# Cats Trailer out **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2019, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296 "2019-07-19T08:40:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/61 "2019-12-19T13:10:23Z")
I have the 1998 version on DVD and saw the original show on Broadway in the '80s. I have the book of poetry and my daughter is also a fan of the poems. But this looks horrific. Seriously, this is clearly someone saying “Hey, we now have the CGI capability to make people look a lot more like cats, so let’s get a bunch of famous people to do the show. We can fix any obvious problems with the singing and dancing in post-production.” Except that with _Cats_ the singing and dancing **are the entire show**. There is no real plot; it’s just a bunch of character studies (which is not necessarily a bad thing - consider how Wilder’s “Our Town” works as a play) but the sole attraction is all the people dancing around like cats - which is a lot more physically demanding than one might think - and belting out fun songs. That’s the entire attraction of _Cats_. And if the trailer is anything to go by, they’ve missed the point by a mile in exchange for a CGI-driven slushfest. ETA: > [@nightshadea](#): > > did the play have the idol like competition as the plot? The play did not have a plot. Not really. Grizabella skulks around occasionally between numbers, sings her one song, and then ascends to the Heavyside Layer at the end for no real reason other than we feel sorry for her. The rest is just songs about the various other characters. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/62 "2019-12-19T13:11:04Z")
The Guardian delivered a review in verse 😃 > **[Cats review – a purr-fectly dreadful hairball of woe | Peter Bradshaw's film...](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/dec/19/cats-review-tom-hooper-judi-dench-idris-elba-taylor-swift)** > > The queasy fears prompted by one of the most disturbing movie trailers ever seen are realised in full in Tom Hooper’s jaw-dropping feline folly No paywall. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/63 "2019-12-19T13:21:39Z")
One review I saw said simply: “Congratulations to dogs.” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/64 "2019-12-19T13:24:34Z")
> [@TPWombat](#): > > The Guardian delivered a review in verse 😃 > > [Cats review – a purr-fectly dreadful hairball of woe | Cats | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/dec/19/cats-review-tom-hooper-judi-dench-idris-elba-taylor-swift) Not just verse but a parody of the TS Eliot poem used for the opening song in the show. Bloody brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/65 "2019-12-19T14:45:38Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I note that there was a more recent trailer that looked a lot better than the one discussed in July. They added the stuff that was shown in that Photoshop. People need to remember that early trailers often have worse CGI than the final cut–sometimes teaser trailers are there to see if they got the CGI right. [They look the same to me.](https://i.imgur.com/MASfHm3.png) ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/66 "2019-12-19T19:13:10Z")
The weird thing is the reviews are \*\*\*so \*\*\*bad that it makes me curious enough to want to see it. Is it just bad, or is it so spectacularly bad it’s good and destined to be a cult camp classic? Will it turn out to be a forgotten misfire like the “A Chorus Line” movie, or will it end up being this generation’s “Xanadu” (objectively bad on so many levels, but I can’t not watch it if I stumble across it)? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/67 "2019-12-19T19:32:34Z")
I have yet to see one review that says “so bad it’s fun.” They all seem to be versions of [this](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/movie-reviews/2019/1218/1101984-cats-is-a-twee-and-irksome-furrago-of-a-movie/): > [@](#): > > First off, full disclosure - I am not a cat person. Second off - after watching this frankly mortifying film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, I’m not altogether sure I am a movie person anymore either. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/68 "2019-12-19T19:40:15Z")
For some reason, when I saw Tom Hooper above, I read it as Tobe Hooper. That would make for an interesting musical ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/69 "2019-12-19T19:53:56Z")
Huh, I never realized that the Heaviside layer is a [real thing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennelly%E2%80%93Heaviside_layer). It doesn’t seem to be a thing that a cat might particularly want to ascend to, though. The whole business has kind of a weird feel to it. Every year Old Deuteronomy picks a cat, and that cat . . . goes away. “So every year you pick one of us, and then they . . . go away?” “They do not _go away_, they _ascend to the Heaviside Layer!_" “But isn’t that just the layer in the ionosphere that radio waves bounce off of?” “Shut up, Brainylura.” ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/70 "2019-12-19T19:55:03Z")
Why do I have the feeling that, if AMPAS really wants people to watch next year’s Oscars (which are on February 9, for some reason which probably has something to do with Yet Still Even Another Misguided (and failed) Attempt to get the nominations done before the Golden Globe winners are announced), the academy’s musicians will take great pains to make sure the new song, co-written by Taylor Swift, is nominated, and the show’s producers will sell their souls to get her to perform it live? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/71 "2019-12-19T19:55:16Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I have yet to see one review that says “so bad it’s fun.” Nigel Andrews, the venerable film critic at the _Financial Times_, gave it four out of five stars and described it as “worryingly erotic”. :eek: > **[Cats lands on its feet with terrific choreography, Judi Dench, James Corden...](https://www.ft.com/content/cd836eb2-2180-11ea-b8a1-584213ee7b2b)** > > Tom Hooper’s musical adaptation is weird, wonderful and worryingly erotic (outside the paywall at the time of posting) ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/72 "2019-12-19T20:59:55Z")
> [@Hoops](#): > > Huh, I never realized that the Heaviside layer is a [real thing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennelly%E2%80%93Heaviside_layer). It doesn’t seem to be a thing that a cat might particularly want to ascend to, though. > > The whole business has kind of a weird feel to it. Every year Old Deuteronomy picks a cat, and that cat . . . goes away. > > “So every year you pick one of us, and then they . . . go away?” > “They do not _go away_, they _ascend to the Heaviside Layer!_" > “But isn’t that just the layer in the ionosphere that radio waves bounce off of?” > “Shut up, Brainylura.” How coincidental that someone bumped an old Logan’s Run thread today… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/73 "2019-12-19T21:14:34Z")
[Apparently there are lots of CG errors](https://io9.gizmodo.com/cats-review-i-have-seen-sights-no-human-should-see-1840507030). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/74 "2019-12-19T21:19:36Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Nigel Andrews, the venerable film critic at the _Financial Times_, gave it four out of five stars and described it as “worryingly erotic”. :eek: He’s also [stepping down](https://www.ft.com/content/d70957b2-20e5-11ea-b8a1-584213ee7b2b) as FT film critic. _Coincidence???_ :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/75 "2019-12-19T21:51:54Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > “Tom Hooper’s jarring fever dream of a spectacle is like something that escaped from Dr. Moreau’s creature laboratory.” Now I absolutely _have_ to see it. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/76 "2019-12-19T22:37:34Z")
Early reviews on [RT](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cats_2019/): 19% overall, 20% top critics. [Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/cats) with it’s 3-tier system is a little more favorable. A tad early to officially label it a dud but not looking good. Comparisons to _Rent_ will ensue. Never a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/77 "2019-12-21T01:38:29Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Early reviews on [RT](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cats_2019/): 19% overall, 20% top critics. I had the afternoon off so we caught a matinee; we enjoyed it. I suspect that the majority of negative reviews there are from critics overly attached to the source material, similar to what happened with _The Lone Ranger_. Another movie not anywhere close to as bad as it’s been made out to be. ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/78 "2019-12-21T01:54:42Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > I had the afternoon off so we caught a matinee; we enjoyed it. > > I suspect that the majority of negative reviews there are from critics overly attached to the source material, similar to what happened with _The Lone Ranger_. Another movie not anywhere close to as bad as it’s been made out to be. Maybe, but I also think there’s a lot of negative reviews from critics who _hate_ the source material, because a lot of them focus on criticisms of the music and plot that are part and parcel of the whole _Cats_ experience. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/79 "2019-12-21T04:50:22Z")
> [@storyteller0910](#): > > Maybe, but I also think there’s a lot of negative reviews from critics who _hate_ the source material, because a lot of them focus on criticisms of the music and plot that are part and parcel of the whole _Cats_ experience. If there were water And no rock If there were rock And also water And water A spring A pool among the rock If there were the sound of water only Not the cicada And dry grass singing But sound of water over a rock Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop But there is no water ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296/80 "2019-12-21T06:22:23Z")
I am not familiar with the stage musical except for having heard “Memory” on TV at some point and looking up the synopsis on Wikipedia. So I have no attachment to the original. And I say this looks terrible. Keeping it as a stage production with people in cat costumes would have been the humane way to go. The audience can pretend it’s cats dancing while enjoying the performances. No one has to stress about how to translate that to a movie without it looking creepy and/or cheap. Whatever. But this monstrosity? I think what’s really freaky looking is the human faces with cat fur all around. It just does not look right to see a human nose and voluptuous human lips wearing bright pink lipstick surrounded by cat fur. They probably didn’t want to obscure the performer’ faces too much, but it was needed if they were going to produce this thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-trailer-out/837296.md?page=5)