I admit I've never seen Cats, but if the tone is supposed to be horrific fever dream, they've nailed it with that aesthetic.
I mean, it looks about how I'd expect Cats to be translated to screen. I think it's a totally faithful recreation of the musical.
But I also think Cats is a bad musical, off-putting, and also one of the only two musicals that almost put me to sleep in the theater.
Like, just because it's a really accurate translation of the show to screen, does not in any way mean it LOOKS good on screen.
Friendly reminder that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend did a Cats-themed episode and it looked way better than this. Also, it made fun of Cats shamelessly:
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
Watched the trailer.
...My God, I am cringing way harder than I did when I watched the Ghostbusters (2016) trailer.
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
The Head of the Hydra
Watching that trailer, I felt odd.
I think its a feeling you get watching a horror movie or something.
Wait Idris Elba can sing?
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
It's called Uncanny Valley, I believe.
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
insert commentary here
Someone did an edit of the trailer where the I Got 5 On It remix
from Us plays instead and I find it way more fitting lol
Edited by Nouct on Jul 19th 2019 at 2:00:42 AM
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
Okay wow, that edit was so freaking creepy that I couldn't actually watch it to the end. 0_o
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
...
Why is it CGI? Costumes would have fixed the Uncanny Valley so much. I'm so confused about these characters now. Aren't they, you know, normal cats who are only played by humans? They seem more like actual humanoid cats.
The designs didn't translate the designs well. They need muzzles or at least less humanoid bodies.
...I hope that expect Warrior Cats fans make some cute Cats Multi Animator Projects out of this at least. I've had a "Memory" MAP in mind for a long time, but I don't host MAPs.
Edited by Pichu-kun on Jul 19th 2019 at 2:12:53 AM
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It's hilarious how this and His Dark Materials are both coming out this year and handled by the same guy when they are so diametrically opposed in presentation and tone.
Oh, bother.
I gotta admit, I've always thought Cats was overrated. But then again, I've found Andrew Lloyd Webber's stuff in general to be overrated.
Seriously, the only song I actually like from Cats is "Memory".
Edited by M84 on Jul 19th 2019 at 6:39:11 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Who would have though It part 2 gonna be the second most scary trailer this week?
E.T technically is a Isekai movie
This trailer has allowed people to inform me of the existence of Starlight Express.
Imagine that getting a film.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I didn't even know Starlight Express was real... I thought that was something The Goldbergs made up.
For myself, it probably helps that I do genuinely like the musical. (Or at least, the version that was put on over here some years ago; I of course don't know how that might compare to other versions, Broadway included. I imagine that it's pretty much the same, however.)
(My only real gripe with the musical is, having read Old Pussums Book Of Practical Cats, I'm not a fan of their handling of Macavity.)
Thus the main obstacle for me is the appearance of the Cats, which... really doesn't bother me overmuch.
My Games & Writing
Disasturbator
Can't wait for Dogs
New theme music also a box
And then we will finally get the Cats & Dogs reboot we deserve?
Edited by 123tbones on Jul 19th 2019 at 8:54:21 AM
...
The theatrical costumes generally look good. The film is just missing something.
Edit:
This woman's a Cats fan and hates the costumes too.
Edited by Pichu-kun on Jul 19th 2019 at 9:27:16 AM
Lurker Veteran
Only thing I could say after watching the trailer was:
"Did they smoke catnip to convince themselves this was a good idea?! "
As a canadian, I mostly know Cats by word-of-mouth and the numerous parodies / jabs made against it. Speaking of which, didn't Andrew Lloyd-Webber himself get mocked once too? I think it was an expy named Andrew Bed-Wetter, but I can't remember if it was from Postal, Beavis And Butthead or something else...
I think it the nose and whisker, the musical trying to look like cat, this one trying to make human cat hybrid.
...
It's also the lack of fluff. They removed the fur and hair off of most characters.
Shouldn't we have a page for the Film adaptation now?
The King Without a Kingdom
The singing is good, but I feel so bad for Idris Elba, Ian McKellen, and to a lesser extent Rebel Wilson for being in this thing. How is it that Avatar, a movie with cat people that's a decade older, looks much better than this?
It's been 3000 years…
This looks like this fell down the Uncanny Valley and hit every rock on the way down.