FoW: Cats Don't Dance

The Warner Bros. 1997 animated musical, Cats Don't Dance, took anthropomorphic animals in a slightly different direction. With a Looney Tunes animation style, typical bipedal animal characters, and plenty of catchy songs, Cats Don't Dance puts its anthropomorphic animals in a human world, co-existing more or less.

The film follows feline Danny as he tries to make his mark on Hollywood, only to find that Hollywood doesn't really appreciate its animal stars. On his first gig, he runs afoul of child star, Darla Dimple, sweet and sugary one minute only to blow her top the next. As Danny attempts to make a difference, for himself and his new friends, several disasters, jokes, and musical numbers await.

This is one of the only anthropomorphic animal film that actively includes humans on an equal level. The animal protagonists have a culture, a society, and clearly a sense of fashion, all of which interact well with the human society. With new guy Danny in the picture, the viewer soon realizes that animals in the film industry once weren't shoved aside, getting only bit parts in a film like Darla Dimple's Ark Angel. Once, animal actors, musicians, and singers could be truly successful; and Danny is inspired to convince the studio owner to give the animal actors in Darla's film their own musical number. Putting the human world up against this sort of animal world gives the story a strangely real feel. All of the characters, human or animal, are well-written with a lot of personality.

The finale, a classic stage musical number, is jazzy and upbeat, with a lot of fun animation and humor. The story comes full circle almost as these talented animals take their rightful place in the industry, and Darla gets some much needed reprimand. It's simply a fun movie with a lot of fun characters of the Looney Tunes variety, like a completely animated (and slightly cleaner) version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Check out the trailer below:

Stay tuned next week for some Spring Break fun, animation appreciation, news, and a new Film of the Week!