Press Release Warner Archive Collection Announcement: Cats Don't Dance (1997) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Coming to Blu-ray September 26th!

New 2023 1080p HD Master from 4K scan of original camera negative!

CATS DON’T DANCE (1997)
Run Time: 75 Minutes
Subtitles: ENGLISH SDH
Audio Specs: DTS HD-MA 5.1 Surround
Aspect Ratio 16x9 1.85:1
Product color: Color
Disc Configuration-BD 50

Special Features: Warner Bros. classic cartoons (all HD) “Curtain Razor”, “Daffy Duck in Hollywood”, “Show Biz Bugs”, “What’s Up, Doc?”; Original Theatrical Trailer

Cast: Voices of Scott Bakula, Jasmine Guy, Natalie Cole

Talent, ambition and drive count for everything in Hollywood—unless you are a cool cat with dreams of dancing. Because everyone knows that pigs don't fly, cows don't sing and definitely, Cats Don't Dance. Scott Bakula and Jasmine Guy lend their impressive talents to star in this musical, animated, rags-to-riches feature as the voices of Danny, a way-cool hep cat with toes that yearn to tap, and Sawyer, the sexy, cynical chanteuse for whom Danny swoons. But twirl, tap and leap as he might—in dances choreographed by legendary human dancer Gene Kelly—Danny can't even get an audition. People always get the good parts; animals only bark, moo or meow. With songs by Randy Newman and vocals sung by the great Natalie Cole, Danny and the animals struggle through harrowing and hilarious escapades—each doing what they do best, regardless of species. And in the end, Danny and Sawyer, realizing they are a match made in cat heaven, follow their dreams—and shuffle off past everyone who says that Cats Don't Dance!

See on Amazon

 

[80s-forever]

YESSSSSS!!!!!! THANK YOU GEORGE F. !!!

 

[Dick]

Didn't Burt Reynolds provide a voice for something like this?

 

[B-ROLL]

Didn't Burt Reynolds provide a voice for something like this?

I think you may be Miles off ...I believe it was this film ...

!

 

[Dick]

I think you may be Miles off ...I believe it was this film ...

View attachment 194885
!

Hey, I was close!

 

[RBailey]

Didn't Burt Reynolds provide a voice for something like this?

Burt Reynolds did the voice work for this cartoon feature.

 

[Dick]

Burt Reynolds did the voice work for this cartoon feature. View attachment 194949

Cats. Dogs. What's the dif?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Cats. Dogs. What's the dif?

One is a love letter to the classic Hollywood musical with choreography by Gene Kelly and songs by Randy Newman; the other is All Dogs Go to Heaven.

I’ll be getting this one ASAP.

 

[Dick]

One is a love letter to the classic Hollywood musical with choreography by Gene Kelly and songs by Randy Newman; the other is All Dogs Go to Heaven.

I’ll be getting this one ASAP.

I did, of course, have my tongue squarely in my cheek. I was thinking of the instance at age 12 when I went to see what had been advertised as MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and instead was shown MYSTERY SUBMARINE, a boring black and white sea adventure. The manager would not refund me when I complained just minutes into the film. She said, "MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, MYSTERY SUBMARINE...what's the difference?" Hell on Earth for a kid.

 

[Interdimensional]

It says this has been mastered from the camera negative, however this wasn't photographed under a rostrum camera in the traditional way with physical cels and painted backgrounds. The artwork would've been scanned in and computer coloured, as Disney and Amblimation had been doing since early nineties. Ideally they'd be able to go back to the original digital ink and paint files, or high-res renders, rather than deal with artifacts from 35mm film, although perhaps during the acquisition this data was not retained. I understand Disney have archived such files on their animated features.

It's a beautifully made film with some hilarious moments, some virtuoso cartoon animation and is highly recommended.

 

[richardburton84]

It says this has been mastered from the camera negative, however this wasn't photographed under a rostrum camera in the traditional way with physical cels and painted backgrounds. The artwork would've been scanned in and computer coloured, as Disney and Amblimation had been doing since early nineties. Ideally they'd be able to go back to the original digital ink and paint files, or high-res renders, rather than deal with artifacts from 35mm film, although perhaps during the acquisition this data was not retained. I understand Disney have archived such files on their animated features.

It's a beautifully made film with some hilarious moments, some virtuoso cartoon animation and is highly recommended.

Perhaps the original digital files no longer survive. I recall something similar occurring when The Iron Giant was released on Blu-ray, where the digital files didn’t survive and a negative had to be used for the transfer (I also reading interviews at the time where grain had to be inserted into the added scenes for consistency).

 

[Interdimensional]

Perhaps the original digital files no longer survive. I recall something similar occurring when The Iron Giant was released on Blu-ray, where the digital files didn’t survive and a negative had to be used for the transfer (I also reading interviews at the time where grain had to be inserted into the added scenes for consistency).

If they don't have such files for The Iron Giant, a WB Animation production, I can't imagine they would for Turner Animation's Cats Don't Dance. Unlike Disney, who have a more consistent pipeline and a series of features to preserve, other studios have more of a spotty series of animated releases, often involving multiple outside contractors and a variety of software.

Perhaps this is getting overly pedantic, but is it accurate to refer to the source as "camera negative"? I presume they originally had high-res mpegs or other video format that would've been output to film.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Amazon Pre-Order Link added to first post.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Perhaps the original digital files no longer survive. I recall something similar occurring when The Iron Giant was released on Blu-ray, where the digital files didn’t survive and a negative had to be used for the transfer (I also reading interviews at the time where grain had to be inserted into the added scenes for consistency).

If they don't have such files for The Iron Giant, a WB Animation production, I can't imagine they would for Turner Animation's Cats Don't Dance. Unlike Disney, who have a more consistent pipeline and a series of features to preserve, other studios have more of a spotty series of animated releases, often involving multiple outside contractors and a variety of software.

Perhaps this is getting overly pedantic, but is it accurate to refer to the source as "camera negative"? I presume they originally had high-res mpegs or other video format that would've been output to film.

The film-out is as close to camera negative as you would get for a 90s animated film where digital files no longer exist. Perhaps the more appropriate term would be internegative, in the sense that it’s a negative derived from positive digital elements, but at the same time, the grain level would be closer to an OCN.

While Disney’s CAPS system is well documented, and Disney has the best animation preservation workflows in the industry, we don’t know what the workflows were for Turner Animation at the time. We look at other studios, some shorter lived than others, and even some of the extant animation studios (DWA, anyone?) have junked their digital files and produce 4K discs from film outs. I remember when Disney/Pixar released The Ultimate Toy Box on DVD, and it was the first time Disney had mastered a video release of Toy Story from the digital files. The difference was staggering.

As a huge fan of this film, I hope we get a disc mastered as close to source as possible, but if digital files no longer exist, that will be that. We were warned.