Paying lively tribute to Hollywood's golden era of musicals, Cat's Don't Dance tells the tuneful, animated tale of plucky Danny (Scott Bakula), a tom cat from Kokomo who heads to Tinseltown to fulfill his dream of becoming a big star. He has optimistically given himself seven days to accomplish his goal. Soon after finding himself an agent, Danny gets cast in Mammoth Picture's latest musical, Lil Ark Angel, starring the studio's most popular juvenile actress, the adorable Darla Dimple (Ashley Peldon for dialogue and Lindsay Rideway for singing). But while Darla is the apple of every camera's eye, she proves to be rotten to the core when shooting is finished. The monstrous little megalomaniac hates all animals and abuses them accordingly. She is especially cruel to Danny, who, not content to merely utter his only line, "Meow," launches into a song and dance number that steals the show. It is afterward that he learns that no matter how talented they are, animal actors get no respect. Still, Danny makes friends with his fellow furry thespians including the pretty kitty Sawyer (Jasmine Guy speaking and Natalie Cole singing), a piano-playing elephant who is tired of being the studio symbol, a soprano-singing hippo, and a good-natured penguin. Trouble comes when Darla sweetly offers to have Danny and friends audition before the studio mogul L.B. Mammoth. The film's dance numbers were lifted from the work of the late dancer/actor Gene Kelly who is credited with choreographing the dance numbers. Randy Newman penned the film's six songs.