Characters / Cats Don't Dance

The characters appearing in the film Cats Don't Dance.

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Danny

Voiced by: Scott Bakula

An orange tomcat with dreams of becoming a Hollywood star.

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• Ascended Fanboy: His dreams of making it big in Hollywood. He had to work a lot harder for it than he had imagined, though.
• Badass Adorable: A cute, friendly little cat who manages to make his and all his friends' dreams come true and even manages to fight off MAX.
• Batman Gambit: The ending number, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," is a perfect example. By this point, Danny has realized how egotistical and cheating Darla really is. So he sets this whole audition up by first pretending to honor her, then tricking her into saying that she arranged a special live show with animals for the audience, and then whatever cheating Darla comes up with when the show starts, he coaches the other animals to go along with it. This results in the most spectacular audition in cinema history, and Darla outing herself as the one who flooded Mammoth Studios, resulting in her getting fired.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Danny is overall a kind-hearted and sweet cat, but if you go too far in your cynicism or attempt to hurt him, he can and will lose his patience and get serious with you. Just ask the more cynical animals and Max. He does this three times in the film.
  • He glares at Cranston and Frances when they express exasperation at his confusion at getting only one line.
  • During the flood, he gets sick of putting up with Sawyer's harsh and criticizing attitude, and decides to throw her attitude right back at her.
  • Later, during the climax, when Max attempts to murder him, he tricks him into getting close to him via balloon before popping it, and sends him flying away. Then, when the animals protest against performing, he sternly orders them to leave if they are willing to accept what the people think of them.
• Blithe Spirit: His optimism is what helps his friends remember their dreams.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Gender-flipped. The optimistic Gentle Boy to Sawyer's cynical Brooding Girl.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not as much as Sawyer, but he has his sassy moments, especially when he comments on Sawyer's dancing during the Animal Jam song. Bonus points for him sliding across the floor with his tail while lounging.
  Danny: Not bad. A little rusty, but hey, who's perfect?
• Determinator: He's extremely determined to become a Hollywood star. He won't let Hollywood's standards stop him for even a minute.
• Establishing Character Moment: In his arrival song, he dreamed of being a Hollywood star since he was little. Soon after he helps Pudge with a block of ice, and becomes fast friends with him, dancing with him as well. He also sings how even the most impossible dream can come true if someone believes it. Then when he was on his way to get an agent, he boards a taxi, not knowing that Sawyer needs it to get to work on time, and then boards a bus, and accidentally knocks Sawyer into a fountain. This establishes Danny as a kind-hearted, fun-loving, idealistic, yet naïve and clumsy character.
• Fatal Flaw: Naivety. At the start of the film, Danny had big dreams of becoming a Hollywood actor and imagined it as a beautiful paradise where he'd quickly gain a role in a big movie. Not only that, but despite seeing Darla Dimple's violent, angry outburst during the filming of Little Ark Angel, Danny was quick to forgive her and believe that she genuinely wanted to help him get an audition for the animals. Because he didn't see how truly evil she was, Darla Dimple easily framed Danny and the animals for flooding Mammoth Studios, costing them their jobs. After enduring much discrimination and scorn, Danny still retains his optimism yet learns to be more cunning to help the animals gain stardom.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: His Fatal Flaw is that he doesn't understand how evil Darla is or what great lengths she'll pull to destroy his dream. After Darla revealed her manipulations however and Danny gets called out for believing her, Danny finally understands the extent of Darla's evil, and as such in the climax song, he cleverly uses Darla's ego and cheating tendencies to boost his and his friends' performances.
• Guile Hero: He is a lot smarter than he appears to be. He manages to first successfully not only remind all of the animals of their dreams but make them a reality as well, and then he manages to fight off Max, and finally turns the tables on Darla by using her egotism and cheating tendencies to push himself and his friends to stardom and get Darla herself fired. All by using trickery, cleverness, and charm.
• He's Back!: After Darla's manipulations get all the animals fired from Mammoth Studios, Danny gives up completely and decides to just get on the bus back to Kokomo. However, after listening to the bus driver's negative comments on how animals would never reach the top and seeing all of the other animals suffering on the streets, he quickly regains his confidence and gets off the bus, triumphantly declaring:
  Danny: See you in the movies!
• Hidden Depths: He is shown to have a high level of resourcefulness, as shown throughout the film. Whenever he learns about the odds against him, he thinks of clever ways to overcome them. It reaches its climax when he sets up the audition song in a way that whatever cheating Darla comes up with, he coaches his friends to go along with it, therefore boosting their performances.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Danny trusts Darla to set up an audition with L.B. Mammoth. The other animals call him out on this after he unintentionally got them fired.
  Sawyer (shocked): She's your little angel?
  Danny: She- she said she wanted to help.
  Tilly: And you believed her?
  Danny: I... I...
  Sawyer: (Screw This, I'm Outta Here)
• Ironic Echo: He pulls this off toward Max as part of a Dialogue Reversal, in regards to their first meeting, before sending him flying off on a popped Darla balloon.
  Danny: How does the kitty-cat go?
  Max: M-M-M-Meow? ("Oh, Crap!" Smile)
  Danny: Very good.
• Keet: He's very upbeat and energetic.
• Love at First Sight: Implied. He does have that look when he first meets Sawyer. And they end up together.
• Manic Pixie Dream Guy: To Sawyer. He doesn't have a backstory of his own and wants to be a star. Sawyer has given up her dreams of being a singer and dancer by working as a secretary, accepting reality, only to be persuaded to pursue her dream by Danny.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After he unintentionally helped Darla frame the animals for the flood and getting them fired, he was broken and devastated that he believed Darla's lies. No wonder he had a Heroic BSoD afterwards.
• Naïve Newcomer: Danny believes that he can easily become a big time Hollywood star based solely on his talent. Reality however is not so kind and easy as he initially thought.
• Nice Guy: Danny is polite and kind-hearted. He is also very caring towards those who have their dreams broken by Hollywood's standards, and works hard to make their dreams come true, as well as his own.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Danny's attempt to get the animals' talent noticed allows Darla to make things much worse for them.
• Official Couple: With Sawyer.
• Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Is the older hero to Darla Dimple's younger villain.
• Only Sane Man: Oddly, for a Keet like himself, Danny is apparently one of the only characters who keeps his cool in the face of cynicism and who knows that the rules explaining how animals get only stereotypical roles, have gotten completely old.
  Sawyer: This town has rules. Around here, cats say "Meow".
  Danny: But that's so old hat!
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Overlaps with Beware the Nice Ones. Anytime Danny loses his patience and decides to seriously fight back, whether in a physical fight against a dreaded butler, or in a verbal confrontation with some of the more cynical animals, you know this means serious business. Before the climatic song, when the animals protest against performing, Danny gets impatient, then sternly orders the animals to leave if they are willing to accept what the people think of them, to which they all fall silent in response.
  Danny: (sternly) Look, if you're willing to accept what they think of you, then you can go! I almost did.
• Redhead In Green: Danny typically wears a green shirt.
• Rousing Speech: Danny gives this to the animals before the climax song.
  Danny: Why are you still here? (Nobody answers) Because you can't forget the feeling, can you? The feeling you have when... (gestures to Cranston and Frances) ...when you two danced together, (gestures to Woolie) when you play, (gestures to Sawyer, who smiles) and when you sing. They cursed you, humiliated you, even slammed the door on your face, but they still haven't made you forget, have they?
  T.W. Turtle: (reading one of his fortune cookie straps) They can smash your cookie, but... but you'll always have your fortune.
  Danny: Come on! Let's go show them what we can do.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Inverted. He's the Keet Energetic Guy to Sawyer's Broken Bird Savvy Girl.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Even though he's a cat, this still applies to him. He's an orange tomcat with green eyes and is the main protagonist.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Downplayed since it's a side effect of his tremendous optimism. When Danny arrives in Hollywood, he reveals to Tillie that he expects to get his first starring role by Friday... of that same week. This same attitude leads him to upstage Darla during Little Ark Angel under the assumption that the studio staff will be impressed with his can-do spirit. After the resulting embarrassment, he figures he's only been set back a day at longest in his plan.
• Took a Level in Badass: This is basically Danny's character arc. He starts off being naïve and too idealistic for his own good. By the climax and the end of the film, after dealing with a lot of cynicism, scorn, prejudice, and manipulation along the way, Danny not only does a successful Batman Gambit that makes his and his friends' dreams come true, but he also manages to fight off a dreaded butler and also gets tough with the animals when they protest against performing so that he can help them achieve their dreams.
• Tranquil Fury: When he was clearly shown to be frustrated and losing his patience from the others' protests, he never once yells at them back but instead, acts more like a stern and disappointed parent.
• Vibrant Orange: He is a tabby cat with orange fur and is VERY enthusiastic about becoming a big movie star in Hollywood.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Danny wholeheartedly believes that he and the other animals can become actors if they try hard enough.

Sawyer

Voiced by: Jasmine Guy (speaking), Natalie Cole (singing); Urara Takano (Japanese dub)

A white female cat who works as a secretary for the Animal Actors' Agency. She originally came to the Hollywood business to become an actress prior to the movie. Despite her singing voice, she was not accepted as an actress.

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• Beautiful Singing Voice: She's known among her friends for her lovely voice, which was provided by Natalie Cole.
• Broken Bird: She came to Hollywood filled with dreams and an amazing singing voice. Hollywood standards against animal actors, however, broke her hopes.
  Woolie: Ah, poor Sawyer. I thought she'd be the one to make it. Such a dancer, with a voice like an angel...
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Gender-flipped. The cynical Brooding Girl to Danny's optimistic Gentle Boy.
• Butt-Monkey: Suffers quite a bit of misfortune early in the film.
• Cats Are Snarkers: Sawyer is a very Deadpan Snarker.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Sawyer eventually warms up to Danny.
• Deuteragonist: She's the second main character after Danny.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Downplayed. Her singing "Tell Me Lies" makes Tilly swoon for her.
• Gender-Blender Name: "Sawyer" is rarely used as a girl's name.
• Heal the Cutie: She seems like a snide and cynical secretary to talent agent Farley Wink. Woolie later reveals to protagonist Danny that Sawyer came to Hollywood brimming with talent, only to discover that she'd be relegated to the chorus because she's a cat. "The spotlight will never be on fellows like you and me, and it's foolish to think otherwise," Woolie laments. Nevertheless, Danny succeeds in drawing out the lithe dancer in Sawyer during an impromptu jam, and later, displays her chanteuse skills during the climactic finish. One cute kitty unbroken: check.
• Hidden Depths: She is actually a great singer and dancer despite initially being introduced as simply being a secretary.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Sawyer comes off as a cynical and snarky cat at first, but it later becomes clear that Hollywood broke her heart by rejecting her simply on the grounds that she isn't human. Even though she initially attempts to discourage Danny from following his dream, she's mostly doing it to save him from having his spirits crushed the same way her's was by the way Hollywood demeans animal citizens. Besides that, she later comes around to fully supporting to him.
• Leg Focus: Her character design is 70% legs, and they get a lot of focus when she dances.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Cynical as she may be, it doesn't stop her from trying to protect Danny from becoming heartbroken like her, and eventually supporting him.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She clearly regrets how she treated Danny after he apparently left Hollywood and after she read his list which he left behind.
• National Animal Stereotypes: Subverted. She’s a white cat, whose speaking and singing voice are both provided by Black women.
• 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.
• Official Couple: With Danny.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Inverted. She's the Broken Bird Savvy Girl to Danny's Keet Energetic Guy.
• Sexy Cat Person: Not excessively stressed, but she has the curviest figure of any female character.
• Sexy Secretary: A cat version.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Sawyer develops feelings for Danny not only because he's a nice guy, but because his optimism reignited her own as well.
• Snark Knight: She's quick with a sarcastic and witty remark, but it could be to mask that she's been let down by the industry just like her friends.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Sawyer's cynical outlook on life is just a mask to hide her broken bird status.
• Tender Tomboyishness, Foul Femininity: She's a sarcastic but caring working girl, in sharp contrast to Darla, who is a frilly and cutesy Hate Sink who wears pink dresses.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: She is the tomboy to Tillie's girly girl.
• Took a Level in Idealism: "This time, I've got to believe in his dream."

Tillie

Voiced by: Kathy Najimy

A hyperactive hippo who tends to look at the bright side of things.

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• Aroused by Their Voice: She acts this way after Sawyer sings "Tell Me Lies".
• Beware the Nice Ones: She's quite physical with Cranston when he's being rude early on in the film.
• Big Fun: The fact that she's played by Kathy Najimy is a dead giveaway...
• The Cutie: She has an adorably hyperactive and sweet demeanour, not to mention having an endearingly positive outlook on things.
• Doesnt Know Her Own Strength: Just ask the folks at the diner.
• Genki Girl: She is a hilarious hippopotamus, as hinted out by her giggling and snorting, and by how quickly she introduces lots of people (and fellow animals).
• Huggy, Huggy Hippos: A hyperactive and optimistic hippo who supports Danny's dreams.
• Motor Mouth: Especially when she introduces one person to another.
• Nice Girl: The only one who's nice to Danny and feels really bad after making fun of his early performance. Though after Danny unintentionally got them all fired by trusting Darla, she admits that things weren't that bad for the animals until he showed up and even called him a "crackerjack", but that immediately died down when she saw how much Sawyer loved Danny.
• The Pollyanna: She's bright, bubbly, and always positive.
• Shipper on Deck: She supports Danny and Sawyer.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: She is a girly girl to Sawyer's tomboy.
• True Blue Femininity: She is an optimistic glass half-full kind of girl whose top and bow are blue.

Cranston

Voiced by: Hal Holbrook

A cynical old goat.

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• Beta Couple: With Frances.
• The Cynic: As a result of having his dreams crushed.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has his moments of this.
• The Eeyore: Cranston seems to be one of the most bitter main characters, as he was one of the last ones to fully accept Danny. He is very pessimistic, even more so than Frances.
• Grumpy Old Man: He's much older than most of the other main characters, and expresses a negative attitude much of the time.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He might come across as harsh, but he has a good heart beneath it all.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: He's the oldest out of the main cast and is a crotchety grouch.

T.W.

Voiced by: Don Knotts (speaking), Rick Logan (singing)

A nervous turtle who is always seen reading his fortune cookies.

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• Action Hero: His dream role is to play one of these.
• Dressed to Plunder: In the "Animal Jam" scene.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Unlike most of the other anthropomorphic animal characters in this movie, he seems to only be dressed in a collar, tie and sleeve cuffs.
• "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: When he performs his part during "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", he sings that "the smell of danger is my middle name".
• Nervous Wreck: Complete with the constant shaking body.
• Only Known by Initials: We never find out what "T.W." stands for.
• Shy Shelled Animal: He is an anxious and somewhat shaky turtle.
• Singing Voice Dissonance: His speaking voice is very nervous and high-pitched, as opposed to his clean and deep singing voice.

Frances

Voiced by: Betty Lou Gerson

A dour female fish who is a dancer and a close friend (or maybe more?) to Cranston.

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• Beta Couple: With Cranston.
• Broken Bird: Like Sawyer, she wanted to be a dancer until Hollywood put her in demeaning roles.
• Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: She is drawn with her eyes half-closed and is a cynical former star. One could say she was a starfish.
• Interspecies Romance: Implied with Cranston, who is a goat.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Just like with Cranston.
• Tailfin Walking: She walks on her tail fins.
• When She Smiles: Especially near the film's climax.
• White-Dwarf Starlet: Acts and looks like one, even though she's a bit more self-aware than the usual examples.

Woolie

Voiced by: John Rhys-Davies

An elderly elephant who makes a living being the logo for Mammoth Studios. He is also a skilled pianist and composer.

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• Classically-Trained Extra: Wooly is a refined, well-read elephant who can play the piano. Mammoth Studios uses him as their Vanity Plate.
• Cool Old Guy: He's a kindly, polite older animal: he openly admires Danny's performances, and he breaks the news of Hollywood's prejudices to Danny as gently as he can.
• Gentle Giant: His kindness outmatches his huge size.
• Honorable Elephant: A gentlemanly elephant.
• Meaningful Name: Wooly mammoths were prehistoric creatures that are related to the present-day elephants.
• The Mentor: Acts as one to Danny.
• Nice Guy: Woolie is quite the kindly gentleman.

Pudge

Voiced by: Matthew Herried

A young penguin who meets Danny and gets involved in his aspirations.

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• Cheerful Child: An optimistic, friendly little kid.
• The Dog Bites Back: After being mistreated by Darla with the other animals, Pudge delivers her final comeuppance.
• Fingerless Hands: Justified since he has flippers for arms.
• Free-Range Children: Pudge's parents apparently let him go off to Hollywood on his own.
• Hidden Depths:
  • In the finale, it's shown he can play the saxophone quite skillfully.
  • Despite being a Cheerful Child, in the climax, he shows that he can also be a bit snarky and willing to punish evildoers when he gives the camera a "Can you believe this?" look just before pulling a lever to make Darla Dimple fall down a trapdoor (albeit harmlessly).
• Nice Guy: Pudge is helpful, loyal, and just a sweet guy all around.
• Pint-Sized Kid: Justified since Pudge is a juvenile aged penguin.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Of the anthropomorphic variety.
• Tagalong Kid: Instead of being the annoying kind, Pudge helps out a lot.
• Undying Loyalty: To Danny.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Even more so than Danny.

Flanigan

Voiced by: René Auberjonois

The director of Lil' Ark Angel who lives in constant fear of getting on Darla's bad side.

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• Artsy Beret: This snooty Prima Donna Director always wears a red beret.
• Butt-Monkey: He's constantly manhandled by the movie's child-aged villain.
• Gag Nose: He has a long, pointy nose.
• Moment Killer: Interrupted what would have been Danny and Sawyer's Big Damn Kiss.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Has this moment when Darla confesses the truth about the destruction of Mammoth Studios that got Danny and the other animals fired, leaving him horrified with L.B. Mammoth. He quickly attempts to make up with the animals alongside L.B. with ensuring their future stardom now that they have proven themselves.
• Nervous Wreck: Whenever Darla is around, expect him to be a weeping mess.
• Prima Donna Director: Despite that, though, Darla has him wrapped around her finger.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: To Darla Dimple.
• Yes-Man: He acts as one to L.B. Mammoth. For instance, when he sees Mammoth clapping for the animals’ performance at the end of the movie, he starts clapping even harder.

Darla Dimple

Voiced by: Ashley Peldon (speaking), Lindsay Ridgeway (singing); Esmeralda Kame (Albanian dub), Chie Kojiro (Japanese dub), Lyudmila Ilyina (Russian dub), Cristina Hernandez (Latin Spanish dub), Aline Pinsonneault (Canadian French dub), Marlies Somers (Dutch dub), Beata Wyrąbkiewicz (Polish dub)

A child star and the shining jewel of Mammoth Studios. To the general public, she's "America's Sweetheart and Lover of Animals". In reality, Darla's a self-centered actress not willing to share the limelight with anyone else. Especially animals.

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• Alliterative Name: While it could be a stage name (especially since plenty of stars during Hollywood's Golden Age went by stage names), her first and last names both start with the letter "D."
• Ax-Crazy: For such a young girl, she's extremely creepy, deranged, and unstable, and floods a movie studio with animals in it just so she doesn't have to share her work with them.
• Berserk Button: As Danny learned the hard way, upstaging her while filming Lil' Ark Angel will cause her to throw a hissy fit, revealing that she's nowhere near as pure and nice as the public thinks she is.
• Big Bad: She is the primary obstacle for Danny and the other animals in getting roles in Hollywood.
• Big Eater: She's a little bit on the pudgy side for an actress, and eats food from a gift basket at a rapid pace, including a hot dog she eats like a woodchipper eating a log.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She acts friendly in the eyes of the general public. In reality, she is extremely mean, short-tempered, and self-centered.
• Bright Is Not Good: Crossing over with Light Is Not Good; she has blonde hair and wears primarily pink, but she is a self-centered prima donna who abuses her co-workers and threatens anyone who tries to take the spotlight from her.
• Broken Pedestal: Danny genuinely admires her at first, if only by her reputation. But then he sees that she's The Prima Donna and trying to actively keep animals down, and the pedestal breaks in half.
• Butt-Monkey: Darla ends up getting routinely physically abused during "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", including getting electrocuted, flung around, and burned to a crisp. Thanks to Toon Physics, she's totally fine afterwards. And because of her obnoxiousness and cruelty, she deserved every second of it.
• Childish Tooth Gap: She has a noticeable gap between her front teeth, adding to her image as an adorable child star.
• Creepy Child: Despite being a cute little girl, she has a very strong tendency to lash out, many of her facial expressions are straight up creepy and her ways of getting rid of Danny and his friends could potentially lead to injury and even death.
• Defeat Means Menial Labor: The page image, based on the Laser-Guided Karma described downward.
• Enfant Terrible: She is an extremely bratty little girl off screen.
• Establishing Character Moment: In the opening narration, Darla is seen getting approval from the public and cuddling a few animals, though the narrator warns the viewers that she isn’t as sweet as she makes herself out to be. We get to see this outright during the filming of Lil' Ark Angel, where she acts as cute, caring and saccharine as possible while performing the film's musical number. But the moment Danny makes the foolish mistake of pushing her Berserk Button above, she lets go of the angelic facade, dishes out an epic temper tantrum, abuses Flanigan, loudly voices her bitter resentment of animals and summons Max to teach Danny a lesson. This establishes her as a selfish prima donna who does not live up to her moniker of "America's sweetheart, lover of children and animals" off camera and relies on Max to do the dirty work for her.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Considering that she was confident that she had crushed Danny's hopes of achieving his dream, she was completely baffled that Danny would still continue fighting for his dream and would later turn the tables on her during the climax song. His Batman Gambit is what eventually leads to her Villainous Breakdown.
• Evil Is Hammy: There are times where she can be REALLY over-the-top. Best exemplified when she sings her villainous reprise of "Big and Loud".
• Evil Laugh: Preceding her Villain Song and also kind of her default laugh. In the German version, it doubles as a rather terrifying Noblewoman's Laugh.
• Expressive Accessory: During most scenes, when Darla acts happy and friendly, her bow is normal. But whenever Darla gets angry or becomes scheming, her bow becomes pointed like devil horns.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: She may look sweet and cute, but she's using it to hide her evil self.
• The Fake Cutie: There's absolutely nothing cute about her true personality.
• Fatal Flaw: Her temper and her ego end up doing her in. During "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", Darla makes multiple attempts to sabotage the animals’ performance so she can ensure that she remains the sole star, but they all fail because Danny was expecting her to do so and encouraged the animals to go along with what happens, boosting their performance. This leads her to undergo a self-inflicted Humiliation Conga, culminating in her Villainous Breakdown where she accidentally reveals herself to be the real culprit behind the flooding of Mammoth Studios and ruining her reputation and career.
• Fat Bitch: She definitely has the bitch part down, being a Jerkass for one. Downplayed on the fat part, but she's a bit on the pudgy side, most noticeable with how chubby her arms and legs are in comparison to her hands and feet. Justified as it's shown that she eats a lot.
• Faux Affably Evil: Darla can pretend to be the sweet, friendly girl towards everyone in public whenever she controls her temper, or planning something devious. When she loses her temper, she stops pretending.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Even though she can get angry very easily, Darla keeps it under wraps usually.
• Hate Sink: Villain with Good Publicity she may be, but nobody who knows her well (minus Max) misses the fact she's an extremely temperamental Jerkass; even L.B. Mammoth only puts up with her because she's a star actress.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: After her final attempt to sabotage the animals' big show fails spectacularly, Darla launches into another tirade and furiously vents her hatred for them and for Danny, right in front of her audience and accidentally shouting into a microphone of her part in flooding the studio. It quickly proves to be the end of her career.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: She goes from the absolute peak of celebrity status and an A-list child actress to a mere janitor.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Non-romantic: Darla is the Tiny Girl to Max's Huge Guy.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: They look the part, but she's far from innocent.
• It's All About Me: She's the A-list of the A-list, and she'll do anything to keep it that way. That includes setting Danny up to fail, trying to flood the stage in Hollywood just to make sure he can't get any further, and tries to sabotage the animals during their big comeback number in "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". Darla does all of this because she's a Spoiled Brat who wants to hold onto her spot atop Hollywood's A-list by any means necessary.
• Jabba Table Manners: When she pigs out on a huge pile of junk food — and one apple — in her balcony box.
• Jerkass: A spoiled brat who hates all animals, actively works to destroy their performances and has an extremely short temper. Yeah, that'll do it.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Her act of flooding the studio and pinning the blame on the animals goes unpunished until she accidentally blurts it out loud as she confronts Danny once more. This ultimately shatters her career, fame and fortune.
• Kick the Dog: After giving advice to Danny about how to be great in a movie, she 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. And once she successfully gets animals fired, she takes the time to rub it in Danny’s face and laugh about how she easily took advantage of his naivety and belief that animals could become stars.
• Large Ham: "BIG AND LOUD!!!!!"
• Laser-Guided Karma: After trying to get the animals fired, she herself is ultimately put out of a job and forced to work as a janitor in the end credits.
• Light Is Not Good: She's heavily associated with hearts and the color pink — a motif she keeps while she's plotting Danny's downfall.
• The Napoleon: She is a small girl and can be quite terrifying when angered or planning out her evil deeds.
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: In her movies and public persona, Darla is the sweetest and cutest animal-loving little girl you'll ever meet. Behind the scenes, she's a self-centered prima donna who can't stand animals. She finally and accidentally reveals the latter personality at the end of the film, causing her to lose her job and her reputation.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Darla's attempts to stop the animals' performance result in one of the most spectacular auditions in all of cinema history, complete with gunfire and spectacular light performances.
• Nightmare Face: A lot of the movies humor comes from the faces cute little Darla ends up making when she's mad and drops the act. Pulls this off to terrifying effect at the end of "Big and Loud, Part 2."
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Darla's looks are obviously based on◊ Shirley Temple with some Jane Withers thrown in, and her first name is taken from Darla Hood of The Little Rascals.
  • For a bonus, most of Darla's characterization is inspired by a (false) Shirley Temple rumor from back in the day - that instead of being a sweet little girl, she was really a 30-year-old chain-smoking little person who hated children and animals.
• Nothing Nice About Sugar and Spice: She wears her hair in Regal Ringlets, dresses exclusively in pink, and is determined to sabotage any chance the animals have at stardom.
• Oh, Crap!: After she realizes that the entire studio heard her Villainous Breakdown over the loudspeaker.
• My God, What Have I Done?: During the grand finale of "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", Darla in a mad last ditch effort to sabotage the song pulls the Granddaddy of All Switches. As soon as she pulls it, her maniacal triumphant delight immediately flips into absolute horror when she sees what the switch actually does.
• Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Is the younger villain to Danny's older hero.
• Older Than They Look: Darla's implied (though not confirmed) to be much older than she looks.
• Parental Abandonment: Darla's parents are never seen or mentioned throughout the movie—she's shown to live alone with her butler, Max. Assuming that she's not older than she looks, it's possible that Darla's an orphan.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: She's treated like a princess by the staff of Mammoth Studios, and a large percentage of her outfits and possessions are pink.
• Psycho Pink: Darla dresses exclusively in pink. On-camera and in public, she bubbles with girlish charm and comes across with cutesy-poo goodness to the point of being Sickeningly Sweet. When the general public isn't watching, however, she's scary and a vicious Prima Donna. And if her tantrums aren't enough to scare you, she has a Mighty Glacier manservant named Max who is loyal to her every command. That's why everyone at Mammoth Studios walks on eggshells around her.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Her pupils turn red when she's extremely upset.
• Regal Ringlets: Her hair is styled this way.
• Seven Deadly Sins: She is basically a combination of all seven of them.
  • Wrath: Has an extremely short temper and will lash out at others if something doesn't go her way.
  • Gluttony: Eats lots of sweets, as shown when she meets with Danny, and when she is pigging out on her balcony box.
  • Lust: Has a lust for attention and tries to act cute in order to manipulate others and then dispose of them.
  • Pride: Sees herself to be better than anyone else.
  • Greed: Wants all of the fame to herself.
  • Sloth: Has Max do all of the dirty work for her while she just watches him do so, as shown when he floods the stages to ruin Danny and the other animals' act.
  • Envy: Gets jealous if anyone upstages her and even tries to stop anyone from doing so, as shown when she sees Danny and the other animals perform onstage after her movie is played.
• Sickeningly Sweet: Darla is known as an extremely cutesy character in her film roles and to the general public.
• Sitting Sexy on a Piano: During Darla's "Big and Loud" number — since it's a Max-sized piano and she's small, she can roll around for several minutes with no danger of falling off.
• Slasher Smile: Tends to sport this look quite a lot through the course of the movie.
• Smug Snake: Remains entirely confident that she'll ruin the animals even as her plot slowly but surely improves their act.
• The Sociopath: Cares only about herself and her own fame.
• Spoiled Brat: She's the main star of Mammoth Studios, has a butler, a huge home and lots of luxuries, and is very much a brat.
• Squashed Flat: Darla gets this treatment in the climax.
• Stepford Smiler: Type C. She pretends to be sweet and innocent, but she's quite The Prima Donna and a Nice Character, Mean Actor in-universe. This is shown when Danny upstages her; Darla's sweet and innocent on-screen persona instantly gives way to screaming about getting her own way, including that she hates animals.
• Tender Tomboyishness, Foul Femininity: Is the cutesy, pink, Hate Sink to Sawyer's sarcastic but kind hearted working girl.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: She just bites the heads off of animal crackers.
• Tiny Tyrannical Girl: She has all the adults at Mammoth Studios kowtowing to her every whim.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: For one thing, she floods a movie studio stage to sabotage the animals' audition, putting several people's lives in danger and causing untold amounts of property damage.
• Twitchy Eye: Darla sometimes does this when she's angry (or trying to hold back her anger).
• The Vamp: Considering that she utilizes her cuteness and faux-sweetness rather than the usual feminine traits of this trope, she's an oddly unsexualized fit to it.
  • Fille Fatale: However, her role as the Vamp is played slightly more straight when she shows shades of this trope during the "Big and Loud" number.
• Villainous Breakdown: When all her efforts to stop the animals' impromptu number in the finale backfire immensely. It ends with her outing herself to an audience while she's ranting at Danny.
  Darla: I'm the star! You stupid, stupid cat! I should've drowned you all when I FLOODED THE STAGE!!!!
• Villain Song: "Big and Loud" is a straight stage number, and part of a ploy to set up Danny and his friends. The second half is a Dark Reprise, where she reveals her true intentions to sabotage the animals' act.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Darla gets away with most of the crap she inflicts on everyone around her because she is the star of Mammoth Studios and puts up an extremely deceptive cutesy image before the general public. At least until she exposes her true personality at the end.
• Vocal Dissonance: In the French dub of the movie, she sounds much older than she looks.
• Wicked Heart Symbol: One of her major motifs.

Max

Voiced by: Mark Dindal

Darla's Frankenstein-like butler. He provides the muscle for Darla throughout and is generally part of the reason no one stands up to her.

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• Ambiguously Human: He looks like a cross between Frankenstein's monster and King Kong.
• Bald Head of Toughness: He is a bald, giant, super strong, brute that acts as Darla's muscle.
• Bald of Evil: He's hairless. The man doesn't even have eyebrows!
• Battle Butler: He is a gigantic butler who does most of Darla's physical work such as hurting animals who upstage her.
• The Brute: He serves as Darla's gigantic butler and fighter.
• Catchphrase: "YEEEEEEEES MEEESS DEEM-POOOOOLLLL..."
• The Comically Serious: An infectious tune may get him to shimmy a bit on the spot, but he'll retain his perpetual scowl.
• The Dragon: He also plays this role to Darla as well, as there seems to be no one else besides him to look after her.
• The Dreaded: Humans and animals alike fear him greatly, and for good reason.
• Evil Laugh: He lets out two of these during the Dark Reprise of "Big and Loud", only for Darla to tell him to shut up.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Has a deep booming voice courtesy of Mark Dindal and is The Dragon to Darla's Big Bad.
• Expy: He's a parody of Max von Mayerling from Sunset Boulevard.
• The Faceless: His face was obscured in the shadows at the beginning; is fully revealed when Darla calls to him to deal with Danny.
• Giant Equals Invincible: His physical stature, coupled with his unearthly strength, makes him impervious to just about anything.
• Gratuitous French: The last time we see him, he's clinging onto the Darla Dimple balloon as it sails over Paris, crying out "Oui, miss Dimple!".
• The Heavy: He does a majority of the manhandling...er, animal-handling for Darla. He even gets a more action-based climax against Danny.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Non-romantic: Max is the Huge Guy to Darla's Tiny Girl.
• Inexplicably Awesome: Little to no information regarding him is given other than "Max is Darla's infallibly loyal and devoted butler as well as her enforcer.", which doesn't prevent him from being every bit as strong as you'd expect somebody with his stature to be, and also seemingly being either a whole lot faster or stealthier than he looks.
• Irony: What ultimately defeats him is getting sent rocketing through the sky on a balloon based off of the appearance of Darla Dimple, his boss who he is completely and utterly devoted to.
• Kaiju: He's big enough to be one. He's absolutely gigantic.
• Lightning Bruiser: Any sort of direct physical confrontation is not going to end well.
• Mysterious Past: Nothing about his early life (how he met and was hired by Darla, how he became what he is, or even what he is and/or used to be) is ever revealed.
• Not So Stoic: For the majority of the movie, he's always seen as stone-faced and emotionless. In the final confrontation with Danny, however, he finally shows genuine emotions.
• 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. This leads to a rather amusing bit 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. Can be seen here at 4:18. It's implied Max can actually move at incredible speeds as he managed quickly arrive at the sound stage to intimidate Danny, move away from Darla to accost Danny and Pudge in the theater without anyone noticing, and being able to quickly pursue Danny on the balloon float seconds after seeing him on it.
• Parental Substitute: As Darla's parents are never seen or mentioned, Max is implied to be this to her.
• Perpetual Frowner: For most of the movie least till the climax where he gets a bit Axe-Crazy and his Oh, Crap! expression when Danny has him beat. There are three memorable moments when Max smiled: During his Not So Stoic moment when he was dancing to the beat, the second was a Slasher Smile when he has Danny in his clutches, and the third and final one is his "Oh, Crap!" Smile when Danny had him at his mercy.
• Sadist: Shows signs of sadism when he pursues Danny in the climax.
• Scary Teeth: An enormous, crooked set of teeth seemingly made entirely of molars and bicuspids. And they remain completely shut at almost all times.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Max is apparently an expert in this despite his size.
• Super-Senses: He can hear a bowtie snap from several meters away. Especially notable as his ears are comically small for his size.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Due to his extreme strength and size, nobody is willing to directly fight him and technically remains undefeated in a physical fight due to not being actually taken out in one, but being unwillingly sent on a journey through the sky, with his steed being a balloon in the image of his boss, Darla Dimple, that he clings onto desperately after it pops at the end of his pursuit of Danny.
• Top-Heavy Guy: He is really enormous and strong, and has really small legs.
• Undying Loyalty: He's thoroughly devoted to Ms. Dimple.
• Villainous Breakdown: His emotionless facade gradually breaks down into pure sadism as he pursues Danny atop the theater, only to cower before Danny when he sees the balloon is about to pop with him still on it.
• White Gloves: He wears these, though during a pan up to him during his introduction scene, he is bare-handed.
• Your Size May Vary: Max is always huge, but how huge exactly varies scene by scene. Sometimes he's a 20-foot-tall giant, other times he's just a very large man. It doesn't help that his scale is only ever shown next to Darla or the animals who are mostly on the small side.

L.B. Mammoth

Voiced by: George Kennedy

The man in charge of Mammoth Studios.

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• Cigar Chomper: He is usually seen smoking a cigar.
• Ironic Name: "Mammoth" is sometimes used to talk about something that's large in size, and while he certainly has a rather broad build, he's actually very short in height.
• Large and in Charge: Inverted — he's the head of Mammoth Studios, but he's actually very short in height (though he certainly has a very broad build for someone of his height).
• My God, What Have I Done?: Has this moment when Darla confesses the truth in the flooding of the Mammoth Studios lot that got Danny and the other animals fired, leaving him horrified with Flanigan. He quickly makes amends with the animals afterwards and ensures their future stardom is secured.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's a parody of MGM executive and co-founder Louis B. Mayer.
• Only Known by Initials: It's never revealed what the "L" and the "B" in his name stand for, though given who he is a parody of, they most likely stand for "Louis" and "Burt."
• Smoking Is Cool: He's often shown smoking cigars—but considering that the movie is supposed to take place in the late 1930s/early 1940s, this is a justified example of this trope.

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