Why is Cats?

[@carrey3077]

“I’m losin’ to a bird!” walked so “Hal, it’s about cats” could run

[@t3ras74]

"See how I glitter" also walked so "I'm losin to a bird" could run.

[@infiniteoctopaw]

carrey “I ate the WHOLE plate, the WHOLE PLATE!”

[@DumbIdeaPresentedStupidly]

DONT YOU DARE FORGET 'SEE HOW I GLITTER' AND 'FAIRY LIVES DONT MATTER TODAY' And of course the honorable mention of 'Because it was real'

[@abird35]

Let us not forget: "I got a fur wedgie"

[@Taxrenn93]

If you go way back, you also can't forget about "Ursula's crazy sister!"

[@roymallard]

I don't know why everyone is saying Cats was bad. They played it on my flight home and there were only two walkouts.

[@efnfen]

buh dum chh

[@LazyAnnihilator]

You made me laugh. Thank you.

[@Anna-ks3ct]

I nearly choked on my drink when I read this thank you for the laugh

[@sneezebiscuits7239]

Nice.

[@cashomnitrix]

Well, that was....dark.

[@dragonladdie7531]

Just one furry... One furry on the design team could have prevented this monstrosity

[@airshow406]

My god you’re right.

[@MaximillianRobesphere]

We need to add more of them to films so this does NOT happen again!

[@searchingfororion]

🤔😳🤣

[@HaydenofEverything]

Honestly a revival of Cats using fursuits is really interesting and I'm not even a furry.

[@VideoGamesRus100]

@@HaydenofEverything How do I dislike your comment multiple times?

[@LittleAlternativeGirl]

Theater People don't want big Hollywood adaptations, Theater People want hi-def filmed from the stage videos.

[@spshouppe]

All us CATS fans really want is for the 1998 film to be remastered into proper 4k.

[@EmpressCosplay]

This. Like... Come on, we got an Elisabeth and Rudolf Affaire Mayerling recording before damned WICKED.

[@3333218]

Virtual Reality versions would be best.

[@suehypno4u]

Thank you! The recording of the original Bernadette Peters stage version of "Into the Woods" is far superior to the Hollywood version. I ADORE that musical and yet I can barely stand getting through the Disney one. Now bring me a proper recording of "Once on this Island"!

[@FPalace]

Amen.

[@lilyrosa143]

Cats was the last movie I saw in theaters before the pandemic, and honestly, I can't think of a better way to say goodbye to society as we knew it.

[@jbvader721]

And to think that travesty came out on the same weekend as another cinematic trashfire, The Rise of Skywalker. Nearly four years later, and I'm still mad at myself for not walking out at the line "Somehow Palpatine returned."

[@pkbutter]

@@jbvader721lol, same. Honestly, the one good cinema thing that happened in 2019 was Knives Out.

[@jbvader721]

@@pkbutter Knives Out was awesome! I saw that the same night I went to see TROS and boy oh boy did the latter ruin my day it was so bad.

[@Leafeon56]

me too

[@FuryanJedi13]

The last movie I saw before the pandemic was Sonic the Hedgehog. That just renewed my love for the blue guy and actually made the pandemic seem slightly less crappy. And ironically, 2 years later, one of the Cats cast was in Sonic 2! (Well, his voice was.)

[@purplezombies]

I once saw a comment that said “the whole point of Cats the musical is that it has entertaining songs with very good dancing, so when you take a bunch of mediocre dancers at best, you’re not gonna end up with Cats” and i think about that a lot.

[@AnnoyingAsianWitch]

Rebel Wilson eating cockroaches instead of tap dancing hurt me.

[@Theyungcity23]

purplezombies5327 They has an incredible team of dancers. Steven McCrae, Francesca Hayward

[@purplezombies]

@theyungcity23 lmao i havent seen the movie cause i don’t want to subject myself to that torture, so i don’t actually know; that’s why i said someone else said it because i am unaware

[@Anastasja13]

purplezombies5327 The dancers are amazing tho

[@innsdigby3125]

The dancers are great, the problem is Tom Hooper didn't film (I don't even know if he could, its so far from his style and what he was going for) a dance movie. He made some good dancers performing well look weird with shot composition, gritty realism and DigitalFurTechnology™

[@tylerrshaw88]

“See how I glitter” “I ate the whole plate” And now “Hal it’s about cats”

[@42Biazinha]

i'm loosing to a bird!

[@tylerrshaw88]

*throws cards*

[@breedlove94]

"Macavityyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

[@branenchanter153]

“Darkness deep as HEeEEAaAuuGhLLLlLlLL”

[@breedlove94]

@@branenchanter153 the host of my favorite movie podcast is doing livestreams of him watching movies during self-quarantine. The first two were Cats and the Gerard Butler disaster movie vehicle Geostorm so this video was perfect synergy

[@Pendragons_Art]

The words "manually rotoscoped fur" makes me feel so unbelievably sorry for those VFX artists who had to spend hours and hours doing that. It sounds like a ludicrous amount of work.

[@EclipsisTenebris]

I know, right? It should be a criminal offense to make somebody do that work.

[@alyssinclair8598]

Best part is. They then make fun of the team when it looks bad

[@frostbjorn]

and to be so completely thrown under the bus when you could argue that the VFX were the best part (stylistic choices from everyone else notwithstanding), it makes me mad for them

[@TankTaur]

Time for a VFX artists' strike I think

[@vixxcelacea2778]

Thing is, if you look at the fur alone and ignore the actor, it is pretty freaking good looking. Like the VFX team did a smashing job, but the what they were asked to do was doomed from the get go. Just slap human faces and body structure on cat fur, ears and tails. Throwing the VFX team under the bus was fucking low and I have no respect for anyone who green lit that little dig or the actors who participated in it.

[@BlueKeyAnimations]

I'm sorry, what personally makes me angry is them blaming the vfx studio at the Oscar's. VFX studios are so often underpaid and overworked, forced to pay their animators out of pocket when a movie goes over budget. They are also beholden to whatever the director wants. The entire VFX industry is carrying the film industry on their backs and they're constantly disrespected at each turn. They deserve so much more than that.

[@jbvader721]

VFX teams need to go on strike.

[@alice88wa]

VFX needs to unionize so goddamn badly. I've come to the realization that the very reason movies are a CGI hellscape these days is all down to the lack of unions. Examples: Disney's live action Pinocchio should have been a real puppet. AH, but Disney is in beef with the puppeteering union right now. That same movie should have had an actual cat for Geppettos kitten. AH, but animal handlers are unionized. It goes on and on. They basically funneled every role onto the shoulders of the exploitable CGI teams. Props, makeup, animals, stunts, etc.

[@overgrownkudzu]

yeah this. the vfx look terrible but this is a big hollywood production with a budget, they wouldn't have hired people who were bad at their jobs. so if it looks terrible, it's probably not their fault.

[@KD-ou2np]

I don't work in Animation, but I do a creative job that takes a lot of work, not as much slaving as animation tbh. In my industry, architecture, we charge the client and restructure the agreed budget every time they come back with new things they want to add that fall outside the agreed scope of the project. And we generally agree on MOST of the details before construction starts. As far as I can tell, in animation they just expect them to throw out dozens of hours of work on a whim if the director (or execs) wants to rewrite a scene. And they are so cheap they can't work out the story and concepts ahead of time with the whole creative team and then animate, it's Go Go Go all the time so they are forced to create scenes on the fly as its being acted, edited, etc. Sounds like creative hell.

[@Queen_Cnidarian]

The general rule of thumb is if you see actors, directors, etc. blaming the VFX team for how bad the movie was received, then it is safe to assume that every single aspect of the film is garbage, and they’re just looking for a scapegoat.

[@royalknightsleipmon2345]

"Macavity's a ginger cat" is literally a line in his song.

[@hattie_burns]

You’ll love sideways’ new video

[@Monkeyninjaghost]

I second that. The fact that Hollywood thinks Cooper is a good choice for musicals, is one the great wonders of the world. On second thought, I suppose it has something to do with money.

[@StrayBats]

@@hattie_burns I watched it and felt not only bad for the original, but wishing that this movie wasn't people's first introduction to a production with actually pretty nice music (well, specifically Memory)

[@cayreet5992]

The text of his poem also makes it clear he's a rather thin cat with greying fur.

[@liriodendronlasianthus]

@@StrayBats I always recommend the other version.

[@Altar360]

He wanted to make a movie based on a musical about talking, singing, magical cats to be grounded and not very fantastical..... I have several questions...

[@SapphicFurry]

it's the same bizzaro reasoning as making the lion king that "photorealistic", bland, no-fun-allowed, sfx mess. Like just because it's "realistic" doesn't mean you can't make it actually appealing to watch.

[@possumhead2812]

@@SapphicFurry also, there was not one single second of cats 2019 that could possibly be described as "realistic" it's a fucking fever dream

[@raccoonjs6437]

Did this guy had a proper childhood?

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Also, is about a cult...

[@MrPeaTearGryfin]

Coming soon to a theater near you, Tom Hooper's Lord of the Rings. He may have taken some creative liberties like taking out the magic, the ring, elves, hobbits, orcs, dwarves, and charm, but he does so to make a more grounded, realistic take on the tale.

[@bgs7529]

The Oscar bit was disgusting. Two rich actors making fun of an underfunded team trying to fix their horrible acting and another rich dude's terrible directing.

[@skylarjohnson7779]

I wouldn't want to be the one trying to make James Cordon look good. I don't know why he's in everything, he can't sing or act and I don't think anyone actually likes him.

[@alexbennet4195]

@@skylarjohnson7779 I don't know why Americans hate James Cordon so much lol, I (and I think most people in the UK) always saw him as a talented writer and comedic actor? Both Gavin and Stacey and One Man Two Guvnors received such rave reviews - have Americans never heard of them??

[@skylarjohnson7779]

@@alexbennet4195 I'm british. I don't like him, I don't know anyone who likes him. Even among gavin and Stacy fans I don't think I've ever seen any praise specifically for him. Probably because the other stuff he's written was terrible and it leads me to guess it was Ruth Jones who made g&s so good.

[@rusted_ursa]

Don't forget that everyone who applauded that shitty joke is in a union.

[@seajay632]

@@alexbennet4195 I'm British, James Cordon is exceptionally obnoxious, as funny as a migraine and besides Fat Friends and Gavin & Stacey, everything else he's been in has been shite. Don't say that you think most people in the UK like him cos that's not true. Just say you like him. Don't assume others feel a certain way about someone just cos you do, especially not most of them! I haven't said most people in the UK hate him cos I don't need other people's opinions to make mine valid. (Even though I've literally not seen anyone online say they like him and people I know irl hate him too. Congrats, you're the first person I've seen to say that he's talented in any way whatsoever!)

[@Narokkurai]

Andrew Lloyd Webber trying to explain "Jellicle Cats" and "Pollicle Dogs" is like me trying to explain the intricacies of the lore of my favorite videogames.

[@niallreid7664]

"So then the Emperor and Horus fought- babe, can you listen please? This parts important. So anyway they were fighting..."

[@cipollo3095]

@@niallreid7664 you made me spit water XD omg

[@yoselametiaMiguel_Ohara]

That was me trying to explain the plot of chainsaw man to my dad 😿

[@hi.im.ana123]

That was me trying to explain the lore of FNaF ;-;

[@arturoaguilar6002]

"So he wasn't a soldier, but a member of a special fighting force called SOLDIER..."

[@ceresta1732]

Cats uses... manual animation... and not mo-cap... in 2019, with a crunched budget and deadline. The VFX team deserve a friggin medal for what they turned out.

[@jbvader721]

Also a huge apology and some compensation money for Tom Hooper and company throwing them under the bus when their movie flopped.

[@songofshadow5043]

Yeah, that shocked me! I originally thought, "Man, we have so much technology today, and that's the best they could do?" (I mean, I don't know much about CGI, but there is a certain amount of quality expected from a big-budget film.) But then, finding out they did it manually? Oof.

[@ceresta1732]

@@songofshadow5043 The best way I can describe it is this: imagine ordering a construction crew to build a skyscraper in half the time... without cranes

[@GuiSmith]

@@ceresta1732 That is incredibly apt. Better might be to include the fact that they can build elevators (custom tools), but those are hard without everything else basically already being there.

[@nos4me]

Well that explains a lot

[@greenyawgmoth]

"Cats is almost 40 years old, much like me." But... but you're the same age as m- OH NO OHHH NOOOOOOOOOO

[@lindiemoon]

greenyawgmoth tell me about it. Cue literal mid-life crisis.... Wahhhhhhh *existential screaming*

[@melissam597]

Haha this cracked me up 😂 she looks and sounds 25

[@breandan3280]

Hahahaha. I turned 40 yesterday, I feel this post sooo such.

[@Corbomite_Meatballs]

*cue Cats 2019 singing about "Memories"...*

[@zxp3ct3r41]

Old twats

[@gregjayonnaise8314]

Blaming the VFX artists is such a cop out. The artists only will make what the director approves of. The director looked at the designs and said “that’s what I want to show people.” As a character designer, the reason the designs look so awful is because the bizarre designs of the characters don’t have any stylization or flare. The desire to make them realistic makes them look gross and unsettling in their anatomy. The dramatic costumes in the original musical allowed for free movement but still had the idea of hinting that they were cats. I feel so bad for the artists that were underpaid and not given the ability to give any meaningful designs due to the lack of budget and foresight. The idea of making Cats of all plays more realistic is laughable, especially because using so much CGI and adding on every effect in post took more effort and looks more terrible than if they had just designed the costumes.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

Maybe they should have made a CGI version of Felidae instead, and just called it Cats.

[@mastermarkus5307]

@@davidwuhrer6704 I don't see how that necessarily follows. It would still be unsettling in the wrong way if everyone had human faces!

[@davidwuhrer6704]

@@mastermarkus5307 There are no human faces in Felidae.

[@vp3841]

"the bizarre designs of the characters don’t have any stylization or flare" - yep, they just created another uncanny valley disaster

[@mastermarkus5307]

@@davidwuhrer6704 I feel like you're missing the point f the conversation if you're just saying "make a different movie", sirrah.

[@WickedKatze]

I still say Tom Hooper's biggest sin for Cats was erasing the aggressively gay energy from "Magical Mr. Mistoffelees"

[@Shalheretical]

No seriously. Ram Tag Tugger wrote that song for his husband it's cruel

[@lbsc1201]

straight woman detected

[@WickedKatze]

@@lbsc1201 you're so wrong it's scary

[@cdeford2]

They are cats, not gay people. Tugger and Quaxo are just friends. Tugger clearly does it for the girls.

[@WickedKatze]

they're gay cats

[@mirthfulArtist]

Trading the actors' comfort for the animators' work load and then seeing the actors badmouth the result is just adding insult to injury. I wonder how this would have looked with practical effects.

[@tiagodarkpeasant]

i dont know who fucking invented that cgi is more realistic than practical effects, the makeup and fur in the musical look way more real, at least in a human, than any cgi could do, cgi is nice to cover props like cables and doing safe fire, if 90% of the movie is cgi just make it an animated movie

[@mylamename14]

Especially seeing that vitriol come from Corden and Wilson, the two who were absolutely atrocious in the entire film - CGI or no. Part of that might be the script, but Christ, is Rebel Wilson’s improv unbearable.

[@Turt3752]

Tiagorpg mendes there are plenty of AMAZING CGI effects that look realistic. It depends on the use and prep work and talent. Look at the Transformers from Michael Bay’s films. Trash films mostly but the visuals are pretty uniformly awesome. If you make CGI do ALL the work, there’ll be issues, and laziness/time constraints mean big-budget movies would rather throw extra money to do the purely computerized work instead of mixing the practical with the digital to make believable results.

[@TaliVarda100706]

Honestly the Lord of the Rings movies used practical effects(apart from mocap for gollem) and those movies still look freaking awesome. Much better than the Hobbit trilogy even though theres like 15 years between them.

[@misterbadguy7325]

@@TaliVarda100706 A lot of The Hobbit was dragged down by rushed production and the weird experiment with high framerate. You can definitely tell the places where they had time to finish the CGI, and the places they had to pull it out half-baked.

[@imaginekudryavka9485]

"Heterosexual cats" is by far my favorite musical number in the movie

[@ZapDash]

Wilson and Cordon dissing VFX artists when they themselves are the most cringeworthy part of the movie is rich.

[@WTFisTingispingis]

They deserve to be pilloried.

[@WhiteVioletButterfly]

Wilson destroyed Jenny Anydots. She went from a happy gentle grandma to a miserable, clumsy, horrific bully.

[@nunofyerbusiness198]

The most underappreciated horror film of the year.

[@blokey8]

@@WhiteVioletButterfly I was gonna say, even as someone who's never seen the show, she and... actually, the show in general looks far more amiable. Rum Tum Tugger and Mestophicles seem to have a fondly, ahem, catty thing going on, the grey cat and Jenny seem to like each other, but the film cats seem outright nasty to one another. Does the cats introducing one another change the tone? So it's not "I'm the best", they're nominating one another for the most part?

[@lazaronen1786]

They definitely lost most of my respect with that stunt.

[@CombustibleCake]

“hooper tried to ground this film in reality” and “rebel wilson eats children” are a horrifying combination

[@Queen_Cnidarian]

If you are trying to adapt a musical about cats singing about why they deserve to die, and are going for realisim, you are doing something wrong.

[@-snowballbunny-5316]

@@Queen_Cnidarianexactly I don’t know what kinda drugs that guy was on to look at this fever dream of a show and try to make it realistic And he absolutely failed I love this musical btw it’s one of my favorites and I cried when I watched how he absolutely destroyed it😢

[@doritodorito492]

That's because Rebel Wilson eating children is society

[@jesse1086]

Rebel Wilson did something a lot worse in this movie than eat children...she sang.

[@TransSappho]

“Popular musicals being adapted to films because Oscar bait is a disease” damn Lindsay really went off at the end, and deservedly so

[@kdnxnhdhdbfn2769]

Withinashes to be fair adaptations are for most musical theatre enthusiasts the only way to legally see their favourite shows.

[@Scorpia161]

@@kdnxnhdhdbfn2769 I know musical fans have pushed for it for literally years/decades, but it really just goes to show why musicals just need to release live recordings of the Broadway/stage shows. Broadway's logic of 'if we release it on film no one will see the show' is ass backwards--if you're the kind of person who loves live Broadway shows, a recorded version won't stop you if the means/opportunity to see a show comes up, but SO MANY PEOPLE never get the opportunity while really wanting to see the show and are willing to pay at least *some* money for it. I'd go so far as to say a production company/conglomerate of theatres could release their own streaming service of live broadway recordings and make money hand over fist in subscriptions.

[@TransSappho]

Kdnxn Hdhdbfn yeah but honestly a bootleg will always be a much better alternative to the mutant Frankenstein’s monster that is the Tom Hooper style of musical. Once you utterly change the staging to adapt it to film, it’s already going to be fairly different, and while it can be done well, the point is that when the adaptation sets out with awards in mind foremost it’s going to completely lose sight of the spirit of the original, because the go to Oscar bait style doesn’t work with the elevated reality inherent to most stage musicals

[@SavageGreywolf]

@@Scorpia161 I don't really know why CATS didn't convince Broadway how ass-backwards that was in 1998 when they released a VHS of the Broadway stage production and it went 18x platinum in the UK _alone._

[@popland1977]

It's a pretty shit musical though. The most overrated show ever.

[@thatcutenerdgirl6090]

I do feel “grounded” watching CATS. I feel as though I’ve done something wrong and am being punished for it.

[@emilybarclay8831]

Grounded in the same way a corpse in a shallow grave in the woods might feel grounded

[@Falicity345]

I could see Tom Hooper using his fear of “Irish-face” as an excuse to why Idris looks like a naked, excessively hairy man

[@soldatdaniels8738]

Cute pfp.

[@fluxoff]

I was grounded for six months just for discussing seeing this film.

[@fossilfighters101]

+

[@TheBurkissWay]

A lesson expressed two different ways: "It's a movie, not a stage show." "A CAT IS NOT A DOG."

[@nuriaentrulion9938]

YEEEEEEESSSS

[@zenithquasar9623]

Lmao!

[@DuelaDent52]

PuppetYeti Seeing how the Cats, mice and cockroaches turned out, do you think that offscreen dog had the face and limbs of a human, too?

[@angharad5932]

@@DuelaDent52 I hadn't thought of that--thank goodness they didn't show us *shudder*

[@eiya3]

Webber's face as he tries to explain "all cats are jellicle cats, fundamentally"... hilarious and adorable.

[@h.c.49]

It's almost childlike, I don't know how to explain it.

[@raspberrycrowns9494]

He looks like he's willing to and absolutely would throw hands with anyone that says otherwise

[@ethantaylor670]

The video of Webber explaining deadly seriously that all cats are Jellicle and all dogs are Pollicle plays like a British mockumentary and I can't

[@alanpennie8013]

He's wrong about the dogs, unsurprisingly. Pekes for instance aren't pollicles.

[@anotherlemontree]

I'm obsessed with that clip!

[@Hsel-lc1wt]

@@alanpennie8013 I was so annoyed about that! Those poems were my childhood lmao

[@YourMajesty143]

It's from an unpublished poem by Eliot entitled "Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats". The name "Jellicle cat" is derived from an attempt by T.S. Eliot's infant niece to say "dear little cat", where "Pollicle dogs" is a corruption of "poor little dogs".

[@dorcaMusseb]

Spinal Tap came to mind.

[@obiwankenobi9141]

"when musicals are good they're good, when they're bad they're horrid" -Catherine Zeta-Jones

[@obiwankenobi9141]

thank you for all the likes.

[@CommissarMitch]

Amen brother.

[@danielgadomski5129]

Well, but it's true. Many movies can be below expectations and still work, bad musicals are usually unwatchable.

[@THEAdmiralXizor]

Did she really say this..? I hope she did - it's glorious, just like her.

[@THEAdmiralXizor]

@@obiwankenobi9141 I'll take your word for it - you seem knowledgeable... 🍻

[@jennasmith9309]

Andrew Lloyd Webber: Wanted make a musical based on poems he loved as a child, personally talked with the author's widow to find the medium that best suited the poems, mortgaged his house, and risked everything for his dream. Tom Hooper: Wanted to make it for an Oscar, didn't know anything about VFX, verbally abused and overworked the VFX team, didn't even know what catnip was. Hmmm.

[@SmoothCriminal12]

If Tom Hooper's career ends right there, it'll be 100% justified.

[@CaseyShontz]

It wasn’t entirely the director’s fault. Mostly Universal and the producers and whoever came up with the idea to make a movie out of this in the first place.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@SmoothCriminal12 He's a bad director. Send him back to making TV biopics. No one expects them to be any good.

[@TrueBuddhaCat]

Indeed, one of these things is not like the other (also apparently during the premiere of the movie apparently Lloyd Webber left half way through the movie looking defeated)

[@angharad5932]

I don't understand why Hollywood keeps picking genres and movies to resurrect (Like Star Trek, Star Wars, and now musicals), and then picks a director who pretty much hates everything about that particular genre or universe. Like, what's the point??

[@Jeremy_theGent]

I remember when Jennifer Hudson was singing Memory at the end, I just wanted to grip her shoulders and say, "Jen. It's not worth it. God bless you, but this just isn't worth the effort."

[@Nadia1989]

She was doing what she was paid for.

[@crimsondynamo615]

“Honey you’re putting in way too much heart and soul into a production that doesn’t care at all. Gonna need you to bring it down to about a 4, maybe a 5.”

[@molegoddess]

@@crimsondynamo615 "Beat it, Spider-Man!"

[@TheLadyLiddell]

"I want the movie to be grounded and not that fantastical" ... it's Cats. CATS. You want a movie musical about anthropomorphic cats that sing and dance to be NOT fatastical?????

[@micahcook2408]

I always wondered if the animated version was picked up how it would’ve turned out.

[@hanonphantomhive]

I agree, doesn´t make much sense to me either :s Btw ur profile pic, Riku best boi

[@smurfette_blues7922]

Thats literally the only way for it to work imo. I just want a director of the film adaptation to go all the way. Just lean into the weird

[@MsAbixxx]

Rikusgirl001 This is my biggest lament as well. What is Tom Hooper’s obsession with making everything “grounded”? He was completely the wrong choice to direct this. But of course, he won Les Mis a few Oscars so Universal thought he could just do it again with Cats.

[@MsAbixxx]

kshamwhizzle At least Baz Luhrman would understand the fantastical nature of a musical. I’m not saying Moulin Rogue is a masterpiece, but it’s so stylised and so out there it doesn’t really make you question the fact that everyone is singing. This is just the way this world works. Something like that for Cats would have been great (personally, I think an animated adaptation is the way to go) but Universal really wanted those Oscars though.

[@sugar-rice]

I started my period while watching Cats in theaters, and when the cramps started, it felt more like my body was physically rejecting what my eyes were taking in. I just became double uncomfortable.

[@JohnDoe-uf3lj]

Hannah That is some war story, lady. I'm not sure what to say but... Thanks for sharing. I think?

[@Pooky1991]

Damn. Respect. Thats some PTSD right there

[@AirKIng74]

I love the idea of a film being so bad it triggers someone's period.

[@yuukichan12]

Lmaooo The movie that destroys from the inside out

[@gypsywoman9140]

Ginger Snaps called periods "the curse" so by that logic, you could say Cats triggered the curse.

[@TheOutlawed1000]

End of 2019: Cats Beginning of 2020: Pandemic Coincidence? Yes. But...

[@rockCity777]

...thole-cut 2020.

[@faeriegraver]

@@rockCity777 lmaoooo

[@samurguy9906]

God is punishing us for our sins, apparently

[@ComatHam]

End of 2019: Pathologic 2 Begin of 2020: Global Pandemic

[@johnk6123]

Yay I'm thumbs up #500, making things happen on KZbin :) also to reply to the comment: definitely suspect.

[@FMAkers-jq2kh]

Tim Rice, in 2002: "I'm often asked why Andrew and I broke up. Well, would you want to work with someone who wanted 75 percent of the credit? And 75 percent of the money? And who chased after the leading lady in every show? Neither did Andrew."

[@JustKrin]

That's so fucking funny to me for some reason

[@1rockcrawford]

So is Tim Rice saying that’s himself then?

[@rike1775]

​@@1rockcrawfordI'd say yes. The "neither did Andrew" in that context is meant as a response to an implied response to the questions.

[@trickster80]

atleast he’s a good sport about it

[@iggykidd]

@@JustKrinI believe it’s because it is a joke

[@jayl2298]

Why did I never consider, if tom hooper really wanted it to be so realistic, why didn't all the cats have eight nipples?

[@myettechase]

#ReleaseTheNippleCut

[@TooSickToDressVictorian]

@@myettechase Please don’t

[@marinadeburgos8666]

Or maybe do like Lion King, make overrealistic cats and flop because we can't see actual face expressions

[@mrcakeday1439]

#freethecatnip

[@neksnek2032]

@@marinadeburgos8666 except the lion king remake didn't flop sadly :(

[@franticranter]

If t.s. elliot's wife never wanted the cats poems turned into an animated film because she was worried it would turn out like winnie the poo, then imagine what she'd think if she saw the cats film.

[@marinadeburgos8666]

I guess like most of the authors when they see their work translated to a movie without guidance, blame the studio and say that the original work is way better (most of the time with a good reason)

[@rabbit-exe3606]

I mean, "horny hieronymus bosch style nightmare" is about as far as you can get from "winnie the pooh"

[@trampoline11x]

Followed by the Winnie The Poo live action film? Consistant confusion and maybe concern, as well all should once in a while

[@dc98424]

I think technically it was a different t.s. Elliot property she was worried about but the point is still valid.

[@Igorcastrochucre]

I feel like TS Elliot's wif was worried that the poems would become "kid's stuff", because beside americanize Winnie the Pooh, they turned it into something that's unmistakably for kids. And yes, both the poems and Pooh were made with children in mind, but they weren't just for children. Either that or the Walt Disney-P.L. Travers debacle still had a rippling effect on how authors in general act when approached by Disney or any big hollywood studio.

[@gryph3714]

So between you and Sideways, I'm learning Tom Hooper is just the worst.

[@imchilll6384]

Sideways hates tom hooper with a passion bc of cats

[@drartemisa21]

@@imchilll6384 Les Mis definitely planted the pure seed of hate

[@Theturtleowl]

I came here after watching Sideways' video to see a more positive review of Cats. That man was angry.

[@dangerouscolors]

hearing how cats 2019 is a goddamn trainwreck from both a musical and filmmaking standpoint? a+ experience

[@TheSpoonman00]

It's a shame, because he really is a good FILMmaker. The King's Speech was a fantastic fuckin movie. But his attempts at musicals were such disasters, and he treated them like such masterpieces, that they just ruined his reputation.

[@kestreldomann2787]

So fun story: my dad (ride or die for Cats) and I (introduced to Cats at age 7 by my dad who is NOT a theatre person but saw it twice before I was even conceived and am also a ride or die for Cats) went to go see this movie in theaters. I had seen the trailers and knew what was up, Dad hadn't. After the movie I turned to my Dad and went 'so... What'd you think?" He looked me dead in the eyes and went 'I don't know what the HELL that was but it wasn't Cats' and honestly? That's my 'Hal, it's about Cats'

[@NeoNovastar]

I showed my mom the Sideways video, and she basically did the same thing. Dead eyes and saying "they keep ruining things i love". (She is also a classic Voltron fan who felt betrayed by the mess of the Legendary Defender show.) Oh mom, you don't deserve this.

[@alicethompson6442]

"Hal...it's about cats. And we never discussed it again" Pure poetry

[@kronemerj]

I mean would you?

[@perspii2808]

Literally died laughing at that intro ngl

[@roycema]

I loved that line because Andrew just seems so confused as to why Hal is looking for a deeper meaning

[@Robert399]

I wish Cats had died forever right there.

[@gracecarroll6718]

Fun fact: a friend of my partner actually worked on the stunts for cats, and he had to convince the production team that the actors couldn't 'land like cats' (on the palms of their hands) they would obliterate their wrists. Cats, but make it realism.

[@idek7438]

Cats are probably one of the worst animals to try to replicate realistically. Like have they ever seen how a cat acts and what they can do? How is a human supposed to replicate that without a) looking like a pervert, which is what we got here, and b) potentially harming themselves.

[@austin.luther]

Just...wow. Everytime I learn something new about this production it just gets worse.

[@TheSlipperyNUwUdle]

My sister always used to say you can ruin your wrists by catching yourself on them when falling.

[@sandyree1957]

Also, if you were to consider that cats are digigrade (pretty much, they walk and put their weight on the equivalent of our fingers/toes).........*ouch*

[@OmniphonProductions]

Coming from a background in both Musical Theater _and_ Martial Arts, I've lost track of how many times I've heard instructors say, "If you're going to the ground, don't try to catch yourself. Just do your best to protect your head and spine." I learned that lesson the hard way, twenty years ago, when I dislocated _and_ broke a finger on a relatively light take-down. Our brain, thumbs, and larynx are why our species is successful, not our ability to absorb impact.

[@polymphus]

This demon video will not leave my recommendations. Every single thing I watch, Cat-Elba is staring at me and I know what it means to be in hell. If I leave on autoplay for too long I come back and find myself staring at writhing cat-human bodies. "I watched it already," I say to the uncaring heavens. "Did you like it?" say the Gods. "I did, I did! But please, let me leave!" There is nothing in heaven but laughter, and - from a distance, carried on the wind - 'Macavityyyyyyyy'

[@elvellarambles9151]

Criminally underrated comment: 10/10 existential rage

[@Elocinization]

As I read "Macavityyyyyy" in this comment, I vividly imagined and heard the scene it described.

[@marisp2588]

This comment is a literary masterpiece

[@nathanwinters2400]

Legit like every other week this video appears and I'm just like... I've watched it five times too many just... just please stop! xD

[@heatherbeal3473]

Pure Poetry

[@lavandereisly4194]

I am of the opinion that the original Cats worked so well because they looked at the story asked "Why not?" while the new movie looked at the story and went "Why?"

[@LieutenantAlaki]

Ooh, that's elegant, I like that.

[@4thofEleven]

I don't understand how a film so obsessed with visual 'realism' could completely fail at deciding how big the characters are supposed to be.

[@aazhie]

Same! There needed to be "Eat Me" "Drink Me" props for the amount of times cats were almost human sized, then back to cat proportions??

[@wjzav1971]

Having the cats in front of human objects just further emphasized how they do not even remotely look like cats.

[@darastarscream]

I noticed that too! And it's not the VFX. They're out of scale to the *set.* The built, constructed, totally artificial set.

[@Lucienchol]

The fact that they somehow managed to make Idris Elba ugly and unsettling to look at is one of THE biggest crime of this movie

[@Laribhaven]

They literally ruined Hotness

[@jeangentry6656]

That, and they took Macavity, who is the cat version of Prof. Moriarty, and turned him into a 70s blaxpoltation film pimp.

[@ieatgremlins]

I didn’t think it could be done, but they somehow turned his gorgeous and charming self into a dancing, creepy turd.

[@kelvinw.1384]

Oh wow I thought the cover photo was a photoshopped troll thing but nope.... that's actually from the movie. Gosh it's like from a horror film. Also he really does look naked

[@amyliaclenny1866]

The really messed up part is that's not the VFX Team's fault. The director did that.

[@98Clank98]

James Corden being God's punishment to theatre kids is a stone cold read I wasn't prepared to take on but makes so much sense.

[@PhillipTheBrandon]

Ok, but have you seen him in One Man, Two Guvnors? (it's live on National Theatre's YT channel right now) He's not my *favorite* thing about the production, but it is a strong performance.

[@laurenbastin8849]

Phillip White agreed

[@Jodabomb24]

I watch this so often but mostly the part where Lindsay sings "heterosexual cats" because it's such a fantastic joke

[@manderly33]

Especially with the overlays of LL Bean and the Patriots logo.

[@jessg3533]

"Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin" Tom Hooper: too unrealistic. Make him a swol Havana Brown.

[@Textile_Courtesan]

You have no idea how irritating it is to me that every rendition I've seen don't portray him as a ginger cat.

[@Zaphtiera]

I'm so glad someone mentioned this, it's like they swapped Macavity and Skimbleshanks' appearances and didn't bother changing the lyrics

[@KristinaVeshtort-Kask]

This! While Elba's, uh, fur colour wasn't as jarring as Lindsay seemed to think - it is somewhere between British Shorthair chocolate and a brown Burmese - it's still decidedly NOT a colour that Macavity has to be!

[@HorrorGeek9]

“No one wants a child to become a memory” I can't believe this was an actual commercial, like WTF

[@starfishcoffee2854]

HorrorGeek9 and then the song started playing!!! Legit tears of laughter.

[@MrBoygiles]

I think that PSA was actually more horrific than Cats 2019.

[@rockaway0beach]

I read this comment before the video's ending and didn't understand it. Then I saw it and damn, I haven't laughted so hard in a decade, GOD DAMMIT

[@3Rayfire]

What can I say, we were a much more savage people prior to the new millennium.

[@shaunwatson6354]

It's why I wear my seatbelt to this day. Because of CATS.

[@TheSugarRay]

"I wasn't sure what a cat looked like anymore." -I'm dying.

[@insertcringynamehere]

AxxL Please, shut the fuck up.

[@TheSugarRay]

@@insertcringynamehere no

[@theonetruegriff]

That was Folding Ideas. Definitely recommend checking out his channel if you haven't already.

[@insertcringynamehere]

Thought Ray He deleted his comment. :(

[@TheSugarRay]

@@insertcringynamehere Oh, I'm sorry. I remove all defient annoyance.

[@SevenEllen]

I personally REALLY wish we got Don Bluth's / Stephen Spielberg's animated version of Cats. That concept art was so cool!

[@itsplasticbabyofficial]

it could never have happened (somewhat unfortunately) because ts eliot’s wife didn’t want the poems represented like that

[@AnimatedTerror]

@@itsplasticbabyofficialwell that’s what we’re saying. We wish she hadn’t shot it down.

[@BlisaBLisa]

don bluths style would have worked SO WELL for it too, ik they didnt want it to be like a disney movie but don bluth is pretty good at making these dark stylized animated movies about animals (like secret of nimh) he could have made such a cool animated Cats film

[@littlesongbird1]

@@BlisaBLisa OMG! YES!!!!! I could see him actually filming live performers doing the dance numbers and using that to Rotoscope for some of the parts and Macavity would have been a proper villain like Dragon from Nimh.

[@sophiaaa6042]

If you’re wondering who likes the stage show - dancers! I was a pretty serious ballet dancer through high school and loved the stage show because of the dancing, the physicality and atheticism of the actors is so fun to watch, especially when most broadway musicals don’t have that intricate choreography

[@ragabashmoon1551]

I was a member of my high school's Thespian Club, and we made going to see CATS when it came to our city an official club event so our teacher could get score us group rate tickets. We still had to pay for our own tickets, but we gave our money to her and she bought them. We all were obsessed with CATS, and when I changed schools my senior year, I went into Competitive Speaking and interpretation of the original poems was so overdone, but we didn't care. The judges hated us all doing CATS poems though, I'm sure. Haha.

[@willbe3043]

I also love love loved the stage show for the same reasons. Watched it twice. :)

[@Kittymouth]

Dancers, and set designers, and kids who crawl around the yard pretending to be animals all day.

[@skshore338]

@@ragabashmoon1551 this is why I endured the film. I was curious about the dancing.

[@PhoenixFireKMS]

I once said that Cats is the best way for dancers, makeup artists, and art designers to show off their technical skills. Also I just love Cats, it’s dumb but it’s fun (as long as we leave out Growltiger and the thing about the Pekingese in Pekes and Pollicals...)

[@SimmerRose]

watching Webber explain to that poor woman that “all cats are jellicle” and her completely bewildered expression had me laughing so hard I missed the next 30 seconds of the video

[@notquitemytempo1353]

That was the epitome of a "the fuck is he talking about?" face. Hilarious indeed.

[@Svengali764]

That dude was really into cats.. like weird creepy amount. That clip just raises hair on my arm in a mild wave. 🤣

[@SnowCat-nu7gj]

And he’s acting like this complete nonsense is obvious and just dumb. It’s honestly incredible

[@AssOnAPlate187]

One big gay question mark was floating around that room.

[@manonsegur7547]

One of the many reasons I adore that guy.

[@sydnamon5986]

The VFX team didn't deserve to suffer for this. The fur actually looks realistic, and it wasn't their fault the director kept changing his mind every few days. This discordant disaster was already set in stone the moment they decided to make the movie "realistic". What a waste of effort.

[@Afishionado1]

Rendering realistic fur or hair is *hard*. Maui spent most of his time with his hair tied back in Moana because they didn't have the budget to animate free-flowing hair for the full movie. Rendering fur is computationally intensive, which is a fancy way of saying that you set everything up the way you think is right, hit "render", come back a few hours or days later, and see what you got. If the result isn't right, you start the process again. I get anxious just thinking about trying to do that on a tight schedule.

[@VernulaUtUmbra]

I agree; I thought they were wearing stupid expensive suits until someone told me it was animated. It's not the VFX teams fault that the designs rolled down the uncanny valley and hit every rock on the way down.

[@shindean]

The fur being realistic is a different movie, there was never anything wrong with the costumes in the first place for over two decades. If you're going to change 80% of the visuals, because it's not "modern enough", you better think of something more original than incomplete mocap.

[@igormajdandzic7587]

Didn't you mean: What a waste of ef-fur-t? I'm sorry

[@sydnamon5986]

@@igormajdandzic7587 Bravo

[@jennatavares4695]

I just absolutely love how Idris shows up and goes "mccavity!" It's...just so funny? And I feel like it wasn't entirely meant to be. But I laugh every time

[@marynoble9464]

It's the only fun part of the movie

[@EpsilonA789]

I do not want a Hadestown: The Movie. I DO want a released stage recording like they did with Hamilton.

[@iloveyourunclebob]

Broadway is really failing itself by not adapting to the streaming world. The people they want to pay to see musicals will still do it. Just seems stupid to throw away the extra money, THEY TOTALLY DO WANT, out of the people who will never be able to see, or afford to see, them live. Even more so in the time of our lord covid, where they aren't making THE MONEY THEY WANT out of anyone.

[@ebros5758]

Yes!

[@EatTheRich848]

I want a hadestown pro-shot more than anything else in the universe

[@juliasings6131]

Oh goodness a movie sounds... purely awful It is not a musical designed to work on screen (not that many are but some could work and this is notttt one of them) But yessssssss proshot pleaseeee

[@alexonline2340]

they should do that with every musical tbh. and release it in theaters like a movie so everyone can see it

[@Kat-qe1vk]

That Cats anti-smoking ad straight up made me disassociate

[@ramel684]

+1

[@mhussein4040]

This makes want to smoke more

[@abdullaalsaleh]

DE HOOMINZ HED EN ACKSIDENT

[@wise_girl9388]

I swear every time Ian McKellen meows, you can hear part of his soul leaving his body and then dying.

[@warlordofbritannia]

He’s trying to tell the audience “fly, you fools!” without actually saying so

[@ianschulz1]

Actually I liked his bit. Like they said on the av club, "he's doing T.S. Eliot while everyone else is doing Andrew Lloyd Webber,"

[@austin.luther]

@@sudanemamimikiki1527 Check out Sideways video on Cats. Ian McKellan is speak-singing to no music. There was a piano player on set that had to follow what he was doing. So he's basically reciting a poem with no consistent rhythm and then they had to try to score the music around him.

[@austin.luther]

@@sudanemamimikiki1527 The whole thing is just tragic. I can't wrap my head around why anyone would think that's a good idea.

[@Twinkdoesdrag]

The best actors are the ones who aren't afraid to look ridiculous, the worst directors are the ones who don't understand how to use that skill

[@RobinSongRobin]

""I wanted to make this film grounded and realistic, so I took all of the allegorically themed sets from the stage show, and adapted them into their literal analogues." -- Tom Hooper, the man who turned Heaven into a hot-air balloon.

[@Uroboro_Djinn]

Some people don't have the capacity for abstract thought. Their brains just can't easily process it. Similar to how some people have aphantasia and can't think with images.

[@JoJoJet100]

@@Uroboro_Djinn please don't compare us to this fool

[@micahcook2408]

Freedom for None - Uroboro Djinn true but I think Hooper has a slight lack of understanding concept musicals, which are hard to transfer to film anyway. So if you are trying to make something grounded out of something very artistic, you lose the point it’s trying to make. Imagine taking the film Suspiria or 2001 Space Odyssey and put them Onstage with full plots so there can be two acts without understanding the visual storytelling they show without dialogue...

[@MmMm-sf7pe]

It seemed like he missed the most important part of the Grizabella plot, which wasn't "winning the big Heaven Prize", but being accepted and making an emotional connection after being lonely for so long. The Heaven Prize is only important to the plot because it symbolizes that the other cats have accepted her.

[@Serai3]

"I wanted to make this film grounded and realistic, so I had one my main characters shed her skin like a jacket and dance around in a circus ringmaster's suit." - Tom Hooper, the man who clearly has never known a single cat.

[@RatEatingSevenWorms]

The movie mostly casted actors, singers, and dancers. They didn’t cast triple threats, they cast dancers who couldn’t really sing or act, actors who couldn’t really dance or sing, and singers who couldn’t really act or dance.

[@dsfddsgh]

And then they cast Taylor Swift who cant do any of those things.

[@vingram100]

Exactly, the short answer to this whole issue is that Hollywood should have given this to the gays! You need the most extra, triple threats to make something this ridiculous work. You can't manufacture camp! I'm kidding but I really think the production was way too stiff and by-the-numbers. Edit: words.

[@toosigoosi]

imcrying,t his is literall y so fucking funny

[@celinak5062]

Honestly tv shows have better musical episodes then this

[@EnderPryde]

Ok, I'd give Derulo dancing and singing, if only because he's at least competent. Not great, but competent. Acting for him... ehhhhhhhhh... EHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

[@fourizereviews5123]

Fans of Cats: "Why does it hurt so much?" Tom Hooper: "Because it was REAL-istic."

[@kronemerj]

Nice callback.

[@Epinardscaramel]

Well played!

[@TrueBuddhaCat]

Hit that nail on the head (Also, from some reports during the premier of the “movie” apparently Andrew Lloyd Webber left the theater half way through the monstrosity(which I don’t blame him)

[@jesse1086]

this is god level

[@Anna-tk7ui]

@@TrueBuddhaCat Interviewer: So how does it feel to have your most well-known musical be bastardized into a sea of uncanny valley? ALW:.............feels great.

[@berenicececilia]

I hate the internet for running Lindsay away from youtube, I miss her video essays like crazy. She didn't need the aggravation and we clearly didn't deserve her. Glad she's doing just fine.

[@phillipjohnson8903]

"Don't let a child's life become just a MEMORY" is so disrespectful and the funniest thing I've heard all month.

[@sigmacademy]

@N K Like? :P

[@fubnairs]

When Rebel Wilson ripped off her outer layer of skin, the full theatre I was in gasped in disgust.

[@annedavis3340]

@Laura Martin-Falla unzipping your skintight fur to reveal identical skintight fur is WAY creepier than revealing a fun flapper cat (dripping actual beads) concealed under a very VERY stylized accordion-esque body. Play Jennyanydots shows up onstage not looking like the other cats, and she looks like them when she reveals her nighttime persona. Movie Jennyanydots has a ZIPPER IN HER SKIN

[@sydnamon5986]

I actually shuddered in horror.

[@kennybrightwell1877]

Laura Martin-Falla But why were her clothes red, if not to encourage a feeling of shock and disgust when Rebel Wilson Rios her “coat” off.

[@Pseudowolf]

@Laura Martin-Falla Yeah the roach eating was the part that made me feel physically uncomfortable. Not so much that she does it. It's that she does it MULTIPLE times. One time, done quick with everything else going on, you can kinda blink and go "well I guess that happened" and not think about it. Doing it multiple times doesn't allow for that.

[@pinkwings8036]

Jennyanydots is a Cub Scout den mother to the roaches and mice, WHY IS SHE EATING HER STUDENTS?!?!!

[@Whawpenshaw]

I love how they're like, "oh yeah we were running in to the set with the song JUST finished" like that's somehow a good story and NOT a sign of being seriously underprepared.

[@juliamavroidi8601]

It's a good story, but for a high school production, not a Hollywood movie

[@mistertea603]

I agree with you too an extent...you gotta understand the artistic process for songwriting in particular is not streamlined, while movoe making is down to a science at this point...trying to slow down a film to get music just right is like slowing a fraight train.

[@edgarallenhoe3518]

I feel like you get ONE story like that per production, max-- either they finish the song last minute, or they finish the effects last minute, but not both. And ofc it's only something you admit if the end product is good!!!

[@guytorie]

"No one wants a child... to become... A MEMORY." "MMMEEEEEEMMOORRYYYYYYYY"

[@merrittanimation7721]

@Richard Trischka Oklahoma: "Remember, tornado safety is important. Because we live in OKLAHOMA! WHERE THE WIND COMES SWEEPING DOWN THE PLAIN!"

[@meghanelric8415]

Absolutely lost it at this part

[@kronemerj]

Hamilton: cigarettes are designed to be addictive to make sure that YOU'LL BE BACK Annie:talk to your kids about drugs so that they will still be alive TOMMOROW Dear Evan Hansen:make sure you don't text and drive. You don't want your family to sing a REQUIEM TONIGHT this is fun...

[@TrueBuddhaCat]

0-0.........yeah.....watching that.....it just made me go “Oh wow.......talk about yikes!”

[@Pep95]

I just collapsed when I saw that part jebus

[@blossominghope8567]

We were made to perform cats in high school PE. I was an insecure, developing teenager made to perform in a skintight leotard, in front of the whole year. The movie adaptation is worse than that memory.

[@marinadeburgos8666]

I guess that even an open surgery without anestesia is better than the movie

[@cara_h_4]

I have several questions about your school.

[@neofromthewarnerbrothersic145]

@@cara_h_4 Seriously! It would make slightly more sense if it was a drama class, but PE? I'm thinking that teacher just wanted an excuse to see some developing teenagers wearing skin tight leotards. Many props to the OP for enduring that, I probably would've ended up getting myself expelled.

[@rainbowkittycat627]

Honestly would prefer that to regular pe...

[@mike90317]

Meeeeeemoryyyy

[@rsfilmdiscussionchannel4168]

Idris Elba got Covid-19 after this movie. I'm betting he survived it because God took pity on him for being in this movie, so he prevented him from dying just so that he could star in better films. Imagine this movie being your final big screen appearance, it would be the definition of adding insult to injury.

[@TrueBuddhaCat]

YIKES! Not good, so not only were the VFX team were abused but Idris Elba also got Covid-19!! That should be a sign that says “You’ll be sorry!!!”

[@anukoo87]

I am scared that Cats will be sir Ian McKellens last movie, that would be a horrible fate...

[@rsfilmdiscussionchannel4168]

@@anukoo87 As long as Bill Condon has a career, Sir Ian will have roles.

[@LucyLioness100]

Thank God Idris was spared! Oy talk about harsh punishment for such a train wreck, but he’ll bounce back

[@rsfilmdiscussionchannel4168]

@@LucyLioness100 Daniel Dae Kim was in that horrible Hellboy reboot and he got the virus as well (but he survived too). I wish that Hellboy 2019 got the same reputation as this film, it was just as much of an unmitigated disaster.

[@illusiveaxeman9164]

There's something so entertaining about how Ildris says "McCavity!!!" when he goes poof

[@chupacadabra5161]

McCavityyy!

[@leonineKelter]

Macaviteee

[@projectanimation7730]

... never thought I’d hear Lindsay Ellis talk for a prolonged period time- or any length of time, honestly- about Guy Fieri, but here we are.

[@Rebe8d89AH]

I thought there was a glitch because I clicked on video about Cats. Thanks for reaffirming my sanity lol

[@ericemigh3869]

Every day we get closer to Homestuck's Alpha timeline.

[@PhilosophyTube]

why is James Cordon?

[@maccoyhartweg9513]

I feel like that is what everyone in his life asked at some point

[@HaiThereManchannel]

Solid question

[@Eviltwin531]

I feel so cheated. In his first Doctor Who episode, he was actually quasi-endearing (and got head-butted by Matt Smith's Great Wall of Forehead... seriously, the show jokes his Doctor inspired the Easter Island Statues.) I guess it's like a potent spice; best in small doses.

[@Harry-cy5vz]

Hi dad

[@PKBitchGirl]

@@Eviltwin531 His second Who outing was beyond terrible. "I speak baby" Nothing can stop the cybermanisation process, oops I was wrong, the wuv he has for his kid can, what a load of bollocks

[@t.adamcollins2162]

"Instead of putting a cat suit on the actors, we're going to put a big, baggy, uncomfortable suit on them and have the animators animate both naked, human-shaped fur figures (on some of the cats) and human-shaped fur figures WEARING COATS (on others) after the fact." Did Tom Hooper just hate the effects team?

[@MisterRandom2]

According to the VFX crew, yes. Apparently he treated them like garbage.

[@garystack9537]

They could’ve just used fursuits

[@iusethisnameformygoogleacc1013]

Definitely. He's a big, wealthy, oscar-winning artist and they're just a bunch of computer geeks. He already very obviously thinks he's too good for the concept of musicals; I can't imagine employees whose names no one even knows outrank his lunch.

[@kathrynvincent1563]

Ironically the Les Mis cast was treated so stupidly where the actors nearly wrecked themselves with singing full blast for hours and pushing Anne Hathaway and High Jackman into really unhealthy diets for aesthetics

[@milannoelle1576]

but thats the thing: all this bts shows the talent all in mocap so I'm confused... did they film them in mocap then tom stood behind the vfx artists while they worked and said "you better not use this time- and labor-saving tool that I'm giving you and do everything from scratch! i mean it!!" that's what everyone is making to seem like including him but i think its more likely that the people saying this just don't know what mocap is

[@multi.instrumentalist]

I cannot believe they made Macavity unscary. I was genuinely terrified of him as a kid, and now he says his own name like a Pokémon whilst vanishing using magic? Also it’s literally in the lyrics that he’s ginger what the hell

[@lgodproductions9064]

its largely cause he doesnt speak in the play, all we know is what other speak of him, as a monster in the shadows

[@radicaledward3783]

I'm really disappointed in James Cordon for that "joke." Those poor visual effects artists only did what they were told to do by the stubborn director. They probably worked their asses off... Edit: holy crap, thanks for the likes guys, if you're reading this Lindsay you're awesome, a great LGBT ally and I love your stuff.

[@TristandeRobillard]

Yeah, that was such a low blow. Corden and Wilson are real assholes for doing that.

[@mykaruest6257]

@@MintyDragonfly As an American I can tell you my country finds European accents classy and boarder line fetish fuel expecially English and French accents. You don't know how painful it is growing up with kids trying to sound English to look "cute" or "sophisticated" because of HP.

[@sdgdhpmbp]

@@cecelias_ I only know that Corden is known for being an asshole. That other stuff is really depressing.

[@radicaledward3783]

@@cecelias_ Damn, i really thought he was better than that kinda stuff, but i suppose people will always disappoint you.

[@EvanCWaters]

It doesn't help that these are kinda bad times for VFX studios- they're in demand but they have to lowball their bids to get contracts, so they're all underpaid, the artists are pretty much all nonunion (which is also *why* movies increasingly use CG for things that could be done practically, because makeup artists and costume designers *do* have unions), and it's pretty common for them to go bankrupt just because they're not getting enough money to do the work they do. Like, the studio that worked overtime to redesign Sonic after the first trailers? They're gone now.

[@MegaKaitouKID1412]

I think the "why" of "Cats" on stage is really a "for the artz" situation in a true "the medium is the message" fashion. The point of cats is its musicality, its poetics, for stage. It's not a stage version of a novel, it's a stage version of a poem. Not even a classical poem like it was adapted from, either, but the stage version of new-age poetry where the point is less what the poem is saying and more what the poem sounds and looks and feels like as an object in itself. I think it's truly a musical that doesn't work to change the medium because its medium is its whole point.

[@YourCrazyOverlord]

This is the only answer that has ever made sense, thank you. As the avatar of musicals itself, my hatred is justified

[@josepablomartinez-rendon9484]

Cats was the first show I ever saw. This movie hurts my heart

[@nicoinformatics]

Nah. Cats is pretty much a softcore furry porn, it's that plain and simple. And don't get me wrong, I'm not judging, people can like and do whatever they like, I don't care. But to pretend that Cats, both the original and the new movie is some form of expression of art is just nonsense justification of some people's liking for a furry content in a sexual sense. Like I said, you like furries, that's fine.

[@DuelaDent52]

Nico “Hal, it’s about cats.”

[@bugcatcher101]

@@nicoinformatics this is the most r/iam14andthisisdeep take i've ever seen on one of lindsay's videos. i beseech upon you this L

[@SongbirdAlom]

Grizzabella: "TOOOOOUUUUUUUUUCH MEEEEEEEEE" Elaine Stritch: "Don't Touch Me!"

[@carwyn3691]

The duality of man

[@dylanchouinard6141]

MrBanks IsSaved this is blatant ‘you can have a little touch, as a treat’ erasure

[@gorevoid691]

I never did see Cats, but I did see Starlight Express back in the day. Cats didn’t seem so weird after seeing a bunch of roller skating anthropomorphic train cars.

[@lucasalistair1413]

im losing to a bird: the father see how i glitter: the son hal, it's about cats: the holy spirit

[@boxorak]

Hal, it's about seeing how cats glitter as I'm losing to a bird!

[@BDCTheSloth90]

I ate da whole plate: the prophet

[@duelversebeyond]

Where does fairy lives don’t matter today fit into this?

[@anotherlemontree]

@@duelversebeyond 😂😂😂

[@saulo4302]

@@duelversebeyond atheists, maybe?

[@ariwl1]

So if I'm understanding the Guy Fieri reference at the beginning correctly: Fieri was a guy that critics loved to dunk on in the past, but he's now someone people generally are cool with because he's always been himself, enjoyed it, and never intended to be the "high art" of the food world and people love that. But where Cats the stage show was largely the same, Cats the movie really wanted to be taken seriously (even though it was never designed to be) and failed miserably at it. Is that right?

[@sovietcanuckistanian]

It's as if instead of making his restaurant a Manhattan tourist trap Guy Fieri had marketed it as Haute cuisine with little to no changes to the menu and expected to be taken seriously. Just imagine: candle lit dining room, $200 bottles of wine, and a plate of trash can nachos.

[@davidspring4003]

Yeah, sounds about right.

[@Solanuma]

guy fieri is cool because hes a gay ally something the writers of the cats movie can't claim with their adaption

[@sequences8942]

That's how it seems. Guy Fieri gets dunked on but he is genuine to his craft, and there are people that appreciate his craft. Instead of adapting Cats the way it would make more sense to for a film screen, they tried to adapt it to appease the critics of Hollywood, and thought doing so could get it to an Oscar win. Except, Cats won it's awards as a stage musical in spite of the hate critics gave it, and because they tried to appease Hollywood critics from the onset, they already were doomed to disaster because they missed the point entirely.

[@ssjwarrior100]

Solanuma nigga what ??

[@little_lotte]

"Cats confirms for people who hate musicals why they hate musicals." This probably nails so well what I felt about Cats. Also, about your conclusion; I would watch a Cats film adaptation if it were just the audio from the stage show overlayed onto footage of actual cats doing cat things.

[@Rheah]

That sounds rad as hell actually.

[@whiteraven181]

That sounds amazing. How has no one thought of this til now?

[@shindean]

What I don't understand is why they never stayed on tone with any decision, the biggest being no costumes: Ok, no costumes, because you want them to be cat people instead of envisioning them as just flamboyant stylish cats like in Broadway.... But then you have them wear coats and heels on top of their CGI bodies... Thus adding flamboyancy and style... -_-

[@yellowcrocs9000]

When they announced the film I thought that that would be what they were going to do, kind of like lion king but cats

[@fable23]

Listening to this in 2021 and boy did it feel prophetic. In the category of Terrible Movie Musical Adaptation, I present to you 2021's _Dear Evan Hansen!_ It has it all: 1. A movie musical that is clearly uncomfortable with any and all musical aspects. 2. A director with Oscar ambitions taking a fairly abstract dark comedy and turning it into a gritty realistic funeral dirge so the Academy will take him seriously. 3. An original song that no one asked for that grinds the story to a halt and adds nothing to the narrative. It's even got some of your favorite stuff from Lindsey's other videos! Such as... - An original Broadway cast member reprising his role despite _clearly_ being too old to believably play the character now, in a show where the main character's youth is _very important to stress._ (ala RENT) - Transparently cynical and half-hearted attempts to address criticisms of the original story that do not actually engage with those criticisms in any meaningful way, and actively detract from the story. (ala the Beauty and the Beast remake) I feel like there should be a bingo card we fill out every time these things get released. Because, unfortunately, it looks like they're going to keep coming.

[@pkbutter]

True, true. Well, at least the Matilda musical adaptation was pretty good

[@overgrownkudzu]

@@pkbutter i feel like matilda had a good starting point though, it's a children's story, and also magical enough to not expect realism but set in mostly reality so you don't get whatever the fuck cats ist

[@lauraelaineallen21]

The moment when Rebel Wilson unzips her fur is possibly the most horrifying thing I have ever seen

[@Technodreamer]

You know, the first bit of the movie wasn't bad? It had me. The CGI didn't weird me out and the music was good. Then, they started THAT song...

[@Technodreamer]

@DANIELLE PALAZZOLO Rebel Wilson did

[@mastermarkus5307]

Absolutely. JUST HAVE HER WEAR A COAT! Christ, it's so creepy-looking!

[@ayoderable]

And they did it twice.... AND it was a part of the plot....

[@the_winglet]

I animated that shot. You're welcome.

[@antozurita8637]

I'm so glad the me that tought "weren't mistoffelees and tugger gay for each other?" wasn't just me REALLY reading into the subtext and it was actually Hooper not wanting gay cats on screen lmao

[@annadidathingy2832]

And it combined the best of two shitty worlds: by playing around with the plot they no homo'ed two romantically ambiguous(or not that ambiguous, did you see that rainbow ribbon thing, lol) cats and since Victoria is a female MC now, god forbid we would have a female protagonist without a romantic subplot. Gotta intrest the chicks, you know. And who is better to slide into the role of romantic interest, than a romantically ambiguous cat. Isn't that ingenious? Killed two birds with one shit flip of that script.

[@angharad5932]

Seriously. I mean, everything in Cats can be interpreted pretty much anyway you want. But Hollywood talks a big game about Equity and Diversity etc. ,etc. but they won't ever bring "gay subtext" into the spotlight because Money. They are such hypocrites.

[@MrZer093]

What’s ironic is that women will throw money at people for a (well done) gay romance. Just make it hot and steamy and you can just print money. The issue is that too many of the big het stars are (kinda justifiably) worried about being typecasted and there is a “no homo” aspect to how they feel that most directors tend not to bother with getting rid of. All the more props to Ledger and Gyllenhal for committing almost two decades ago.

[@mitchh3092]

I mean cat people I can buy, but GAY cat people? I can only suspend my disbelief so far, sir.

[@hithere911]

@@mitchh3092 Except that does happen in nature. Most mammals and apparently avians can be gay.

[@aj-mf1mb]

UM HELLO WHY IS REBEL WILSON TAKING HER SKIN OFF ? ??

[@ninereeds1810]

We don't talk about that.

[@jamesderiven1843]

@@ninereeds1810 Not because we don't want to - it's just we literally can't. We don't have the words.

[@cchantal5435]

ReALisM?!?

[@fallingpetunias9046]

itS GroUnDEd

[@jromero9795]

WHY DID SHE EAT AN ANTHROPOMORPHIC ROACH

[@ARS1508]

Every day, I send out a thanks to the universe that they released a pro shot of Hamilton instead of milking its popularity by adapting it into a movie 😭😭😭

[@markkittel44]

There’s a million things they haven’t done…. But just you wait…

[@lord_ozymandias]

@@markkittel44oh god

[@hallo4411]

I don't know lin manuel miranda still has the rights to it, right? So should be good. Also they made a translated German version, which is just amazing! 🎉 (no irony by the way i love the german lyrics)

[@joncarroll2040]

Give it twenty years.

[@davidwh2653]

they will for sure do a movie someday and i will watch it tbh

[@instinctbrosgaming9699]

I'm impressed that Cats became such a big deal in the 80s that they had the cast make advertisements against smoking and telling parents "put seatbelts on your kids so they don't die"

[@kronemerj]

Yeah its surreal

[@kimifw58]

Weird decade.

[@ally939]

Did the 80s really happen or was it just a decade-long, collective fever dream?

[@andrejg4136]

@@ally939 when all the creatives are coked to the gills, everyone else has to go for the ride.

[@sonikku956]

_What a _*_DIS-GUSTING_*_ thing to do!_

[@CaitieLou]

Why why WHYYYYYYYY did no one hear Tom Hooper saying he wants to bring realism and groundedness into Cats and say that is a terrible idea??? Bringing reality into Cats would be like bringing slapstick humor into Schindler's List. You just can't do that. At least not without bringing some unholy nightmare into being.

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

Counterargument: Life Is Beautiful Supporting Evidence: Life Is Beautiful ...I mean you're right & yet it exists & it won at least 1 Oscar...

[@TacticusPrime]

@@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 God, fuck that fucking movie to hell.

[@drpibisback7680]

​@@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 I will say that Life is Beautiful was still fairly controversial despite being much more thoughtful than "slapstick humor in Schindler's List" implies. There's absolutely a contingent of people who consider any tone softer than "relentlessly bleak" as trivializing the real events of the Holocaust. That said, the criticism of Life is Beautiful was leagues more tempered than Cats, which I once saw described (not innacurately) as "a new form of pornography that everyone hates."

[@juliamavroidi8601]

​@@picahudsoniaunflocked5426The Cats movie isn't Life is Beautiful, it's The Day the Clown Cried

[@feelflows]

Jesus, that clip of Judi Dench cat singing to the audience is what hell feels like

[@littlefieryone2825]

It is the face of time The face of entropy The face of a clock That when faces you once Never stops

[@ukaszgolon5617]

The editor should get hazard pay for this.

[@TrueBuddhaCat]

You can even see the actor playing Munkustrap looking at Dench keep going being like “For the love of god, are we still going on!? Tom, yell cut already!!”

[@kashiichan]

I adore Dame Judi Dench, but she is NOT a singer.

[@madsketcher]

Doody Stench

[@dndlee6872]

"thank you cats for ending this nonsense of bad musical adaptations with aggressive 'for your consideration' campaigns and oscar dreams" 2 years later: *Dear Evan Hansen movie*

[@skiddadleskidoodle4094]

👀 didn’t quite work out tho

[@dndlee6872]

@@skiddadleskidoodle4094 and thank the theatre gods for that

[@elliott9246]

oh god i'd forgotton about that nightmare (also: nastya

[@cindyluyanli]

“No one wants a child to become a memory” Oh my god who had the audacity to write that commercial?!?! 57:02 for beginning of this masterpiece

[@cindyluyanli]

Corvus you are not wrong

[@TurtleRhythm]

Still more emotionally gripping than Cats 2019

[@twincast2005]

I mean, that line is fine, but that she then breaks out into song is utterly tasteless.

[@Lazamattaz]

I'm CREASED

[@bndncn]

The comedic timing of the start of the song there is actual genius.

[@nekoettechan5433]

"because i don't know anyone who's ride-or-die for cats" me, who has recently discovered the '98 filmed version of the stage musical and is currently hyperfixating on said stage musical, hiding all of the content i have already created and consumed in five days behind my back: *nervous laugh* ha-ha yeah, wh-who'd ever be ride or die for cats?

[@anothermoonmission7042]

You are not alone, my friend. Cats is, in fact, good actually.

[@gabrielgrevelund8123]

I- If this doesn't describe me, Idk what- You're not alone on this one

[@angharad5932]

I love Cats! You aren't talking to the right people ;)

[@MmMm-sf7pe]

Maybe the true purpose of the Cats 2019 movie was to draw attention to the gem that is the Cats '98 musical.

[@RacingSnails64]

UP TOP 🤚🏼

[@ameliajk]

Those PSAs had me laughing out loud oh my gosh "no one wants a child to become a memory (cue Memory)" 😂😂

[@gothnerd887]

That's nothing, I recently heard a Neon Genesis Evangelion PSA about AIDS

[@haphazardlark1502]

Amelia Kennington that moment physically launched me back from my computer. Amazing

[@GirtheAlienGoldfish]

A CHILD was in the car!

[@LittleDogTobi]

@@gothnerd887 i just watched that too lol!

[@qwertyTRiG]

Not at all similar to Irish road safety ads, which tend to be absolutely brutal and traumatising.

[@MsMeiv]

"You don't want your child to be just a memory" WTF ???!!! That traffic safety ad is its own brand of horror

[@Solereaper21]

People always ask “Why is Cats?” But no one every asks “How is Cats?” 😢

[@catzerk399]

🤣this should be a top comment lol

[@davincent98]

I'll do you one better: Who is Cats?

[@naikigutierrez4279]

Hey there He was on his own farts.

[@Areanyusernamesleft]

@Hey there I thought the video made it clear, his own ego. :p

[@Nick_J_]

Grim How is it? It’s shit

[@cryptidxcreature]

i literally screamed "HE'S NAKED" when macavity, who had up until that point been wearing a coat, showed up without one. i went and saw it on christmas with my boyfriend (who will probably watch this video shortly as well) we're both cats fans and we were in TEARS we couldn't stop laughing or clowning about it for weeks, i genuinely LOVED it, it was SUCH an abomination against god. i gotta say jennifer hudson singing memory genuinely gave me chills and made me tear up in the theatre tho

[@Kyman102]

It's like Dan Olsen in Folding Ideas noted. When you first see the naked cats it doesn't really click because like it's CGI fur, but then comes Macavity wearing his coat. Then he LOSES the coat, you think "Oh shit, he's naked", and suddenly it's like the blinders have been removed, and you realize "Oh shit, *all the cats are naked*..."

[@cryptidxcreature]

@@Kyman102 forreal lmao i started side-eyeing the sneaker cats after that

[@annedavis3340]

No one wanted a "The Emperor has no clothes!" Moment with CGI cats

[@annedavis3340]

@Kimmminem West omg wow what a novel statement, thank you SO MUCH for pointing that out, we were LOST without you.

[@carloscaro9121]

The "Macavity!" scream should definitely be up there with "See how I glitter," and "I'm losing to a bird!"

[@sciencefantastic]

Literally all Hooper needed to do was have them wear costumes. ALL HE NEEDED TO DO, and it would’ve made the film better.

[@charlisebar-shai2613]

Ah yes, nothing screams "I need a realistic and grounded film adaptation" like Cats

[@dezodroya]

Is the same mentality of making superheroes movies all dark and edgy

[@JustKrin]

@@dezodroya oh, you mean The Dark Knight Law? God I hate that, I thought that with Fant4stic, TMNT and Hellboy it was dead, but thanks to Joker making over a billion (which I saw and kinda like tbh) we have more years of that. I don't know if that is a subject that she likes but I would like if Lindsay did a video on it.

[@Shredow2]

@@JustKrin It really only works with Batman. I'm not sure why though.

[@wjzav1971]

Gotta appreciate the MCU for walking the thin line between some realism and freak it, we are having fun.

[@mikel66661]

@@Shredow2 I would say that it only works when is done in a mature way and not in a Snyder/childish/edgy way.

[@comedywhacked]

"if the VFX peasants don't want to be mocked why don't they simply work harder" i love the little easter eggs

[@boggs4896]

The "Why?" of the musical is simple, it evokes all of the personalities that cat-owners perceive in their felines. That's what is at the heart of the poems, and at the heart of the musical. It's also why the ridiculous costumes and the anthropomorphism work in the musical; cat-owners already perceive a "person" in their pet and the musical just registers that fact in an enhanced key that works perfectly with a heightened sense of absurdity, whimsy, etc. It's very similar to Kayfabe; cat-owners KNOW that their cats aren't people, but they play as if they are. Musical captures that right in a bottle. The movie, on the hand, takes the Cats-Kayfabe as literal and basically presents the viewer not with human personalities dressed up as cats, but with literal cat-human hybrids. It kills everything and generates an instant "yeck" response.

[@pipsydoggy6964]

Exactly! As a passionate cat owner I just see cats. I've been listening to the songs for a couple of days now and that's exactly what I love about them. It's about cats. If you ignore what's happening on stage, then it's just cats. I can recognize my own pets, I swear my brother's cat is a little Rum Tum Tugger in a sense that he wants whatever he can't get and gets stuck in furniture. I adore how Mr Mistoffelees' song is about how magic he is, but describes how it's undeniably proven just because someone heard a cat purr when he wasn't there. Or Skimbleshanks explaining how he's in charge of the entire train. That's what cats are fundamentally, they're little self-important fur balls. And the musical is just that with a little dramatical subplot to tie it together.

[@indigothecat]

Actually, you're not wrong on this. Mamrie Heart said on her podcast that one of the best things to look for when traveling in a foreign country is either puppet shows, other media targeted towards children, or a stage show/musical that you are already familiar with. That way, you don't need to even know the language to follow what's happening. Something being simple doesn't automatically mean it's bad.

[@Flavershum]

Exactly! I've always loved Cats! I never got why people didn't get it

[@wickedphant0m]

this is 1000% the best explanation of CATS that I've ever read. I feel like I finally actually understand the show now.

[@harayaalirak4040]

@@wickedphant0m you can even find it in the lyrics! For example, tugger is supposed to be the kind of cat who thinks he's so amazing but in his song he fully admits that he gets stuck in drawers on the regular. Just like any spoiled beloved house cat. Or skimble who is just a cat that lives at a train station, so when the conductors are looking for him before they depart it makes him think that he *literally* is the driving force of the trains and that they physically can't leave without them. It's all goofy regular cat attitudes hidden under flair and glitter because that is exactly how they view themselves from their pov lolol

[@UknownScienceTiger]

This video introduced me to Cats. Then I listened to the podcast episode. Then I watched the Sideways video. Then, on a whim, I watched the '98 film. Thanks to Lindsay, I am now indeed "ride or die" for Cats.