The Garfield Moviegained some heat on Netflix’s Top 10 list, which is a far cry from the reception it got when it was in theaters. But watching this new take on the beloved lasagna-scarfing cat (voiced byChris Pratt), it’s pretty clear that directorMark Dindalhas a fond love forJim Davis' original comics and managed to translate most of that essence to the big screen. It also reminded me of another film Dindal directed:Cats Don’t Dance.Though Dindal is best known for his work onThe Emperor’s New Grooveand assisting on Disney classics likeThe Little MermaidandAladdin,Cats Don’t Dancewas his directorial debut, and itturned out to be a box office bomb.What exactly caused audiences to be out of tune with Dindal’s first animated feature?
What Is ‘Cats Don’t Dance’ About?
Cats Don’t Dancetakes place at the beginning of Hollywood’s Golden Age in 1939, with one major difference:talking animals live side by side with humans. One of these cats, Danny (Scott Bakula), yearns to be an actor but learns that animals mostly get bit parts. Danny embarks on a journey to change this, falling for another cat, Sawyer (Jasmine Guy) and dealing with the wrath of child star Darla Dimple (Ashley Peldon) who doesn’t want any animals stealing her spotlight.
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He let the spirits guide him.
Cats Don’t Danceis notable for being the final film thatGene Kellywas involved with.Kelly helped with the choreography for the film,which resulted in some great dance sequences between Danny and Sawyer — and they’re animated characters! In a bit of a nod to Kelly’s influence, there’s a moment where the animals are seen on a poster forSingin' in the Rain. David Kirschner, who wroteAn American Tail, served as a producer and his influence is definitely felt on the final product; in the same way thatAn American Tailwas a metaphor for Jewish immigrants arriving in America,Cats Don’t Danceused its furry protagonists to highlight discrimination in Hollywood (a practice that issadly continuing to this day).
A Studio Merger Doomed ‘Cats Don’t Dance’
ThoughCats Don’t Dancehad a great premise and the involvement of an actual Golden Age Hollywood legend, it didn’t do so well at the box office.In a retrospective for Polygon, Dindal and Kirschner expanded upon the issuesCats Don’t Dancefaced,including multiple retoolings and running out of money. Dindal managed to wiggle his way out of shifting the time period to the 1950s, but the diminishing budget also meant that Dindal had to keep in his voice recordings for Darla’s Frankenstein-esque butler Max. This actually works to the film’s advantage, since Max is little more than a blunt instrument of Darla’s will, and Dindal voices him as such.
Cats Don’t Dancewas also a late acquisition from Warner Bros. — who had bought Turner Entertainment —and the studio made it clear that it wasn’t really interested in promoting the film.Kirschner put it best:
Even without seeing it, they could [not] have cared less, just the idea of a musical calledCats Don’t Dance. It wasn’t Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck or the great Warner characters.
Cats Don’t Dancewas far from the first time that Warner Bros. failed to market and/or overly meddled in its animated films.The Iron Giantsuffered a similar fate as it wasn’t properly marketed, and under current Warner Bros. headDavid Zaslav, two different Looney Tunes projects have become tax write-offs (Coyote VS. Acme) or sold to different studios (The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie).
‘Cats Don’t Dance’ Solidified a Trend in Mark Dindal’s Animated Work
Cats Don’t Dancehas set a few trends that Mark Dindal has brought to most of his work, most notably the ideaof two or more characters joining forces to change their station in life…and one or more of those characters tend to be anthropomorphic animals.The Emperor’s New Grooveonly solidified this trope, andChicken Littlekicked it into overdrive.Dindal also acknowledged in an interviewthat all of his films so far have featured some sort of feline character, saying, “It’s funny, I think certain things just kind of keep recurring in one’s career.“The Garfield Movieis truly a full circle moment for Dindal, and might spark interest inCats Don’t Dance.
Cats Don’t Danceis available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
Cats Don’t Dance
Rent on Prime Video
