Cats Don't Dance: Difference between revisions

[[File:cats_dont_dance.jpg|frame| They don't make films like this anymore...]]

 

 

The film takes place in the [[Golden Age of Hollywood]] in the year 1939, and the plot centers around a singing and dancing cat named Danny, who dreams of being a big movie star. He gets a role in the latest movie starring [[Tastes Like Diabetes|sickeningly adorable]] child star [[Meaningful Name|Darla]] [[Shirley Temple|Dimple]], only to find out the hard way that [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|animals in Hollywood only get minor roles]]. Determined to show Hollywood their talent, Danny rounds up some of his newfound friends, and tries to find a way to impress the studio exec producing the film. When Darla finds out about this, she starts to show her true (read: evil) nature, and decides to sabotage the animals' plans, so they don't steal her spotlight.

 

* [[Accidental Public Confession]]: Darla's very loud statement that {{spoiler|she should have drowned them all when she FLOODED THE STAGE!}} She doesn't notice a microphone is hanging right above her until it's too late.

* [[Adrenaline Makeover]]: Pudge and his electrified hairdo.

* [[Almost Kiss]]: Danny and Sawyer.

* [[Angel Face, Demon Face]]: Darla could turn this off and on at will, going from adorable moppet to demon child.

* [[Animated Musical]]

* [[Armor-Piercing Question]]: When the other animals tell Danny how much Hollywood sucks for them, Danny counters with "Then why are you still here?"

* [[Award Bait Song]]: "I Do Believe". However, due to being buried deep in the end credits (after they've been rolling for a couple minutes, and after a long stretch of reprise-less instrumental music), it tends to be forgotten among the rest of the movie's songs.

* [[Battle Butler]]: Darla's butler, Max.

* [[Big Red Button]]: ''Grand-Daddy of All Switches''.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: [[media:Picture_48_copy_3014.jpg|Danny]], who formerly provided the page picture. On the left, bus ride coming in. On the right, bus ride going out.

* [[Broken Bird]]: Sawyer.

* [[Camp Gay]]: ''[[King Kong]]''. Don't get him started.

* [[Cats Are Mean]]: [[Averted]].

* [[Cat Stereotype]]: Danny (an orange male cat) and Sawyer (a white female cat). Sawyer has orange eyes unlike the white cat stereotype, however.

* [[Classically-Trained Extra]]: Wooly is a refined, well-read elephant who can play piano. Mammoth Studios uses him as their [[Vanity Plate]].

* [[Climactic Music]]: "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"

* [[Credits Brand Products]]: The opening credits appear on various signs within the movie.

'''Clark:''' (Whining) Sawyer! }}

* [[Dark Reprise]]: "Big And Loud". Now in [[Villain Song]] flavor.

* [[Determinator]]: Danny.

* [[Dialogue Reversal]]:

"Very good." }}

* [[Disney Acid Sequence]]:

* [[Enfant Terrible]]: Darla, of course.

* [[Epic Fail]]: The audition Darla sets up for them with L.B. Mammoth. Not only does the whole town get flooded, but they drag L.B. himself behind them on the anchor and he ends up tied to the mast when the boat sinks. Nice audition.

* [[Evil Laugh]]

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: Humans towards animals. The whole movie can be interpreted as an allegory for the prejudice and marginalization African-American actors and singers faced in the 1930s and 40s in Hollywood.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: "[...] I'll make sure that LB sees your ''splashy'' debut."

* [[Funny Animal|Funny Animals]]

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]:

'''Sawyer:''' [[Deadpan Snarker|So much for preserving the species]]. }}

* [[Gilligan Cut]]:

'''Sawyer:''' I can't ''believe'' I'm doing this... }}

* [[Happy Ending]]: Danny and company do get their big break...

* [[Honorable Elephant]]: Woolie.

* [[Huge Guy, Tiny Girl]]: Non-romantic: Darla and her butler Max.

* [["I Am" Song]]

* [[Idea Bulb]]: Max dutifully holds a little light bulb over Darla's head.

* [[Ironic Echo]]: Darla advises Danny to "make it big and loud" and [[Springtime for Hitler|through Darla's efforts]] "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" certainly ends up being big and loud. The [[Dialogue Reversal]] example listed above is also one.

* [[Jabba Table Manners]]: When Darla pigs out on a huge pile of junk food -- [[And a Diet Coke|and one apple]] -- in her balcony box.

* [[Left the Background Music On]]: Danny and Pudge are dancing to some [[BGM]] when all of a sudden, Danny stops and wonders where that music is coming from. Turns out it's Wooly the Mammoth playing piano in his trailer across the street.

* [[Lyrical Dissonance]]: The first bit of Darla's ''Li'l Ark Angel'' song "My Little Boat on the Sea" is appropriately minor-key and matches its lyrics as it describes [[The Great Flood]], but Darla's [[Tastes Like Diabetes]] cheerful performance of same matches neither. And then it's [[Mood Whiplash]] into the ''really'' cutesy-wootsy part.

[''cherubic smile and cute pose while anguished silhouettes sink in the background''] }}

* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: "Donald? Dino?"

* [[Naive Newcomer]]: Danny, full stop.

* [[Nice Character, Mean Actor]]: Darla, [[In-Universe]].

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Danny's attempt to get the animals' talent noticed allows Darla to make things much worse for them.

* [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]]: Darla's attempts to stop the animal's performance result in one of the most spectacular auditions in all cinema history, complete with gunfire and spectacular light performances.

* [[No Animals Were Harmed]]: This is parodied in the end credits, with "No animals were harmed in the making of this film. Although, some were erased and had to be redrawn."

* [[Not So Stoic]]: During the Animal Jam song, Sawyer begins typing along to the beat, her color getting a bit brighter, and then enthusiastically returns the typing carriage to its original position, only to suddenly get hold of herself and straighten up. Also happens again just a few seconds later when she accidentally makes an emergency ladder slam to the ground... with her on it. Her fur puffs up and her claws extend while she makes a very amusing neurotic expression, eyes darting around, then immediately pretends nothing happened and composes herself. ''Typical cat''.

* [[Offscreen Teleportation]]: When Darla is escorting Danny out of her mansion after giving him the Big and Loud musical number, Max holds a door open for them. They walk down the hall a short way, and Max is waiting for them at the exit with Danny's hat, despite him never moving from the first door. Leads to a Funny Moment when Danny stops, stares at Max, turns his head to see if he's still holding the door, then turns back and stares ahead blankly with a befuddled expression as Darla hands him his hat. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRCGxQ27J3A Can be seen here at 4:18]

* [[Redheaded Hero|Red-Furred Hero]]: Danny.

* [[Redhead in Green]]: Danny.

* [[Rousing Speech]]: Danny giving this to the animals when asked why they're even staying in Hollywood since they couldn't become actors: because they just couldn't forget their dreams.

* [[Sacrificial Lamb]]: A lamb was asked to play this role.

* [[Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl]]: Inverted in Danny and Sawyer; more like "Keet and Kuudere".

* [[Show Within a Show]]

* [[Spoiled Brat]]: Darla, obviously.

* [[Squashed Flat]]: Darla gets this treatment in the climax.

* [[Stepford Smiler]]: Darla.

* [[Tastes Like Diabetes]]: Parodied with ''Li'l Ark Angel'', and Darla in general. In-universe example.

* [[Trash Can Band]]: The song "Animal Jam" in the middle of the movie revolves around this.

* [[Triumphant Reprise]]: At the beginning of the movie, "Our Time Has Come" played during Danny's trip to Hollywood. At end of the film when Danny and the others became stars, it's played again in a much louder tone.

* [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]]: When Danny jumps off the bus to explain his (ultimately successful) plan to Pudge, the dialogue is replaced with [[Mickey Mousing]].

* [[The Vamp]]: Funnily and disturbingly enough, Darla.

* [[White-Haired Pretty Girl|White-Furred Pretty Cat]]: Sawyer.

* [[Wingding Eyes]]: Darla's flaming-skull eyes when she pulls the Mother Of All Switches.

* [[X-Ray Sparks]]: Pudge's electric handshake shocks T.W. at the end.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Animated Films]]

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]

[[Category:The Great Depression]]

[[Category:Western Animation]]