The film is manic. It's set in 1939. Getting off the bus from Kokomo, Ind., is Danny, a cat with the voice of Scott Bakula. Not a cat as in hep, but a cat as in feline. But he learns that although he can sing and dance and talk, there is a prejudice against animals in H'wood, much like that against the animated Toons in the alternate universe of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Animals never get to do more in films than be, well, animals.
Although she works constantly with animals, the monstrously conceited Darla hates them. Randy Newman has contributed several catchy songs, the best of which is the production number we see Darla shooting on a Mammoth sound stage. She's shepherding animals aboard the ark for a film called Li'l Ark Angel. Well, Darla's having none of that, so she sets out to sabotage the show. Her muscle comes from her King Kong-size butler, who is drawn to look like Erich von Stroheim in Sunset Boulevard .