ANI-MOVIES, *Cats Don't Dance

Turner Feature Animation only produced two complete productions in its short active life, one was the animated/live-action film The Pagemaster, the other was the full-length cartoon film of Cats Don't Dance. Mark Dinal was the director behind it just after he initially left Disney to which he would eventually return to, along with David Kirschner producing it in between productions with Don Bluth. The film first began as a vanity project for Michael Jackson who gave up on it, so it fell into production limbo until Warner Bros. took over Turner Entertainment in the late 90's. It was released in theaters without much publicity which resulted in the film being a bomb at theaters, even though it was able to gain a large following after being released on video along with countless reruns on Cartoon Network at the turn of the millennium. Its success is being an ode to classic films, even though it is more geared toward the live-action movies of the time and not old Terrytoon shorts.

In a parallel universe 1930s where all animals are bipedal, can speak human language, and have jobs working with the regular humans, the young hopeful cat Danny heads for Hollywood to become a star. He gets a gig with an agent who specializes in movie parts for animal actors that need some for a new take on Noah's Ark starring Darla Dimple, a temperamental young diva who is like an Anti-Christ version of Shirley Temple. Danny decides to try an act up beyond the one line he has on the film shooting which wrecks the entire set causing Darla to sick her tremendous butler Max to straighten out the debacle. The other animals from the agency including former dancer/singer female cat Sawyer are worried about their future prospects after Danny messed things up for them, so he tries to get their spirits up by putting on a quick show outside the studio. Darla sees this as a potential threat to her popularity, so she sabotages their effort to impress the studio owner by flooding the city, although her efforts are in vain as her scheme is revealed giving the animals starring roles in upcoming movies, some of which wouldn't actually be made for another five decades.

Cats Don't Dance went from being a live-action and animated production in the style of Who Framed Roger Rabbit into a fully animated movie, even though the time period that the story was supposed to take place in a more modern era instead of classic Hollywood. The soundtrack highlighted songs written by Randy Newman, and stunning choreography by Gene Kelly in his final film contrubution. The cast includes Scott Bakula and Jasmine Guy as the titular cats, with long time legends like Don Notts, John Rhys-Davis, and Betty Lou Gerson(aka: Cruella de Vil)rounding out the rest of the animal cast, along with cartoon mainstays such as Frank Welker and George Kennedy. The movie's undeniable drawback is that the story moves a tad faster than it should in an effort to emulate fast-talking films of the Golden Age which works against it in trying to appeal to modern audiences. Aside from that, the wholesome callbacks to classic musicals and knee-slapping cartoon antics make for a splendidly welcome watch.