Cats Don't Dance (1997)

IMDb plot summary: Danny, an ambitious singing and dancing cat, goes to Hollywood and overcomes several obstacles to fulfill his dream of becoming a movie star.

Directed by Mark Dindal. Stars Scott Bakula, Jasmine Guy, and Natalie Cole.

Cats Don't Dance is an animated musical about a world in which anthropomorphic animals live and work alongside humans, although if they want to enter show business, they are relegated to background characters and ensemble. One young cat shows up in Hollywood full of dreams and ready to be a musical movie star, only to have his hopes dashed in the face of anti-animal prejudice. I was expecting something a little bit more traditional and straightforward in this film, knowing nothing about it as I started, but the humor here is very rooted in slapstick cartoons, with quick jokes and clever visual gags. While some of these don't land for me, it is a refreshing change of pace after watching a lot of animated movies from people's childhoods that did not hold up so well. There's also a pretty decent soundtrack, although those songs were more memorable in the moment than they were after the film finished. The final sequence musical sequence in which the animals put on a stunning show while the antagonist works tirelessly to destroy the theater that they are in, only for each scheme to backfire in a way that makes the animals look better than ever, is a really enjoyable climactic moment of the film. This is not necessarily one that I'd have an inclination to watch again, but it's something a little different from the 1990s animated movies that I've been catching up on thus far, and I enjoy that change of pace a lot!

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Cats Don't Dance (1997)

📊 Ranked #1089/4021 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 73

beat Space Pirate Captain Harlock (#2007 → #2012)

lost to Dust (#1004 → #909)

lost to The Iron Claw (#1506 → #1485)

beat The Brutalist (#1759 → #1765)

beat The Big Chill (#1631 → #1641)

beat Peeping Tom (#1568 → #1592)

lost to Total Recall (#1537 → #1534)

lost to Timecop (held at #1553)

lost to 20th Century Women (#1562 → #984)

beat The Children's Hour (#1565 → #1566)

lost to Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (#1552 → #1545)

beat Furlough (#1564 → #1586)