| Cats Don't Dance | |
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 Theatrical release poster byJohn Alvin | |
| Directed by | Mark Dindal |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Edited by | Dan Molina |
| Music by | Steve Goldstein |
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Running time | 74 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $32 million[1] |
| Box office | $3.5 million (domestic)[1] |
Cats Don't Dance is a 1997 American animatedmusicalcomedy film directed byMark Dindal, and featuring the voices ofScott Bakula andJasmine Guy.
In 1993,Cats Don't Dance originated as a proposed film collaboration betweenMichael Jackson andDavid Kirschner. It was announced as a film combining live action and animation, with Jackson attached to star and consult on the music andchoreography. By 1994, Jackson had dropped out of the project. The project was reverted toTurner Feature Animation, and reconceived into a fully animated film that homaged classic Hollywoodmusical films. Mark Dindal was hired as the director.
The film's musical numbers were written byRandy Newman.Gene Kelly consulted with the animators on the choreography before his death in 1996. In 1996,Turner Broadcasting System was merged withTime Warner, and as a result,Cats Don't Dance was the only fully animated feature produced by Turner Feature Animation.
Cats Don't Dance was released in the United States on March 26, 1997, byWarner Bros. The film received generally positive reviews from critics. However, it was abox-office failure, grossing $3.5 million in the United States and Canada. The film's producer David Kirschner blamed Warner Bros. for a failed marketing campaign and lack of promotional tie-ins.Cats Don't Dance won twoAnnie Awards,Best Animated Feature andBest Music. It was the first non-Disney animated film to win in either category.
In an alternate 1939, in a world where humans andanthropomorphic animals coexist, Daniel "Danny" T. Cat, an optimisticorange tabby cat fromKokomo, Indiana, travels toHollywood in hopes of starting an acting career there. After meeting a young penguin named Pudge, Danny is selected by agent Farley Wink to feature in a film that is in production at Mammoth Pictures calledLil' Ark Angel, alongside Wink's secretary, a cynicalTurkish Angora cat named Sawyer. Upon joining fellow animals—Tilly the hippo, Cranston the goat, Frances the fish, and T.W the tortoise—Danny is dismayed on learning how minor his role is and tries weaseling his way into more time in the spotlight. Danny unwittingly angers Darla Dimple, a popular yet spoiledchild actress and star of the film; she promptly has her gigantic gorilla-like butler Max intimidate Danny against further attempts to enlarge his part.
Danny learns from the studio's mascot Woolie the elephant that human actors are normally given more important roles than animals, whereas animals themselves end up getting minor and often thankless roles to the point of having little to no leverage in show business. The next day, Danny reminds the other animals of their past aspirations by instigating a mass musical performance in an alleyway, which draws Darla's attention. Overhearing Danny's intention to make an appeal to Mammoth Pictures head L.B. Mammoth, Darla invites Danny to her mansion and grants him and the animals full use of theLi'l Ark Angel stage on the day of a press conference held by Mammoth, on the condition that Danny not reveal her involvement in this ostensibly charitable act. Danny happily accepts the offer, unaware that Darla is secretly setting the animals up for failure to prevent them from stealing her spotlight.
As the animals prepare their performance on the ark, Darla and Max create a catastrophic flood that washes through Mammoth studios, for which Mammoth blames and dismisses the animals. When the satisfied Darla arrives to thank Danny, he is admonished for his naivety and advised by Woolie to return to Kokomo.
That night, Sawyer takes to heart Danny's attempts to keep the animals' dreams alive and tries catching him at the bus stop, but narrowly misses him. However, after a comment from the bus driver and seeing Pudge wander the streets, Danny stops the bus and secretly invites Sawyer, Woolie, Tillie, Cranston, Frances and T.W. to theLil' Ark Angel premiere. Danny battles Max and sends him flying away by deflating Darla's parade balloon, then calls the audience's attention once the screening ends, only to be mocked by Darla, but Sawyer brings the others backstage to help Danny and Pudge. After Danny convinces them not to give up on their dreams no matter what the humans have said or done, the eight animals put on a musical performance that entertains and impresses the viewers.
Meanwhile, Darla's attempts to sabotage the performance do drastically enhance it, bringing a standing ovation from the audience. A frustrated Darla admits responsibility for the flood, inadvertently exposing herself to the public and Mammoth in the process. Darla tries hiding her true colors, but Pudge pulls a lever, which causes her to fall into a trapdoor. Danny and Sawyer admit their feelings for each other and the animals achieve their dreams for larger roles.
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In October 1991,Ted Turner's namesake companyTurner Broadcasting System announced it had acquiredHanna-Barbera for $320 million. Two years prior,Carl Lindner Jr. recruitedDavid Kirschner, who had headed his own production company and created the original story concept forAn American Tail (1986) withSteven Spielberg. By the time of Turner's acquisition, Kirschner was credited with reviving Hanna-Barbera in prime time, syndication and cable broadcasting.[4][5]
In March 1993, it was reported that Kirschner andMichael Jackson were in discussions with20th Century Fox to activate a new film production company specializing in live-action and animated films. At the time, Kirschner was still the CEO of Hanna-Barbera and had 20 months left on his contract. Meanwhile, Jackson would enter into the exclusive, three-year agreement in 10 months, following the expiration of hisfirst-look deal for Nation Films atColumbia Pictures.[6]
Three months later, in June 1993, it was reported that Kirschner and Jackson were collaborating onCats Don't Dance, which was intended to be a hybrid live-action/CGI animated film. Jackson intended to not only star in the proposed film, but to produce and consult on the music and choreography. Kirschner stated Jackson had "a great story sense. He is around all the time to go over the storyboards, the model designs and he comes up with ideas for characters. His heart and soul is in the project."[3]
The genesis ofCats Don't Dance originated from anecdotes told offeral cats who roamed around theWarner Bros. studio backlot for decades during the filming of several productions likeCasablanca (1942),East of Eden (1955), andThe Music Man (1962).[7] Furthermore, the project was to feature animated depictions of several celebrities from theGolden Age of Hollywood, with memorable lines from their films interwoven into the story.[3] However, by the autumn of 1994, it was reported that Jackson was no longer involved in the film.[8]
By 1993, Turner sought to retain Kirschner, who was then promoted to chairman for Hanna-Barbera and allowed to focus more of his theatrical projects there.[6]Fred Seibert was made president of Hanna-Barbera, having supervised their television development unit for a year.[9] The feature film division of Hanna-Barbera was spun-off into Turner Feature Animation, and was headed by Kirschner and Paul Gertz. A year later, Hanna-Barbera co-producedThe Pagemaster (1994), a hybrid live-action/2D animated film, which starredMacaulay Culkin andChristopher Lloyd. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox in the United States, and Turner Pictures in several international markets.[10]
WhenCats Don't Dance resumed in development, Kirschner and Gertz decided to have dance numbers in the vein of classic Hollywoodmusical films such asSingin' in the Rain (1952). Kirschner felt the style would appeal to a wider audience. He then explained the story would refocus instead on the animals, as an allegory for discrimination: "In the 1930s it was almost impossible for anyone who looked different from the mainstream or had an accent to succeed in Hollywood, and those who did found themselves largelytypecast. We wanted to refer to that struggle for recognition in this story, using the animal characters as a metaphor."[7]
Kirschner next contactedMark Dindal to directCats Don't Dance after the two had met while Dindal was working onThe Rocketeer (1991).[7] Around the same time, Brian McEntee became the film's art director.[7] Dindal, Kirschner, and McEntee noticed the improvements in computer animation and were excited to see how it would be incorporated withtraditional animation inCats Don't Dance; McEntee himself worked onthe computer-animated ballroom scene inBeauty and the Beast (1991).[7]
The animation team studied classical Hollywood musicals for reference before they turned toGene Kelly, who joined the project as dance consultant.[7] One meeting took place at Kelly's house between him, Dindal and the animators, where we "sat outside and talked about certain sequences in Gene's own movies and how they had been choreographed, and he could remember every little detail -- what was done, how it was decided, what was considered and rejected, how it had turned out."[7] The film was dedicated to Kelly, who died in 1996.[11]
During production, management at Turner Feature Animation changed repeatedly and each head that came in attempted to make drastic revisions. At one point, one executive suggested updating the film's setting to the 1950s and instead haverock-and-roll music. Dindal said: "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".[12]
Dindal's portrayal of Max was initially ascratch 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.[12]
At one point,David Shire andRichard Maltby Jr., the songwriting team for the Broadway musicalsBaby andBig, were hired to compose songs forCats Don't Dance.[12]Randy Newman was then hired to write the songs. Kirschner stated "Randy is part of a musical dynasty that's had a big influence on Hollywood. His uncles (Alfred,Emil, andLionel) and brother are also film composers of great note, and Randy himself is a joy to work with. He brings the best of the past and present together in his songs."[7]
Newman wrote several songs for the film, which include "Danny's Arrival Song", "Little Boat On The Sea", "Animal Jam Session", "Big and Loud", "Tell Me Lies", and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". The film's opening and end credits song "Our Time Has Come" was composed byMartin Page, and was performed byJames Ingram andCarnie Wilson.[13] The other end credits song "I Do Believe" was composed bySimon Climie andWill Downing, and performed by Downing. The instrumental score was composed by Steve Goldstein. For the film, Newman was awarded theAnnie Award for Best Music in an Animated Feature.[14]
Original songs performed in the film include:
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
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| 1. | "Our Time Has Come" | James Ingram &Carnie Wilson | 3:49 |
| 2. | "Danny's Arrival Song" | Scott Bakula | 3:06 |
| 3. | "Little Boat on the Sea" | Lindsay Ridgeway | 1:37 |
| 4. | "Animal Jam" | Bakula | 5:09 |
| 5. | "Big and Loud (Pt. 1)" | Ridgeway | 1:40 |
| 6. | "Big and Loud (Pt. 2)" | Ridgeway | 1:33 |
| 7. | "Tell Me Lies" | Natalie Cole | 3:17 |
| 8. | "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" | Bakula, Cole, Rick Logan,Hal Holbrook,Betty Lou Gerson andKathy Najimy | 3:14 |
| 9. | "I Do Believe (End Credits Theme)" | Will Downing | 4:22 |
New Line Cinema, which was a sister company to Turner Feature Animation at the time, expressed interest in distributingCats Don't Dance.[15] However, in 1996,Turner Broadcasting was merged withTime Warner for $7.5 billion, in which the film fell into the ownership ofWarner Bros. Pictures.[16]Pullet Surprise, a newly producedLooney Tunes short film featuringFoghorn Leghorn, preceded the film's theatrical release.[17] "The Big Sister", aDexter's LaboratoryWhat a Cartoon! short, followed the film in its originalVHS release.
Cats Don't Dance had its first home video release byWarner Home Video, on VHS andLaserDisc on August 19, 1997, only four months and twenty-four days after its theatrical release. To promote the release, Warner partnered withContinental Airlines, in which the buyer received an in-pack coupon worth $125 in savings on a Continental flight. A $2 instant savings coupon with the additional purchase of eitherDennis the Menace (1993),Batman: Mask of the Phantasm,Richie Rich (1994), or the 25th anniversary edition ofWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was also included.[18]
The film had also its firstDVD release on September 3, 2002, in apan-and-scan format with bonus features.[19] A re-release of the same DVD, but bundled withQuest 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, theBenelux countries,Australia,New Zealand,United Kingdom andIreland. A widescreen DVD was released for the first time in North America on November 1, 2016, via theWarner Archive Collection.[20] The original widescreen presentation is also available digitally for rental or purchase throughGoogle Play and also throughAmazon Video. The film was released on standard and 4KBlu-ray as an installment of the Warner Archive Collection on September 26, 2023.[21]
Cats Don't Dance became a casualty of the merger between Turner and Time Warner. It received a traditional theatrical release on March 26, 1997, but without fanfare and did not draw an audience. The film grossed $3.5 million in the United States and Canada against its $32 million production budget.[1] David Kirschner, the film's producer, told theLos Angeles Times that he was frustrated with Warner Bros. over the failed marketing campaign and the lack of promotional tie-ins.[22] Dindal toldAnimation World Magazine: "I think very objectively [Warner Bros.] looked at it and decided there wouldn't be a market for it. It wasn't something they responded to, they didn't think people would eat it up."[12]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 71% of 24 critics' reviews are positive. The website's 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."[23]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[24] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[citation needed]
Todd McCarthy ofVariety wrote: "Decked out with sharp and colorful design work, some well-drawn characters and six snappy Randy Newman tunes, this first entry from Turner Feature Animation goes down very easily but lacks a hook".[25]Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four. He wrote the film "is not compelling and it's not a breakthrough, but on its own terms, it works well. Whether this will appeal to kids is debatable; the story involves a time and a subject they're not much interested in. But the songs by Randy Newman are catchy, the look is bright, the spirits are high and fans of Hollywood's golden age might find it engaging".[26] John Petrakis, reviewing for theChicago Tribune, notedCats Don't Dance would appeal more for adults than children, but provided a good moral lesson on prejudice. He further wrote the film has "the sharp irreverence of the brilliantWho Framed Roger Rabbit. There are plenty of clever asides and witty one-liners, not to mention a few terrific supporting characters".[27]
Lawrence Van Gelder ofThe New York Times summarized in his review: "While the animated characters, bright colors and an appealing Randy Newman score may keep the children content,Cats Don't Dance is no saccharine fantasy. Its Hollywood references and dark satire constitute its real strengths".[28] Jack Mathews, reviewing for theLos Angeles Times, described the film as a "startling miscalculation". He next wrote: "It has lots of cute animals, some jaunty Randy Newman songs and solid, if uninspired, animation work. But blending parody and nostalgia about an era half a century removed from the lives of the core audience seems a foolish indulgence".[29] Rita Kempley ofThe Washington Post wrote the film was "colorful, but unimaginatively drawn".[30] Also fromThe Washington Post, Jane Horwitz felt children "won't get the references to old movies or stars like Bette Davis and Clark Gable. Still, the action (however confusing), the music and the characters should hold even toddlers for a while".[31]
Cats Don't Dance was nominated for eightAnnie Awards, and won two forBest Animated Feature andBest Music in a Feature Production. It was the first non-Disney winner in either category.[14] Despite the mostly positive reception,Cats Don't Dance was one of several recipients for the Founders Award from the1997Stinkers Bad Movie Awards. They cited the film for being "loud, unfunny, and completely over the heads of its intended audience".[32]
| Year | Award | Category | Recipients | Result |
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| 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[33] | Best Performance in a Voiceover - TV or Film - Young Actress | Ashley Peldon |
Turner Broadcasting System, which is scheduled to be swallowed by Warner Bros. parent Time Warner Inc. pending regulatory approvals, plans the comedyCats Don't Dance.
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