later that night, everyone was at a diner, upset with Danny for ruining everything for them, while Sawyer sings a song about Danny trying to keep their dreams alive. Tilly overhears Sawyer singing and suggests Sawyer to follow Danny. Sawyer arrives to the bus stop, just seconds after Danny left, finding his hat and his to-do list behind.

However, after a comment from the bus driver and seeing Pudge wander the streets, Danny stops the bus and comes up with another plan. He secretly invites Sawyer and the others to the premiere of Lil' Ark Angel. After the screening and a battle with Max that sends him flying away on a Darla Dimple balloon, Danny calls the audience's attention. Upon bringing Sawyer, Woolie, Tilly, Cranston, Pudge, Frances and T.W. backstage to help Danny, the eight animals put on a musical performance that entertains and impresses the viewers. Meanwhile, Darla tries to sabotage the show by tampering with the set and special effects equipment, but her attempts instead cause her to inadvertently enhance the performance.

Furious and fuming at the animals, Darla berates Danny, accidentally confessing to flooding Mammoth Studios when her voice is amplified over the theater's sound system thanks to a boom mic she had been tangled up with, revealing the truth about the incident to the audience, including L.B. and Flanagan. Darla tries to hide her true colors by smiling, hugging, and kissing Danny, but Pudge sends Darla down a trapdoor. The animals achieve their dreams for larger roles, Danny and Sawyer admit their feelings for each other, and Darla is eventually forced to work as a janitor.

Voice cast
  • Scott Bakula as Danny (speaking/singing), an ambitious, optimistically naïve Orange tabby from Kokomo, Indiana, who wishes to become a famous Hollywood star.
  • Jasmine Guy as Sawyer (speaking), a beautiful, but disenchanted sarcastic white cat secretary of Farley Wink and Danny's love interest, later girlfriend.
  • Matthew Herried as Peabo "Pudge" Pudgemyer, a little penguin and Danny's first friend who looks up to him as a big brother.
  • Ashley Peldon as Darla Dimple (speaking), the evil and psychotic adorable human child star of Hollywood. She conceals her anger and sinister nature from her fans and superiors through a facade of sweetness and innocence. She is referred to as "America's sweetheart, lover of children and animals!" Darla is a parody of Shirley Temple.
    • Lindsay Ridgeway provides Darla Dimple's singing voice.
  • Kathy Najimy as Tilly Hippopotamus, a happy-go-lucky hippopotamus who tries to find the best in every situation. She is a hilarious hippopotamus as hinted out by her giggling and snorting, and by how quickly she introduces lots of people (and fellow animals).
  • John Rhys-Davies as Woolie the Mammoth, the aging African elephant who portrays the mascot for Mammoth Pictures. He originally came to Hollywood to write and perform music where he acts as a mentor to Danny upon befriending him. Woolie is an obvious parody of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's mascot Leo the Lion, as he wears mammoth tusks made of marble and a wig, which are placed on him.
  • Betty Lou Gerson as Frances Albacore, a sassy, rude fish who dances with Cranston Goat and always holds a cigarette holder.
  • Hal Holbrook as Cranston Goat, a cranky elderly old goat who surprisingly loves to dance. He is always seen with Frances and they always dance with each other, implying they have feelings towards each other.
  • Don Knotts as T.W. Turtle (speaking), a nervous and superstitious turtle who always relies on fortune cookie fortunes. He originally came to Hollywood hoping to be an Errol Flynn-type star.
    • Rick Logan provides T.W.'s singing voice.
  • George Kennedy as L.B. Mammoth, the human head of Mammoth Pictures. His secret of success when asked by anyone is "Simple, it's Dimple!"
  • René Auberjonois as Flanagan, the human film director of "Li'l Ark Angel" who is constantly kissing up to Darla.
  • Mark Dindal as Max, Darla's gargantuan valet who obeys her every command and will not hesitate to punish anyone who crosses her. He serves as the direct force that Darla physically lacks as a child.
  • Frank Welker as Farley Wink, a human agent for animals and Sawyer's boss, who is a blabber-mouth and talks fast. He thinks Sawyer is cute despite the fact that she dislikes him.
  • David Johansen as Bus Driver, a man whose insults towards the animals getting fired from Mammoth Studios inspire Danny with his last plan to give the animals their long-awaited stardom.
  • Dee Bradley Baker as Kong, a gorilla whose only appearance is while Danny and Sawyer are going to the set of Li'l Ark Angel at Mammoth Studios. Baker also does some additional voices such as the Mammoth Pictures guide tour.
  • Tony Pope as Alligator
  • Peter Renaday as Narrator

Production

The film was launched in 1993 as a vehicle for Michael Jackson, who would produce, star, and be a consultant in the music and choreography. It would have been a hybrid live-action/CGI film.[4] By 1994, Jackson ceased to be involved in the film.[5] In its earlier stages, the film concerned less anthropomorphic stray cats that live among the sets and studio backlots. At one point, David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr. composed songs for the film before Randy Newman was hired.[6]

Casting

At that point the core team of filmmakers was assembled and it was time to begin casting the roles. As is the tradition in animation, the voice actors are videotaped as they record the voices of their characters; this enables the animators to use specific body language from each of the actors to lend dimension to their characterizations.

Scott Bakula, best known to audiences as the star of the television series Quantum Leap, was cast as Danny. Explains Paul Gertz, "People will be very surprised when they hear Danny and realize that it's Scott's voice doing all that singing. Scott had a successful career starring on Broadway before he began working in television and film. He's a very experienced singer and dancer, and he was a natural choice for Danny."

Sawyer, Danny's verbal sparring partner and, eventually, his love interest, is voiced by Jasmine Guy, who became known for her role as Whitley Gilbert on the series A Different World. Sawyer's singing voice is provided by Natalie Cole. "There was something special about working with Natalie, who's a wonderful talent on her own, and whose father, Nat, was a part of Hollywood's fabulous past," says David Kirschner. "Somehow I think it shows up in her interpretation of the music; there is a classic charm and romance to it." According to Lauren Faust, Nancy Giles was the original speaking voice and hers was much deeper, similar to Cole and many scenes were animated to her performance, but was replaced with Guy when the film was 90% complete.

Other character voices were provided by George Kennedy, Hal Holbrook, René Auberjonois, John Rhys-Davies, Kathy Najimy, Betty Lou Gerson and Don Knotts. "Many of these actors have worked in animation before, and many others have done radio drama, which has trained them in using every expressive nuance in their voices," says Kirschner. "We wanted each character to be an individual – to sound as if they looked, moved and acted a certain way."

Darla Dimple was voiced by nine-year-old Ashley Peldon, who has herself been acting since her toddler days and is most recently seen in the live-action drama The Crucible. The character Darla Dimple was a name parody of then child star Shirley Temple.

The voice casting of Pudge came by chance, recalled Mark Dindal; "A group of animators was eating lunch together in an outdoor cafe one day and a little boy came over to ask us for directions. Someone answered him and he walked away. At that same moment, another animator blurted, `That's Pudge exactly!,' and we all realized it was true... So we rushed after him and asked if he'd ever acted – which he hadn't – and if he'd like to – which he would – and the rest is moviemaking history. Little Matthew Herried became a terrific voice for Pudge."

During production, management at Turner Feature Animation changed repeatedly and each head that came in attempted to take drastic revisions, including updating the setting to the 1950s rock-and-roll era. "It's pretty hard to try and keep what you have finished so far, and then suddenly transition into a different period of time or introduce a different character or have a completely different ending that doesn't seem to fit the beginning you have," said director Mark Dindal.[6]

Dindal's portrayal of Max was initially a scratch track and was never intended to be heard on the film. Dindal wanted Max to be voiced by a professional actor, but as the film started running out of money, he kept his own vocals in.[6]

Animation

During the animation on Cats Don't Dance, Randy Newman was creating songs that gently poked fun at the idealism of 1930s cinema while capturing the melodic, danceable sound that has made so many of those songs into classics.

Muses Mark Dindal, "One of the things that stuck in my mind after we spoke with people who'd been part of Hollywood's Golden Age was the number of times they described an effect or stunt that they had never done before. They said, `We just did it, and if it worked, we left it.'

"We're more analytical about film today – we have more history to look back on, and the cost of making movies is so high that it leaves less room for experimentation. But we're still trying to push the boundaries of the possible, and some of that pioneering, risk-taking outlook is still what makes today's movies great.

"I like to think that we've kind of tipped our hats to the best of both worlds with Cats Don't Dance – it's an homage to the past, but created with the talents of the present and the technology of the future. And the message – giving everyone a chance to be his or her best by pursuing what they truly love – is timeless."

Release

New Line Cinema, which was a sister company to Turner Feature Animation at the time, expressed an interest in distributing the film.[7] But when Turner Broadcasting merged with Time Warner in 1996, the film ended up in the hands of Warner Bros. Pullet Surprise, a newly produced Looney Tunes short film featuring Foghorn Leghorn, preceded the film the original theatrical release, and "The Big Sister", a Dexter's Laboratory What a Cartoon! short, followed the film in its original home video release.

Critical reception

Cats Don't Dance received a 74% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site consensus reads, "Cats Don't Dance, but they should easily entertain all-ages audiences thanks to some colorful animation, sharp humor, and a catchy soundtrack."[8] It was the first non-Disney animated film to have won the Best Animated Feature award, and Randy Newman won the Best Individual Achievement: Music in a Feature/Home Video Production at the 1997 Annie Awards.[9]

Box office

Cats Don't Dance 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. The film's total domestic theatrical gross was $3,566,637 against its $32 million production budget.[2] Director Mark Dindal and producer David Kirschner were both frustrated with Warner Bros. over the lack of advertising and the failed marketing campaign.[6][10]

Accolades

Despite mostly positive reception, the Stinkers filed the film under the Founders Award in 1997 (which lamented the year's biggest studio disgraces), citing it as "loud, unfunny, and completely over the heads of its intended audience."[11]

Year Award Category Recipients Result Ref.
1997 Saturn Award Best Home Video Release Cats Don't Dance Won
Annie Award Best Animated Feature
Music in a Feature Production Randy Newman (songs)
Steve Goldstein (score) Nominated
Directing in a Feature Production Mark Dindal
Producing in a Feature Production David Kirschner
Paul Gertz
Effects Animation John Allan Armstrong
Bob Simmons
Character Animation in a Feature Production Frans Vischer (Darla Dimple and Max)
Awards Circuit Community Awards Best Animated Feature Cats Don't Dance
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Favorite Animated Family Movie
1998 Golden Reel Awards Best Sound Editing - Animated Feature
Best Sound Editing - Music Animation
2013 Best Sound Editing - Animated Feature Film, Domestic and Foreign Richard Partlow
1998 OFTA Film Award Best Animated Picture Bill Bloom
Paul Gertz
David Kirschner
Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Voiceover - TV or Film - Young Actress Ashley Peldon [12]

Home media

Cats Don't Dance got its first home video release on VHS and LaserDisc on August 19, 1997 by Warner Home Video.

The film saw its first DVD releases on August 19, 1997 and September 3, 2002, as a 4:3 pan-and-scan DVD with bonus features. A re-release of the same DVD, but bundled with Quest for Camelot, was released on May 2, 2006. Internationally, in July 2008, Cats Don't Dance was released on DVD in widescreen in Germany, Spain, and the Benelux countries (Belgium/the Netherlands/Luxembourg). A widescreen DVD was released for the first time in North America on November 1, 2016 via the Warner Archive Collection.[13] The original widescreen presentation is also available digitally for rental or purchase through Google Play and also through Amazon Video.

References
  1. Beck, Jerry (2005). The Animated Movie Guide (1. ed.). Chicago: Chicago Review Press. p. 50. ISBN 1-55652-591-5.
  2. "Cats Don't Dance". The Numbers. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
  3. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 172. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  4. "Michael hard at work on 'Cats Don't Dance'". Reading Eagle. June 15, 1993. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  5. Beck, Marilyn; Jenel Smith, Stacy (November 25, 1994). Mel Gibson expected to star in outer-space 'Treasure Island'. Bangor, Maine: Bangor Daily News. pp. C12.
  6. Mark Dindal (November 2000). "Mark Dindal's Place in the Sun" (Interview). Interviewed by Joe Strike. Animation World Magazine. p. 4. Archived from the original on April 19, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  7. "Frans Vischer | Animation Guild". animationguild.org. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  8. "Cats Don't Dance (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  9. "25th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (1997)". Annie Awards. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  10. Horn, John (June 1, 1997). "Can Anyone Dethrone Disney?". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  11. "1997's Biggest Studio Disgraces". The Stinkers. Archived from the original on October 10, 1999. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  12. "19th Youth In Film Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
  13. https://www.amazon.com/Cats-Dont-Dance-Mark-Dindal/dp/B01LTHXLX0/ref=tmm_dvd_title_1?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
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