About that Cats trailer....

Richard White · Jul 19, 2019

I always loved how Macavity was a torch song (which is why it's my favorite song, as well as Demeter who helps sing it). I wonder what they're going to do with it in the movie.

Coddiwomple · Jul 19, 2019

Kjbartolotta said:
The human butts with tails was my major issue. Plenty might feel different.

KJ. You're a dog. Human butts with tails should be your thing.

ElaineA · Jul 19, 2019

EvilPenguin said:
Incoming Unpopular Opinion:

While I agree that the CGI is pretty creepy, I'm actually super excited for the movie. Cats has been my favorite musical since I was like 7 and the cast seems amazing. I don't even care that Taylor Swift is in it, I actually think she might do a decent job (maybe not great, but decent.)

Okay, running to hide from all the pitchforks now.

I don't even agree it's creepy. I don't understand the fuss, so I'll just stand here with you in the Defense Against Pitchforks brigade.

Coddiwomple said:
KJ. You're a dog. Human butts with tails should be your thing.

frimble3 · Jul 19, 2019

I'm not going to see it anyway - I watch musicals for the music, so my previous downloads of the soundtrack will do me fine.
Why would anyone think that, having paid for big expensive actors and singers, the producers would make any choices that wouldn't make their faces as obvious as possible? (But the tails, especially the ones twitching between the legs - were there no editors? It's CGI, not an unfortunate live performance - it could have been fixed!)

And, now that CGI is getting better and better, wait 'til the next big jump: sticking dead actor's faces on live actors. Recasting from beyond the grave!
Or the reverse: You know how the remake of 'Casablanca' never happens because there's no Humphrey Bogart to replace Humphrey Bogart? Now it could be done. The only barrier between us and that is who owns the rights to these stars' likenesses, and how greedy they are.
There have been tests in the past, in product ads - brace for the real thing.

Maggie Maxwell · Jul 19, 2019

frimble3 said:
And, now that CGI is getting better and better, wait 'til the next big jump: sticking dead actor's faces on live actors. Recasting from beyond the grave!

You say that as if it's not already happening *gestures at Star Wars*

Brightdreamer · Jul 19, 2019

frimble3 said:
And, now that CGI is getting better and better, wait 'til the next big jump: sticking dead actor's faces on live actors. Recasting from beyond the grave!
Or the reverse: You know how the remake of 'Casablanca' never happens because there's no Humphrey Bogart to replace Humphrey Bogart? Now it could be done. The only barrier between us and that is who owns the rights to these stars' likenesses, and how greedy they are.
There have been tests in the past, in product ads - brace for the real thing.

Maggie Maxwell said:
You say that as if it's not already happening *gestures at Star Wars*

They also used a dead actor in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow for the villain, IIRC. The tech is here, and it's going to be used. I expect this is a new frontier in contracts: posthumous rights. Sort of like how so many shows are dirt cheap in reruns because they came before residuals were a thing, I expect we'll see a lot of earlier classic actors/actresses used and overused.

Getting back on topic, this one hits all sorts of odd vibes, not just in the uncanny valley. There are conceits that are just easier to swallow in a stage play (and in the original T. S. Eliot poems) than when hyper-realistically portrayed, and humanized cats in an ostensibly real world are just one of them. Barring absolutely spectacular reviews, I'm giving this a pass. And I'm a cat lover.

Calla Lily · Jul 19, 2019

This thread is the first I've heard of the movie. I saw the musical twice in the 1980s in 2 different cities and it was charming and fun. So I watched the trailer--liked the sets and wasn't too weirded out by the CGI. Then whoever's singing Grizabella cracked on 'Touch me; it's so easy to leave me'.

No. I'm shelving this with the Phantom of the Opera movie--they have to find singers who can act. I lust after Gerard Butler, but he's no Michael Crawford. Betty Buckley killed it as Grizabella. I'm not watching this movie.

BenPanced · Jul 19, 2019

Brightdreamer said:
Getting back on topic, this one hits all sorts of odd vibes, not just in the uncanny valley. There are conceits that are just easier to swallow in a stage play (and in the original T. S. Eliot poems) than when hyper-realistically portrayed, and humanized cats in an ostensibly real world are just one of them. Barring absolutely spectacular reviews, I'm giving this a pass. And I'm a cat lover.

And the stage production is singing and dancing actors in make-up and costumes. Why couldn't they have done that for this film? Or considering the centuries of animated anthropomorphic cats, from Felix to Krazy Kat to Tom to Garfield, they couldn't have created animated cats and had the actors voice the characters? Oh, right. Because of centuries of killer special effects in movies that can completely replace singing and dancing actors in make-up and costumes. :sarcasm

Albedo · Jul 19, 2019

I've seen Cats in its Broadway run, as a teenager. And I remember nothing about it, nothing, except the sense of crawling discomfort when one of the cats looked directly at me. (I seem to remember them coming out into the audience, but that might have been a fever dream I had a few nights later?)

And frankly, that wasn't the Uncanny Valley. The cats on stage weren't terrifying to look at, just weirdly disinhibited. Someone upthread had their finger on why these CG creations are so deep in the valley. They're not humans dressed as cats, and they're not anthropomorphic cats, neither of which would be discombobulating. They're just the wrong mix of traits of both. Human cranial structure, but with the ears moved to the top of the head. Naked human bodies with a thin covering of CG fur, with boobs and butts but no genitals or nipples. It's all so ... confusing.

that said, I'm not inherently opposed. A weird, uncomfortable but catchy body horror musical might be just what 2019 needs.

Sage · Jul 19, 2019

Albedo said:
I've seen Cats in its Broadway run, as a teenager. And I remember nothing about it, nothing, except the sense of crawling discomfort when one of the cats looked directly at me. (I seem to remember them coming out into the audience, but that might have been a fever dream I had a few nights later?)

The original Broadways production of Cats had them climbing over the seats in the audience

Ari Meermans · Jul 19, 2019

Albedo said:
I've seen Cats in its Broadway run, as a teenager. And I remember nothing about it, nothing, except the sense of crawling discomfort when one of the cats looked directly at me. (I seem to remember them coming out into the audience, but that might have been a fever dream I had a few nights later?)

And frankly, that wasn't the Uncanny Valley. The cats on stage weren't terrifying to look at, just weirdly disinhibited. Someone upthread had their finger on why these CG creations are so deep in the valley. They're not humans dressed as cats, and they're not anthropomorphic cats, neither of which would be discombobulating. They're just the wrong mix of traits of both. Human cranial structure, but with the ears moved to the top of the head. Naked human bodies with a thin covering of CG fur, with boobs and butts but no genitals or nipples. It's all so ... confusing.

that said, I'm not inherently opposed. A weird, uncomfortable but catchy body horror musical might be just what 2019 needs.

Those are the aspects I find most deeply disturbing as well. There's also the question: why, oh why, are the major male characters wearing human clothing but the major female characters are not? Judi Dench as Old Deuteronomy and Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella are wearing what looks to be fur coats, but still FUR much like in the stage musical. I don't get it and I have an inherent need to understand . . . well, there seems to be an underlying message there I'm not getting. What can I say?

ETA: I'll be passing on this one. I have too many fond memories of the original musical.

RedRajah · Jul 20, 2019

[h=1]What Do Cats Think of the Cats Trailer?[/h]

Dom Perkins · Aug 3, 2019

The whole trailer looks like a fever dream. How much bath salts does it take to convince yourself this was a good idea?

About that Cats trailer....

Richard White

Stealthy Plot Bunny Peddler

Coddiwomple

shipwrecked in antiquity

ElaineA

All about that action, boss.

frimble3

Heckuva good sport

Maggie Maxwell

Making Einstein cry since 1994

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist

Calla Lily

On hiatus

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

Albedo

Alex

Sage

Supreme Guessinator

Ari Meermans

MacAllister's Official Minion & Greeter

RedRajah

Special Snowflake? No. Hailstone

Dom Perkins

The Idahoan Horror Writer