This month's review is going to be very interesting, as 1997's Cats Don't Dance wasn't really a film that I was familiar with because I watched it a lot as a child, but rather because of the trailer. Growing up, my sister and I loved watching the 1996 sports comedy Space Jam (yes, the Michael Jordan/Looney Tunes project). Rocking out to the music (before the musician behind the best song in the film got revealed to be just awful), enjoying the slapstick comedy of the Toons and watching a decently weird game of basketball made it a thrill for any child.
As a result, we watched this movie a lot on VHS and consequently saw the trailers that started the film just as many times. The first trailer on the VHS (that is to say, the first thing we saw) was a great trailer for Cats Don't Dance (which you will be able to watch in the review below). I remember sometimes even rewinding Space Jam just to watch the trailer for Cats Don't Dance. Growing up, we just didn't really get the chance to actually watch the film until I was much older, and by then I think I wasn't as enthusiastic about it as I should've been (I was a pre-teen and thus "too good" for kids movies).
Now as an adult and no longer willing to tolerate an uppity teenager attitude towards movies (I will judge a movie on its qualities alone rather than how "cool" it is, thank you very much), I will reexamine this silent presence from my childhood. Is Cats Don't Dance a truly great underrated animated film, or is it the result of childhood nostalgia and a desire to relive simpler times?
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