History YMMV / CatsDontDance

** Max crosses it in the climax when he outright attempts to murder Danny so he can't live to carry out his BatmanGambit. Up until that point, any evildoing he performed was at the bequest of Darla, but when he hears Danny and Pudge setting up for the performance they were going to do when Darla's film was over, he resolves to stop them of his own free will, which nearly results in Danny getting killed.

* {{Squick}}: The scene where Darla, a child, appears to be trying to seduce Danny, a cat.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The animation is very smooth, colorful, and energetic and still holds up well today, and definitely shines its best during the more visual-heavy song, such as “Big and Loud” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”.

** Max crosses it in the climax when he outright attempts to murder Danny so he can't live to carry out his BatmanGambit. Up until that point, any evildoing he performed was at the bequest of Darla, but when he hears Danny and Pudge setting up for the performance they were going to do when Darla's film was over, he resolves to stop them of his own free will, which nearly results in Danny getting killed.

* AllAnimationIsDisney: Like many of Creator/WarnerBros' animated flicks, the movie is often mistaken to be a Creator/{{Disney}} production due to sharing a similar art style. However, its airing on Warner Bros.' animation channel Creator/CartoonNetwork should tip you off that this WASN'T made by Disney.

* CultClassic: While a flop upon release, it has found a loyal following and new appreciation in the decades since.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: There are plenty of comparisons someone can draw watching this movie to the plight of minority representation in film as represented by the animals. Considering it's in the Golden Age, of all times, could only strengthen this view since it took decades for non-white actors to reach prominence. The scene near the climax with the bigoted human bus driver conversing with Danny only confirms the subtext, as the bus driver's comments about animals are peppered with lines like "you're one of the good ones" and "some of my best friends are," which is the type of stuff a racist person would say to avoid being perceived as racist.

* CultClassic: While a flop upon release, it has found a loyal following and new appreciation in the 25 years since.

** Videos where bad things happen to Darla Dimple seem to be popular on YouTube.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Max is a relatively minor character, but he is easily the most memorable, especially with his introduction scene. His [[MysteriousPast mysterious past]] and [[SuperSenses array]] [[MadeOfIron of]] [[SuperStrength superhuman]] [[SuperSpeed abilities]] certainly help.

* {{Adorkable}}: Danny's optimism and energetic dancing and singing make him quite adorable. Also, when he becomes a couple with Sawyer after he realizes what she meant about the new item on his list "Get the girl".

** Darla's fate at the end. [[spoiler: Is she reduced to working as a janitor after her reputation is destroyed? Or is she merely doing court-ordered community service to make up for the damage she caused to the studio, and eventually admitted? [[TakeAThirdOption Or both]]?]]

* CatharsisFactor: After getting the animals blamed and sacked for flooding Mammoth Pictures just to keep her stardom alive, seeing Darla accidentally exposing her crimes after failing to sabotage the animals' big performance and losing her job herself is really gratifying.
* CultClassic: While a flop upon release, it has found new appreciation in the years since and has found itself a loyal following.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Max is a relatively minor character, but is easily the most memorable, especially with his introduction scene. His [[MysteriousPast mysterious past]] and [[SuperSenses array]] [[MadeOfIron of]] [[SuperStrength superhuman]] [[SuperSpeed abilities]] certainly help.

** The scene where Darla and Max flood the stage of the film in an attempt to kill the animals is almost certainly a reference to the 1928 film adaptation of Noah's Ark, in which the director actually flooded the stage among many untrained extras, which resulted in 3 deaths, and dozens of injuries, including one man whose leg was so badly mangled it had to be amputated.
** Darla's characterisation is a nod to an urban legend that circulated about Shirley Temple during the Golden Age -- that she was really a bitter old dwarf who hated children and animals.

* IronWoobie: Danny. He gets hit with a lot of cynicism, scorn, and the fact that Hollywood is only looking for talented people, not animals. But he keeps pushing on towards his dream despite the odds against him, and despite the one time he gives up after being manipulated by Darla.
* JerkassWoobie: Sawyer may come off as cynical and frosty towards Danny, but her backstory reveals that she wanted to be a Hollywood singer, but had her dreams broken when they rejected her by saying she isn't human and her actions towards Danny come off as more of her saving him from having his spirits crushed more than actually being mean to him. Although she briefly lost her patience for him when things have gone wrong because of his persistence and naivety.

** Videos where bad things happen to Darla Dimple seem to be popular on Youtube.

** Max crosses it in the climax when he outright attempts to murder Danny so he can't live to carry out his BatmanGambit. Up until that point, any evildoing he had performed was at the bequest of Darla, but when he hears Danny and Pudge setting up for the performance they were going to do when Darla's film was over, he resolves to stop them on his own free will, which nearly results in Danny getting killed.
** In-universe example: After giving advice to Danny about how to be great in a movie, Darla Dimple floods the stage during his and the other animals' act, which realistically could have gotten many humans and animals killed, just to ruin the animals' chance to impress the director. After she accidentally reveals it to the audience, everyone is incredibly shocked and she gets demoted to janitor.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: While Darla heavily overreacted during the filming of "Little Ark Angel", Danny ''does'' go off-script and upstages her show (she's the lead actress for the movie being filmed, and he's a bit part extra) and deliberately tries to steal her spotlight, which would get most extras in real life fired hard, along with probably getting them blacklisted from other roles if they did it on their first day like Danny did. Moreover, he ruins what would have been a ''very'' complicated shot in the 1930s, wasting everyone's time and a substantial amount of money.
* UnconventionalLearningExperience: Woolie the Mammoth gives Danny - and viewers - a lesson about how peanuts aren't actually nuts at all, but are members of the legume (bean) family.
* UnintentionallySympathetic: The scene where a furious Darla sics Max on Danny after he upstages her in the "Little Boat on the Sea" number is meant to show what a horribly spoiled brat Darla is and how she has no qualms about putting potential rivals back in their place through violent methods. However, quite a lot of viewers noted that while the scale of Darla's reaction isn't justified, her anger was pretty understandable. Danny not only ruins the entire take by singing over his fellow extras, but also actively pushes Darla out of the spotlight and steals her solo (while Darla herself, though clearly irritated by the upstart extra, at least tries to professionally stay in character and pull the scene through to the end, even if she fails at it). Overall, Danny comes across as less trying to make a name for himself by breaking out of a restrictive role and more like a stage hog extra pushing everyone aside to have his moment when he has absolutely no right to do so. The fact that he effectively ruins a very complicated, expensive scene doesn't help his case either, and further justifies her anger and the director's; he has an easy role with tightly-defined timing, and then tosses it aside and wastes their time and budget.
* VanillaProtagonist: Danny is seen by many as this. His generic personality is quite overshadowed by the rest of their cast and their quirky personalities.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: There are plenty of comparisons someone can draw watching this movie to the plight of minority representation in film as represented by the animals. Considering it's in the golden age of all times could only strengthen this view since it took decades for non-white actors to reach prominence. The scene near the climax with the bigoted human bus driver conversing with Danny only confirms the subtext, as the bus driver's comments about animals are peppered with lines like "you're one of the good ones" and "some of my best friends are," which is the type of stuff a racist person would say to avoid being perceived as racist.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: While Darla heavily overreacted during the filming of "Little Ark Angel", Danny ''did'' upstage her show (she's the lead actress for the movie being filmed, and he's a bit part extra) and deliberately tried to steal her spotlight, which would get most extras in real life fired hard, along with probably getting them blacklisted from other roles if they did it on their first day like Danny did. Moreover, he ruined what would have been a ''very'' complicated shot in the 1930s, wasting everyone's time and a substantial amount of money.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: The scene where a furious Darla sics Max on Danny after he upstages her in the "Little Boat on the Sea" number is meant to show what a horribly spoiled brat Darla is and how she has no qualms about putting potential rivals back in their place through violent methods. However, quite a lot of viewers noted that while the scale of Darla's reaction wasn't justified, her anger was pretty understandable. Danny had not only ruined the entire take by singing over his fellow extras, but also actively pushes Darla out of the spotlight and steals her solo (while Darla herself, though clearly irritated by the upstart extra, at least tries to professionally stay in character and pull the scene through to the end, even if she fails at it). Overall, Danny comes across as less trying to make a name for himself by breaking out of a restrictive role and more like a stage hog extra pushing everyone aside to have his moment. The fact that he effectively ruined a very complicated, expensive scene doesn't help his case either, and further justifies her anger and the director's.

* JerkassWoobie: Sawyer may come off as cynical and frosty towards Danny, but her backstory reveals that she wanted to be a Hollywood singer, but had her dreams broken when they rejected her by saying she isn't human and her actions towards Danny come off as more of her saving him from having his spirits crushed more than actually being mean to him.

** In the Japanese dub of the film, Creator/EtsukoKozakura voices Pudge. Several years later, she would go onto voice [[{{Anime/Pokemon}} another penguin]].

** Darla's fate at the end. [[spoiler: Is she reduced to working as a janitor after her reputation is destroyed? Or is she merely doing court-ordered community service to make up for the damage she caused to the studio, and eventually admitted? [[TakeAThirdOption Or Both]]?]]

** Darla's characterisation is a nod to an urban legend that circulated about Shirley Temple during the Golden Age - that she was really a bitter old dwarf who hated children and animals.

** As a result of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', people began posting screencaps of Darla and Max (or redrawing them) and saying "Aquamarine and Topaz look great" since the two Gems look so similar to the villainous duo it's unlikely the comparisons weren't intentionally made by the show's designers.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: There's plenty of comparisons someone can draw watching this movie to the plight of minority representation in film as represented by the animals. Considering it's in the golden age of all times could only strengthen this view since it took decades for non-white actors to reach prominence. The scene near the climax with the bigoted human bus driver conversing with Danny only confirms the subtext, as the bus driver's comments about animals are peppered with lines like "you're one of the good ones" and "some of my best friends are," which is the type of stuff a racist person would say to avoid being perceived as racist.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Can be viewed as one to ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail''. Much like how that film can be viewed as an allegory for the struggles many immigrants faced living in late 19th century New York, ''Cats Don't Dance'' can be similarly viewed as an allegory of the struggle of minority actors in 1930s Hollywood.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Can be viewed as one to ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail''. Much like how that film can be viewed as an allegory for the struggle of immigrants in late 19th century New York City, ''Cats Don't Dance'' can be similarly viewed as an allegory of the struggle of minority actors in 1930s Hollywood.

** Darla is either CrazyAwesome to the point of being the best thing in the movie or ''so'' intense that her scenes are unwatchable.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Max is a relatively minor character, but is easily the most memorable, especially with his introduction scene. His [[MysteriousPast mysterious past]] and superhuman abilities certainly help.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Max is a relatively minor character, but is easily the most memorable, especially with his introduction scene.

** In-universe example: After giving advice to Danny about how to be great in a movie Darla Dimple floods the stage during his and the other animals' act, which realistically could have gotten many humans and animals killed, just to ruin the animals' chance to impress the director. After she accidentally reveals it to the audience, everyone is incredibly shocked and she gets demoted to janitor.

** In-universal example: After giving advice to Danny about how to be great in a movie Darla Dimple floods the stage during his and the other animals' act, which realistically could have gotten many humans and animals killed, just to ruin the animals' chance to impress the director. After she accidentally reveals it to the audience, everyone is incredibly shocked and she gets demoted to janitor.