Anyone on social media today has probably seen the internet’s hot take on the first trailer for the theatrical debut of Cats. “It’s hideous and terrifying and grotesque and just plain wrong,” seems to be the consensus. However, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats is the fourth longest running musical on Broadway and every other musical in that top five list has already received a big-budget Hollywood production. Nearly 37 years later, Cats seems to be proving that there was a reason this show never made it off the stage. That’s because it is so nonsensical and whimsical that no one in their right mind would try to take on the burden of translating it to a widespread audience. Cats has a niche group of theatre-geeks who like the show and that’s all it will ever amount to. I mean, there’s no way a musical about talking animals will ever make vast amounts of money at the box-office and earn praise from the general audience. There’s no way a director will sweep in and receive honor for their ground-breaking, visionary work on a musical with cute songs and….oh wait. Disney’s The Lion King Roars Into Theatres Not only did Disney’s The Lion King become a phenomenon in the 90’s, it went on to become the fourth longest running musical on Broadway. This week, a new live-action remake of that musical is opening in theatres across the nation and the general consensus (which doesn’t include critics like myself) seems to be on board with Jon Favreau’s realistic look that lends itself better to a nature documentary than to a movie about a talking/singing lion cub. However, The Lion King did receive some criticism for making the animals look too realistic and emotionless. So, obviously when making a Cats movie in 2019 on the heels of The Lion King one wants to learn from another person’s feedback, right? Maybe these cats should have realistic, emotion-filled faces. That will make everyone happy! The “Horror-Filled” Trailer Tom Hooper, the award-winning director of Les Miserables and The King’s Speech, decided that he wanted to set out and do something imaginative and unique with Cats. With an all-star cast that includes James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift and Rebel Wilson, Cats was shaping up to be an insane production with huge sets, incredible choreography, magical cinematography and great performances. On all accounts, I still think those descriptions hold up for the footage that I’ve seen. But what to do about the look of the titular cats? On stage, the actors perform as fur-laden, make-up-heavy, stylized anthropomorphic versions of cats. While this is off-putting, no one has complained extensively about the way Cats looks on stage. How else would it be done? However, with a theatrical version, suddenly everyone was expecting these cats to be photo-realistic? The new version of the cats looks fairly similar to the old versions, just now without the makeup, the actor’s faces look that much more jarring. “Digital fur-technology” has me a little worried, but I put my faith in this new retelling of the musical. I too was startled by weird CGI faces and I saw memes comparing this to Sonic The Hedgehog and the genie in Disney’s Aladdin, another musical where suddenly people thought it would look anything but like a blue Will Smith. Where Cats goes from here Obviously the cast and creative team behind Cats have faith in their work. If they didn’t, the trailer would have been dumped much later in the year to try and save face. I still think this film is going to be gorgeous and I will have to get over my disdain for the cat’s faces, but I had to do that when I saw the original too. Disney’s Aladdin opened strong back in May and eventually that disdain for Will Smith’s Genie fizzled out. Sure, there are people who don’t like the film, and that’s okay. There are people who don’t like the new Lion King or Les Miserables. Either way, I think those crews did their best and society will move on. I do worry that Cats will be buried by Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker but then again, The Greatest Showman opened against The Last Jedi and found its audience in January and February. Universal’s Cats deserves its time to shine, hideous CGI and all. It was never going to look realistic and after 30 years, everyone should have known that. For now, just enjoy Jennifer Hudson’s rendition of “Memory.” Watch the trailer for Cats (2019) now and let me know what you think in the comments below.
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Erick L. Graham Wood
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