DVDizzy Forum

This looks really bad. I mean really bad, guys. It's creepy! I agree with Sotiris and disneyprincess11 completely! And UmbrellaFish is probably right about how this will be one of the worst musicals ever! The good is that they are cat-sized in over-sized backgrounds. The good is the singing. Maybe the acting. The bad is what looks like everything else! Why oh why make them have mocap human faces on bad cat-suit-wearing cgi bodies? It looks absolutely horrifying! But will I see it? Yup.

blackcauldron85 wrote: *edit* You don't think they'll do a redesign of sorts like they're doing for the new Sonic the Hedgehog movie, do you?

They might try, but I don’t think they can’t escape the uncanny valley here. They will always straddle an uncomfortable line between too human and too catlike. People have poked fun at the stage costumes and make-up of Cats for years, but they were never this unsettling. The blend of human and cat is so... bizarre.

I don't know much about the musical, but wouldn't this work better as an animated movie? The trailer is all sorts of wrong and disturbing.

Jennifer Hudson is a great singer and "Memory" sounds really good hear; I'm very excited to hear the full song. I wonder if they'll go with the original arrangement or the revised Broadway version. Outside of "Memory," the musical doesn't have that much going for it, since there's barely a plot, but I've always enjoyed "Prologue/The Naming of Cats," "Rum Tum Tugger," and "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer." I guess we'll have to see/hear the rest closer to the release date.

I also don't mind the "digital fur technology" either. Is it weird at first? Yes, but it's not as off-putting to me as it seems it is to most people. We just need to get used to it. I mean, what did we expect? We were always going to see humans as cats and we were never going to see leotards and legwarmers, so this seems like a good balance, even if it's somewhat alarming at first glance. And I don't think it was ever going to be animated either, so...

Mooky wrote:I don't know much about the musical, but wouldn't this work better as an animated movie?

Steven Spielberg was originally going to produce Cats as an animated film in the '90s, back when he had his Amblimation animation studio. But the box-office failure of Balto lead to the studio closing and the movie getting cancelled.

I am surprised, say, DreamWorks Animation wasn't given the task of adapting Cats, especially with their experience in animating felines. I guess Tom Hooper wanted to preserve the choreography of the stage show, but if audiences could believe Puss in Boots was a master swashbuckler, then DreamWorks could definitely pull off the feline-like dancing of the musical.

I have always found the stage musical makeup to be creepy and unsettling, but I'm hoping with the movie, I'm able to settle in and get used to how the cats look. I wonder if the filmmakers have also attempted to give the show a plot of some kind, because the musical...doesn't really have much of one. It's mostly a bunch of cats prancing about, singing insipid songs and trying to be reincarnated.

I think if they were given cat noses, they'd be less creepy?! And the human mouths could've been changed to more cat-like...? I get trying to make a different-looking movie...is the team working on it happy with how it came out? or are there just time restraints...?

Mooky wrote:I don't know much about the musical, but wouldn't this work better as an animated movie? The trailer is all sorts of wrong and disturbing.

Yes, you are right. I would have preferred this movie to be realistic CGI cats ala The Lion King, just with expressions.

Some of you say the original costumes were bad, but if they had been in costumes and make-up instead of these CGI creatures, it would be better, no?

TheSequelOfDisney wrote:Outside of "Memory," the musical doesn't have that much going for it, since there's barely a plot[...]

The musical is fun and emotional. It has a lot going for it.

estefan wrote: I wonder if the filmmakers have also attempted to give the show a plot of some kind, because the musical...doesn't really have much of one. It's mostly a bunch of cats prancing about, singing insipid songs and trying to be reincarnated.

There isn't much plot, but the songs tell stories and emotions, and some are at the very least fun. They are not insipid.

blackcauldron85 wrote:Jennifer sounds amazing!!!

I actually didn't like her performance here. "Memory" has a quiet intensity to it. It doesn't suit it to be belted like a power ballad or a Gospel song.

blackcauldron85 wrote:It could've been creepier...

How? They look like an experiment gone wrong by a mad scientist.

Disney Duster wrote:The good is that they are cat-sized in over-sized backgrounds.

While I appreciate them crafting physical sets instead of relying on CG, the perspective looks off to me. The characters look too small like they are the size of mice instead of cats. The fact they stand on two legs and have human bodies makes the size difference difficult to gauge and accept. Even this element feels unsettling to me.

TheSequelOfDisney wrote:I'm very excited to hear the full song. I wonder if they'll go with the original arrangement or the revised Broadway version.

I prefer the original arrangement so I'd rather they went with that over the Broadway one.

estefan wrote:Steven Spielberg was originally going to produce Cats as an animated film in the '90s, back when he had his Amblimation animation studio. But the box-office failure of Balto lead to the studio closing and the movie getting cancelled.

It's such a shame that adaptation never came to be. The concept art and character designs for it were excellent.

Disney Duster wrote:Some of you say the original costumes were bad, but if they had been in costumes and make-up instead of these CGI creatures, it would be better, no?

Without a doubt. Having them with real costumes and make-up would be infinitely better. It would have reduced the uncanny effect significantly.

Hm, maybe they are as small as mice. They look cat-sized to me. But your opinion matters, too. It is hard to gauge perfectly.

The Stephen Spielburg film would have been infinitely better than this. I like all the art! Those angles! Those shots! Those shadows! Macavity! Am I the only one who would have also liked photo-realistic CGI cats - but more expressive and emotional than Jungle Book or Lion King of course! Hand-drawn wins but I would like photo-realistic just as well.

I'm glad we agree doing it the Broadway way would have been so much better.

I think the trailer looks great ! Second favorite trailer of the year after Joker. I can't wait for this movie !

Nose paint and "whisker dots"...that's all I'm asking for. Just look up the Broadway show on Google Images, and that's what they show had that this movie doesn't. I think it truly would make a big difference...

I've been so looking forward to this and I don't want to give up hope that they'll "fix" this in post-production...

Sotiris wrote:

TheSequelOfDisney wrote:I'm very excited to hear the full song. I wonder if they'll go with the original arrangement or the revised Broadway version.

I prefer the original arrangement so I'd rather they went with that over the Broadway one.

I like both versions for different reasons, so I'm fine either way. Though I'm partial to the original arrangement too.

Edit:

I just rewatched the trailer and it looks like they're going with the Broadway arrangement, though--with Grizabella's solo starting with "memory" instead of the original's "midnight."

estefan wrote:

Mooky wrote:I don't know much about the musical, but wouldn't this work better as an animated movie?

Steven Spielberg was originally going to produce Cats as an animated film in the '90s, back when he had his Amblimation animation studio. But the box-office failure of Balto lead to the studio closing and the movie getting cancelled.

Oh, I didn't know that. It could have been quite interesting.

The film doesn’t look as bad as everyone online has made it out to be. I don’t mind the way the characters look even if it isn’t perfect, although that may only be while the film is moving. A still shot would probably be horrible. Either way, it doesn’t really matter to me. I like several of the actors, but JHUD’s “Memory” is all I ever really cared about in regards to this. And she sounds superb, imo.

Disney Duster wrote:Hm, maybe they are as small as mice. They look cat-sized to me. But your opinion matters, too. It is hard to gauge perfectly.

Have you ever seen an adult cat that's smaller than cutlery? The scale and perspective are definitely off.

Oh, you're right! That they aren't doing the size right, either.

I thought of this after learning who the actress is:
https://nypost.com/2019/07/19/people-ar ... white-fur/

blackcauldron85 wrote:I thought of this after learning who the actress is:
https://nypost.com/2019/07/19/people-ar ... white-fur/

There are some relatively pointless complaints there, especially to the whitewashing claims. I can understand where it's coming from but Hayward plays Victoria the White Cat, so it would make sense that she looks like a white cat. (Well, as much as a human wearing a green suit with fur added on in post-production can look like a fictional white cat.) The white as innocence trope is as old as storytelling too, and while that doesn't necessarily mean that Victoria needed to be the White Cat, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with keeping that symbolism. And if Hooper was so determined to whitewash the characters, why would he retain Jennifer Hudson's and Idris Elba's and Jason Derulo's skin tones in their fur? Seems like people are grasping for straws to claim this as racist when it really isn't. And why wouldn't Hayward get an "introducing" credit for her first film? That's kind of customary. And just because she's known in the ballet world doesn't mean the rest of us have heard of her. I hadn't until the trailer.

They're also freaking cats. Not sure why some people are up-in-arms about it. I'd understand the claim if Hayward were playing a person, but she isn't.



(Side note: I don't understand why people need to have an immediate and visceral positive or negative reaction to things nowadays. Why don't they take the time to form their own opinions about things before reacting?)

I just knew there'd be backlash. These issues, though, make me think: If the actor/actress was offended, would they take the part?

blackcauldron85 wrote:I just knew there'd be backlash. These issues, though, make me think: If the actor/actress was offended, would they take the part?

I would think probably not, but who could say for sure? And surely Hooper didn't hide anything about the character from Hayward and so she would have a fully formed opinion on whether or not she wanted the role.