My understanding is that django/sqlalchemy and catalyst/dbix::class are equivalent. The former being better at keeping managers happy, the latter at keeping the right kind of programmers happy ( due to the superior flexibility).
I did try Catalyst but being Perl and "more than one way to do it" caused me a lot of confusion (you could replace the template engine, the ORM and other parts to the point where I didn't know what the framework actually was).
Django was a bit more beginner friendly for someone new to a framework, and the documentation is really good. And the Django admin is one of the best ways to get something up and running quickly, there wasn't a Perl equivalent when I was trying Catalyst.
