Cats Movie Starring Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellan, Jennifer Hudson, Idris Elba, Taylor Swift
- Thread starter JD
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Oh, jesus. What’s next, “virtue signaling”? It must be hard feeling this threatened all the time.
The reason, at least for me, that Deuteronomy's sex is important is because, as I said in my original post, one of the main fan theories is that Grizabella is the mother of many of the other cats, by Deuteronomy. If both characters are female, that dynamic changes drastically.
As far as Jemima* is concerned, that's a name change for the 1995 revival they made a film out of. The character sings all of Bombalurina's parts. Some of the characters, not many, I hope, get their names changed for a variety of reasons, usually location (as in not the US).
*Veerle Casteleyn. What an adorable woman. I could drown in those eyes.
Well, I loved Les Miz and The King's Speech, so there's that. I also see that the choreographer is the guy who did choreo for Hamilton. That is some serious choreography.
My only experience with the show, besides having heard the main song many times, is seeing some Youtube of Betty Buckley singing the song as part of the original cast. Pretty song but yeah, a bit schmaltzy and overblown especially on repeat. But it depends on what they do with the song in the movie.
As for the trailer the mo cap looks great. Great cast, except for Taylor Swift, just not a fan...so far. I'll wait for the reviews on this one and I also want to hear more of the songs before making up my mind to pay to see it.
My only experience with the show, besides having heard the main song many times, is seeing some Youtube of Betty Buckley singing the song as part of the original cast. Pretty song but yeah, a bit schmaltzy and overblown especially on repeat. But it depends on what they do with the song in the movie.
As for the trailer the mo cap looks great. Great cast, except for Taylor Swift, just not a fan...so far. I'll wait for the reviews on this one and I also want to hear more of the songs before making up my mind to pay to see it.
There is no main song. There are at least 3 very memorable songs and the 'epic ballad' in the trailer is the strongest mopey song (most of them aren't mopey, or all the rest).
In general, a lot of negative opinions about this come from people that don't get the original musical itself. There's also a recent internet movement of homophobes that laugh at anything that reminds them of fursuits, which are part of the original musical.
It is not that I do not get it - I known nothing about it and I can only go off the trailer.
It looks like a stinker - both creepy and silly and with cast members like James Cordon who are an instant red flag from me.
I am very familiar with the original musical. Which is why I’m so aghast at some of the creative decisions.
I guess in the very least, Cats smaller scope should probably suit Tom Hooper style better than Les Mis sprawling epic did.
(Not to say the movie was necessarily bad, and Les Mis couldn’t work as an intimate character study. But the musical version is basically a sprint through the ‘big’ events of the books, and the movie sticking so close to it’s script meant that the result seemed both too shallow AND like it needed more spectacle. )
It has got to be fucking exhausting.
Fair enough, in theory, but why would such a change being made in one version of the musical automatically nullify the fan theory? The other versions haven't magically ceased to exist. (Huh; deja vu here...)
As to Jemima, a name change from who? Bombalurina's in the film version, singing many things. Regardless, this does rather explain things, and yes, the actress who played her is quite delightful. :-)
Care to elaborate? And what approach would you have taken?
I unwittingly posted another thread in TV & Media since I wasn't aware of this one. 
I do think the cat design looks rather weird, and I'm not sure if it's the best visual route personally. I actually saw Cats as a kid but I think at the time I was too young to really pay close attention to it. I just remember some elements of the music. 
I do think the cat design looks rather weird, and I'm not sure if it's the best visual route personally. I actually saw Cats as a kid but I think at the time I was too young to really pay close attention to it. I just remember some elements of the music. Well, Jemima is a name change from Bombalurina, of course. That's why she's singing Bombalurina's songs. Since Bombalurina is in this movie, I think it would be safe to assume that Jemima, as established, won't be, and if they have a Jemima character, she'll be background.
Apologies for confusion - I meant that Bombalurina was in the 98 DVD version, as played by Rosemary Ford, alongside Jemima, hence my confusion! Maybe Jemima was created especially for the DVD version?
Don’t have a preference. I’ve seen enough adaptations to know that either way can work.
Hell, I’ve seen versions that have made it into Cosette’s coming of age tale. Or a historical piece that mostly operates to give a snapshot of France in that time period, rather than being character-focused.
Or a spectacle-driven musical, that basically gets by on cliff-noting a solid story and kicking you in the feels.
Generally, other adaptations seem less concerned about changing the source material to fit their vision. Presumably because they adapt the book, and know changes are gonna be inevitable anyway. Whereas Hooper seemed to be trying to cram a round peg (the musical’s book) into a square hole.
There’s obviously far less faithful versions of Les Mis, but I’ve never seen one that seemed so...at odds with itself.
Very much this. And I'd pay good money to avoid James Corden.
To be fair, I'm neither fond of musicals not the theatre in general. I came away from seeing 'Les Mis' thinking that apart from the very impressive staging, it was shit. This, however, shows signs of being as hysterically crap as the ludicrous roller skating Starlight Express.
I really enjoy Cats as a stage musical and I'm very familiar with the songs, but those red flags are there for me too. Cordon, Rebel Wilson. It doesn't necessarily spell disaster (Sacha Baron Cohen turned out to be perfectly cast in Les Mis) but the trailer is not sitting well with me. The CGI boobcats are just weird. The silliness level seems to have been dialed up to eleven, and while it is hardly a super dramatic peice, it has an internal reality which gives a poignancy to it. I know, trailer =/= film. But it is supposed to make me want to see the film, and it really doesn't.
I'm not one to kink shame, but that looks like the most expensive unintentional furry fetish movie ever. I kind of feel sorry for the actors as I think this one is going to be kind of notorious for a while after it comes out.
Purely from a design standpoint: the fact that some wear clothes and others don't (or only wear accessories) probably draws more attention than it should to the fact that most of the characters are running around naked. The sleekness of the designs only compounds this. I only kinda half saw a video of the stage show the once, years back (a sister in-law was semi obsessed and wanted to share) but IIRC the stage costumes were a lot "fluffier" and seemed to mostly do an OK job of at least somewhat obfuscating the human form.
Purely from a design standpoint: the fact that some wear clothes and others don't (or only wear accessories) probably draws more attention than it should to the fact that most of the characters are running around naked. The sleekness of the designs only compounds this. I only kinda half saw a video of the stage show the once, years back (a sister in-law was semi obsessed and wanted to share) but IIRC the stage costumes were a lot "fluffier" and seemed to mostly do an OK job of at least somewhat obfuscating the human form.