* AcclaimedFlop: Critics gave the film positive reviews (74% "Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes). Unfortunately, it flopped at the box office, making only $3.6 million against a $32 million budget due to the lack of marketing by Warner Bros. and Turner.
* BoxOfficeBomb: Even on a relatively small budget of $32 million, its original theatrical run brought back a mere $3.6 million as a result of failed marketing and (if WordOfGod is to be believed) lack of care from Turner during development.
* CelebrityVoiceActor: In the Japanese dub, Danny is voiced by comedian Kazuki Kosakai.
* ChildrenVoicingChildren:
** Ashley Peldon and Lindsay Ridgeway, the respective speaking and singing voices for Darla, were in their early 10s at the time of release.
** Pudge is voiced by a young boy.
* CreatorKiller: The small outbranch of Creator/HannaBarbera that was Turner Feature Animation (which had previously been H-B's own feature arm) had its short life end here -- it was folded into WB's own Feature Animation arm, which itself was eliminated by 2003 after their own string of flops, some of which (like ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'') became cult hits themselves.
* CrossdressingVoices: In the Japanese dub, Pudge is voiced by Creator/EtsukoKozakura. This is especially notable because in the original English version and other foreign dubs he is always voiced by males.
* DescendedCreator: Mark Dindal provides the scratch voice for Max and directs the film.
* InMemoriam: A dedication of Creator/GeneKelly, who died a year prior to the film's release, appears in the ending credits.
* InvisibleAdvertising: There was exactly ''one'' (we repeat, '''''one''''') poster released for this movie. This might as well explain why the film was barely a blip on the radar when it came out, aside from that and a few Subway toys.
* KidsMealToy: Subway sold figures of Danny, Sawyer, Pudge, and Woolie. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen A toy of Darla was planned]], but was not released to the public due to concerns that [[MyLittlePanzer it could be dangerous to young children]].
* NonSingingVoice: With a few characters:
** Don Knotts's (T.W. Turtle) brief singing role is filled by session singer Rick Logan.
** For the singing role, Ashley Peldon (Darla Dimple) was replaced by child actress and singer Lindsay Ridgeway.
** For Sawyer, the non-singing voice was provided by Jasmine Guy. Her singing role is provided by the late jazz singer Natalie Cole.
* TheOtherMarty: [[http://www.cdd4ever.com/CATCHAT/CatChat.html According]] to Creator/LaurenFaust, Creator/JasmineGuy was a last-minute replacement for Nancy Giles (of ''Series/ChinaBeach'' fame). She wasn't hired until ''all'' of Sawyer's animation had already been completed! This would explain why Sawyer's speaking voice and singing voice sound radically different in the final film.
* PermanentPlaceholder: Mark Dindal originally provided the scratch voice for Max. However, because the production ran out of money later on, the producers retained the scratch track.
* PlayingAgainstType:
** Really ''big time'' in the Latin American Spanish dub for Darla's voice actress, Creator/CristinaHernandez, who is normally type casted as voicing cute, heroic girls like Sakura Kinomoto from ''Manga/CardCaptorSakura'', Blossom from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerPuffGirls'' or Lime from ''Anime/SaberMarionetteJ''. Darla is anything but [[BigBad heroic]].
** In the German dub, Danny is voiced by Oliver Feld. Danny is one of Feld's few animation roles who is unambiguously straight (Feld is gay and most of his characters are AmbiguouslyGay).
* ReferencedBy:
** The title of the movie is referenced in the ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven: The Series'' episode "All Creatures Great and Dinky" when Marcy doesn't believe Charlie and Itchy are guardian angels.
-->'''Charlie:''' What, you want us to dance on the head of a pin or something?!\\
'''Marcy:''' No, everyone knows dogs don't dance.\\
'''Charlie:''' No, that's cats, OK?
** In the September 16, 2001 ''ComicStrip/BabyBlues'' comic, this movie is mentioned among the VHS tapes Zoe and Hammie own when they're deciding which one to watch.
** In the ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'' episode "Seeing Stars", the little girl on Brennon Rager's show resembles Darla Dimple and much like Darla, she's suggested to be [[NiceCharacterMeanActor a lot less innocent off-camera]].
-->'''Blitzo:''' I saw her doing lines of coke in her dressing room!
** In WebVideo/{{Saberspark}}'s review of ''WesternAnimation/{{Spark}}'', Saber finds General Zhong's DumbMuscle Koko not that interesting a character, saying she's no Max from this movie.
** In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Doubling Down", one scene in Cartman's ImagineSpot after learning Kyle is seeing Heidi recreates a shot from the DarkReprise of "Big and Loud".
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Just before the film came out, Time Warner purchased Turner. At the time, Warner's own feature animation division was developing ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'' and didn't want the inherited ''Cats'' to replace their "real" first animated feature (according to Tom Sito, one studio head was quoted as saying that he didn't want "[[UsefulNotes/TedTurner Ted]]'s film" to outdo them, implying a possible personal beef), so they dumped it on a crowded Easter holiday weekend[[note]](the other new wide releases were ''B*A*P*S*'', ''Film/TurboAPowerRangersMovie'', ''The Sixth Man'' and ''Film/TheDevilsOwn'')[[/note]] while giving it next to no marketing whatsoever.
* SwanSong: Betty Lou Gerson came out of retirement to voice Frances. It would be Gerson's last performance before her 1999 death.
* TroubledProduction: The head of Turner Feature Animation kept changing during production, and this (plus some of the honcho's plans to [[ExecutiveMeddling change the setting from the 40s to the 50s]]) kept the film in a state of flux for a bit.
* UncreditedRole: Creator/GeneKelly was an uncredited choreographer on the film.
* VindicatedByCable: Creator/DisneyChannel, Creator/{{Starz}} and Creator/CartoonNetwork to be specific (in the case of the latter, presumably to make up for their corporate cousins at WB having screwed it over to start). Cartoon Network was also known to air it frequently in the early-to-mid 2000s as part of their "Cartoon Theater" block.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The film was originally intended to star Music/MichaelJackson and would have revolved around stray cats that live among the sets and studio backlots. It would've incorporated a mix of live-action and CGI. However, after Jackson dropped out in 1994, Turner acquired the script and after a lot of [[ExecutiveMeddling studio mandates]], [[TroubledProduction changes in concepts]] and [[ScrewedByTheNetwork studio heads screw-overs]], the film was released.
** In the aforementioned Lauren Faust interview, Sawyer was supposed to be said to be older than Danny. This is never mentioned in the final film as executives thought Danny [[DoubleStandard going for an older woman was inappropriate]].
** Then-Turner division Creator/NewLineCinema (itself now part of Warner Bros.) was initially interested in releasing the film, but it was handed over to Warner Bros. once Time Warner acquired Turner. One wonders how better New Line would have handled its marketing.
** The original plan was to end the story with parodies of classic Golden Age film posters (such as ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''), but this had to be scrapped because there was no budget left to pay for any rights. All of the posters in the final sequence are for films that the studio already owned, as this was the only way they could afford to finish at all.
** Early production art reveals that the film ''Lil' Ark Angel'' was going to be called ''Sea Goin' Gal'' and Darla wore a sailor suit as opposed to her angel costume.
** As previously mentioned, Subway had a Kids' Pak tie-in with the film, featuring toys of Danny, Sawyer, Pudge, and Woolie. Darla was also planned to have a toy, which would have featured two switchable facial expressions; smiling and sour. However, this toy was not released to the public, as there were concerns that [[MyLittlePanzer it could be dangerous to young children]].
** Pudge was originally a regular baby bird, but he was later made into a penguin to make him cuter.
** Before the films release Turner Feature Animation was in development of a film titled "Ray Gunn" directed by Creator/BradBird but due to Turner being purchased by Time Warner the film was scrapped but as of 2019 Bird announced that he would return to making the film under [[Creator/SkydanceMedia Skydance Animation]].
** In an alternate opening, Danny originally worked as a janitor at a movie theater in Kokomo before getting fired for dancing on the job and got his motivation to go to Hollywood after being thrown out. Despite this opening not making it into the final film, [[OrphanedReference it's still paralleled by Darla's fate of having to be a theater janitor at the end.]]
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