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| “ | That's right! I AM an angel! I... am... an adorable... little... ANGEL! | „ |
| ~ Darla Dimple revealing her true colors. |
| “ | MAAAAAAAAX! | „ |
| ~ Darla calling on Max. |
| “ | I’m the star. Stupid, stupid cat! I SHOULD'VE DROWNED YOU ALL WHEN I FLOODED THE STAGE! | „ |
| ~ Darla's villainous breakdown as she inadvertently exposed her crime to everyone. |
Darleen "Darla" Dimple, also publicly known to her fans as Darla Dimple, is the main antagonist of Warner Bros. Animation's 3rd animated feature film Cats Don't Dance. A bigoted child actress, Darla holds a colossal butler named Max at her command, serving as her enforcer. She is also Danny's arch-nemesis.
She was voiced by Ashley Peldon, and her singing voice was provided by Lindsay Ridgeway.
Description[]
Appearance[]
Darla is a small, slightly obese young girl. She has fair skin, blonde hair styled in curly ringlets, and baby blue eyes. She wears a short-sleeve light pink dress, a hot pink hair bow, calf-length light pink socks, and pink ballet flats.
Interestingly, whenever Darla is in her sweet and loving personality, her hairbow is normal; however, whenever she loses her temper or begins scheming, her bow becomes pointed which gives the appearance of devil-like horns. This ironically comes into conflict with her claims of being an angel.
Personality[]
Darla Dimple makes an effort to seem good-natured and put-together when in public, and has successfully maintained her reputation for being "America's Sweetheart, lover of children and animals." This is only partially true, as she does love other children (and this is possibly her one redeeming quality). However, she is actually quite spoiled, with a hair-trigger temper and pathological drive to maintain her status as Mammoth Studio’s biggest star. She is also extremely clever and manipulative, using her acting skills to take advantage of those around her.
She is a huge diva, and is demanding and rude to the film crew whenever anything goes wrong. Failure to immediately course correct prompts a visit from her imposing butler, Max. She is especially impatient and hateful towards animals, who she sees as disposable extras, and will stop at nothing to keep them that way.
Despite what her behavior would suggest, she is legitimately very talented. She is a gifted singer and dancer, and is charismatic enough to command large audiences and charm anyone who doesn’t know her well. Her extremely competitive nature, combined with her arrogance proved to be her ultimate downfall rather than any lapse in her actual abilities. In a final attempt to sabotage the animal protagonists, she accidentally exposed her unpleasant personality and past misdeeds to a full audience and Mammoth Studio executives, destroying her career.
Biography[]
Darla’s age is somewhat ambiguous. She doesn’t appear to be any older than ten, but seems much more clever and vindictive than a typical child. She also doesn’t seem to have anyone other than Max looking after her. Her conspicuous lack of family is never explained. She has evidently been in Hollywood long enough to develop an understanding of its internal politics and cozy up to one of its most prominent executives.
The events of the film are the beginning of the end of her career. During the filming of what turns out to be her last movie, Little Ark Angel, she develops a personal grudge against the protagonist, Danny, when he interrupts her opening song. When an unpleasant visit with Max fails to dampen his spirits, Darla ups the anti by luring him into a setup meant both to further intimidate him and the other animal actors and frame them for the consequences.
During this visit, she offers Danny advice on how to succeed in show business, complete with a seemingly impromptu musical number with extensive music accompaniment and visual effects. Her performance has the desired effect, convincing Danny of both her expertise and goodwill, and he accepts her proposal to perform during L.B.Mammoth’s press conference.
With Max’s help, she floods Mammoth Studios while the animals set up for their performance, disgracing them and causing massive property damage. Being extremely petty, she stops by the wreckage just to gloat before leaving everyone in the dust. Her plan buys her time without interruption or competition, and she turns her focus back to preparing for the release of Li'l Ark Angel at Grauman's Chinese Theater.
Unfortunately for her, she underestimated her opponent’s determination and was taken by complete surprise when Danny, having gotten rid of Max while she was distracted watching the movie, shows up with all the other animals and delivers the performance they’d wanted in front of L.B. Mammoth, Flanagan, and the entire audience. Darla is forced to deal with them herself, but causes them to end up putting on an impressive production anyway. She goes backstage in an attempt at sabotage, but her meddling only enhances the show and makes it more impressive while injuring herself in different ways; this ends with her pulling a large switch in a desperate fit of rage, which causes a fabulous fireworks display to end the show, earning the animals a standing ovation from the audience.
Now covered in wires, props, and bruises, she yells at Danny that she should have drowned him and the rest of the animals when she flooded the stage, only to realize too late, to her own horror, that a boom microphone was over her head in the commotion, and her confession has been broadcasted to the entire audience, as well as Flanagan and L.B. Mammoth, who are all horrified to learn that the animals were not responsible for the damage to Mammoth Studios and were wrongly fired, while Darla had gotten away scot-free just to protect her fame and reputation. As a result, all finally know now that she was well and truly responsible, and Flanagan and L.B. Mammoth realize they have made a terrible mistake by firing the innocent victims instead of the real culprit, and now need to atone for their screwup fast if they want to save their own reps in the process. Darla foolishly tries to save face by hugging Danny, but it is already too late. Pudge then pulls a trapdoor lever and Darla is dragged down through the stage due to being tangled with a sandbag that pulls her in, shouting one final time in desperation and fury for Max, who was still floating across the planet on the Darla balloon he fought Danny on earlier, who is passing through Paris when he is able to hear her call and reply, "Oui, Miss Dimple."
With her reputation and stardom destroyed by her own reckless actions and self-centered behavior, Darla is demoted to a lowly janitor, likely as punishment to pay for her mistakes. She is last seen putting up posters for films with the animals she despises so much in the starring roles as L.B. Mammoth and Flanagan quickly make amends with Danny, Sawyer, and the other animals by rehiring them and ensuring that their future stardom is secured.
Quote[]
| “ | I... hate... ANIMALS! Especially THAT one! | „ |
| ~ Darla’s infamous quote |
Trivia[]
- Darla is a parody of the late Shirley Temple during her days as a child actress in the 1930s. However, Shirley was a brunette while Darla is blonde.
- Her actual name, Darleen, is a play on the word "darling", meaning "a precious and adorable person". This is ironic, considering her true nature.
- Her actual name "Darleen" is a play on the word "darling", meaning a precious and adorable person.