Strong and Moving!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This movie is entertaining.A great selection for child audiences with stellar animation and coloring. The film has a creative story, told with likable characters. The animals have unique and interesting designs and are portrayed by a great voice cast. The animation also have a charming stylized look that would never be seen from studios such as Disney.Unfortunately, this film has it's faults.The pacing is just way too fast. This was definitely on purpose (going for a 'His Girl Friday' vibe appropriate for the time period), however, at times it makes the dialogue hard to follow. Everything is happening at once. The movie is just too chaotic. This pace that they move in shortens the picture to about an hour and a half, including opening and closing credits.The film definitely could have been longer if they took their time to tell the story. They also could have added more exposition to the movie, giving the characters more depth, which they greatly deserved.

Cat's Don't Dance is a 1997 Warner Bros Family Entertainment animated film that tells the story of Danny(voice by and sung by Scott Bakula who was in Quantium Leap and he played Zachary Levi's father in the TV show Chuck)who dreams of going to Hollywood to pursue an acting career opposite Darla Dimple(voiced by Ashley Pendon)who is a big hit in Hollywood as she is a lover for animals...or is she?So Danny goes to Hollywood and meets other animals too including a grumpy goat,a fish,a hippo,a elephant who's name is Mammoth,a cute pengiun and a sassy cat named Sawyer(voiced by Jasmine Guy and sung by Nat King Cole's daughter Natalie Cole). What I like about this film is the songs as every song fits this movie perfectly. In some animated films the songs don't actually suit at all,like in Disney's Hercules as the songs in that film were all over the place,here in Cat's Don't Dance all the songs had a Broadway/Jazz sound to them,and who is the composer for this film,why its Randy Newman (who also did music for Monster's Inc,all the Toy Story films and of course The Princess & The Frog).Overall I found this film very entertaining and enjoyable to watch. I still have this on VHS ever since I was a kid,and I still watch it. The animation is vivid,the charcthers are likable,some of the songs are sorta forgettable but hey you gotta love them all the same. Also I love how they make fun of the 1930s genre and have films that Warner Bros made in the 1990s or 80s like The Mask,Batman & Robin,Grumpy Old Men,Beetlejuice and many more. Its a shame that its such an underrated film like Swan Princess,another film I love to watch all the time. 7/10

Cat's Don't Dance may not be what most movie buffs would call a classic cartoon. It's not made by a big name company but it is a good movie nonetheless.Danny is a cat who wants to make it big in Hollywood. He leaves his town of Kokomo, Indiana to head for big dreams. Once he gets to Hollywood he makes his debut in a film that mostly belongs to the cute but really evil Darla Dimple. Danny tests her patience by not saying his line but rather singing it. She is not happy and reminds him that he needs to know his place in the film as an animal.Danny is determined to make a name for himself and his friends Sawyer, Tilly, Cranston, Pudge and a few others. Sawyer a female cat tries to persuade him out of trying to have dreams because he is only an animal and they are treated differently and aren't given the bigger roles in films. After awhile he gets all his friends and the animals in Hollywood to realize that they are worth it. Darla doesn't like what she sees and decides that she is going to try and sabotage the animals from starring in any future films. She tells Danny that he needs to put on a show and make it big and loud. Danny however doesn't realize that it is a scam. Darla ruins their show and Danny and all the other animals get kicked out of the studios.Danny decides to head back home but after he is on a bus and sees Pudge being pushed around he comes up with a plan that helps his friends and the other animals to make it back into the filming industry. He makes it big for himself and wins back his support from his friends and ends up winning Sawyer's affection. Darla ends up being defeated and you see her having to put up movie posters at the very end of the credits. Cat's Don't Dance may not be big on special effects but it doesn't have to be. It sells itself with a great story and anybody who watches it probably won't be let down.

I remembered seeing Cats Don't Dance when I was 10, and really liking it. To this day, I still find it a mystery as to why I didn't see it again since, and I can't think of a convincing enough reason why other than I forgot about it. Then, I was reading some reviews by chance that were praising this film, and I decided I must give it another chance. Thank goodness for YouTube. And you know what, I am glad I did that, and now I am kicking myself for only seeing this film once in my childhood. Seriously I loved it, why it is so underrated I don't know.I am also scratching my head on some of the aspects of the film critical reviews have picked up. Critics complained of dull characters, and others of forgettable songs. Now I will admit that Cats Don't Dance is surprisingly ambitious, but I cannot disagree more with the criticism that it has forgettable music. I thought it was wonderful, the incidental music itself was beautiful, but the songs were amazing and definitely memorable, from the wonderfully energetic end number, to the poignant one sung by Sawyer in the rain. Though special mention has to go to Big and Loud, where Lindsay Ridgeway did a spectacular job with the singing voice of the antagonist Darla Dimple.And the characters certainly weren't dull. Danny is a very likable Gene Kelly-like protagonist, and Sawyer is lovely. And if you're looking for a character for comic relief, look to Flannigan especially. But the most memorable character is easily Darla, wonderfully voiced by Ashley Peldon. You could say Darla is like Shirley Temple's evil twin, she is very cute yet she is mighty mean too. Her bodyguard Max for some reason frightened me at the end when he was chasing Danny when I first saw Cats Don't Dance. The animation is colourful and detailed, and the voice cast is excellent. Other definite pros are in the surprisingly consistent and mature scripting, the inspired story, its constant sense of fun and the glamorous and irresistible choreography. All in all, despite the decent enough rating on IMDb(though I personally think it should be in the 7s) this is a very underrated and almost forgotten film. 10/10 Bethany Cox