Cats Don't Dance is a 1997 American animated musical comedy-drama film directed by Mark Dindal (in his feature directorial debut). It is the only fully animated feature produced by Turner Feature Animation, which was merged during the post-production of Cats Don't Dance into Warner Bros. Feature Animation after the merger of Time Warner with Turner Broadcasting System in 1996. Turner Feature Animation had previously produced the animated portions of The Pagemaster (1994).

Plot

In an alternate 1939, in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist, Danny, an optimistic 18-year-old cat from Kokomo, Indiana, travels to Hollywood 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 called Li'l Ark Angel, alongside Wink's secretary, a beautiful yet cynical female white cat named Sawyer. Upon joining fellow animals; Tillie 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 to weasel his way into more time in the spotlight. Danny unwittingly ends up angering Darla Dimple, a popular yet spoiled child actress and star of the film; she promptly assigns her 36-foot tall Frankenstein-like gorilla butler Max to intimidate Danny into no longer trying to enlarge his part.

Awards