You’ve probably heard of the movie Cats, and might have even had the unfortunate opportunity to see it in theaters. But for those who haven’t it’s essentially the story of a group of cats who compete through song for the coveted prize of dying first.
So in more depth, every year at the Jellicle ball, Old Deuteronomy (Judi Dench) has to make the Jellicle choice. The Jellicle choice is basically which cat gets to die so they can be reincarnated into a better life. So throughout the movie the cats perform musical numbers about themselves to show why they should be picked. Theres also a villian cat named Macavity (Idris Elba) who tries to sabatoge the other cats so he can die first instead. In the end the cat who wins is Grisabella (Jennifer Hudson), a cat that used to be popular but is now old, washed up, and sad winning through her song “memory” where she reminisces about the old days. As such Grisabella gets to ascend into the Heaviside Layer (Cat Heaven).
I think when they were making this movie, they were also reminiscing about the old days. Cats the movie is a spin off the widely successful broadway musical Cats. The musical for Cats is estimated to have grossed around 3.5 billion by now. The musical and the movie both share the same plot but the musical has been around since 1981. The pull of the musical was its strangeness, it was praised for costume and set design, its ability to send the audience into a fantasy world, and also for the constant action that the musical performances brought. Cats is a good indicator that to do a successful remake, it takes more than just switching out the stage costumes for uncanny valley CGI.
Despite the star cast and successful musical predecessor Cats the movie was a flop. And a spectacular one at that with the currently estimated loss being around 100 million at the box office and a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes. Cats the movie has different layers of bad, too many to unpack. From the song that Rebel Wilson cat does where she eats roaches with CGI human faces, to the song that Jason Derulo cat does about being sexy in a “milk bar” since cats don’t drink beer. Here is perhaps maybe the most cursed moment in the film where not only does Rebel Wilson eat a roach but also peels off her skin to reveal clothes underneath.
Also with the CGI fur some critics did think that it was a bit strange that some of the cats wear clothes for their regular outfits (i.e coats, pants, etc) while others do not. Stranger still that most of the cats not wearing clothes were those played primarily by the younger actresses.
Another one of the interesting things to come out of it was the fact that the movie was patched while in the theaters. Patching a movie is rare but not uncommon, so if you were lucky enough to see Cats when it first came out you might have caught Judi Dench’s human hand.
It is believed that they did not want to delay the release because they wanted to be Oscar nomination eligible, as if releasing an unfinished version of the film would somehow make them eligible. There was a bit of worry that at least for CGI animated films, other movies might try to something similar where they release unfinished versions as well. But hopefully, no other animated film will try to follow in the steps of Cats.
If anything we can only hope that Cats can serve as a warning as what NOT to do for a CGI remake.
Sources:
https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/23/21034843/cats-film-updated-digital-fur-technology
I think you cover an important discussion of proper adaption. I think it will forever be a mystery why anyone along the pipeline thought this should be made, but I think it speaks to the lack of voice creatives have in big productions. They would know, but someone had invested too much money to get out or make a change. I mean yes, it was a creative risk, which nowadays is very admirable, however, the crazy must work.
Hi Bridget! This is an awesome piece! I am also confused as to why anyone or any company would believe this would be a good or profitable movie to make. Maybe somebody really did not like Taylor Swift? Although I believe the CGI was very cool and intricate, it was still very weird to see human CGI cats. Great job!
Oh man, really agree with a lot of what you said, the movie was unnecessarily rushed and in the end I’m not sure it was worth it at all. Sonja is right, the film was a big creative risk and it was really a shame to have such an outstanding cast be brought down by rush-job CGI. The concept was odd enough to begin with, they really should have taken the time to map out what they want, get it made and make it well, because honestly you’re right about the uncanny valley moment, it really messed with the entire experience.
I still cannot believe they released it before it was completely finished. That simply doesn’t make sense to me. Don’t show something unless it is done. Cats is such an amazing musical on stage, and this movie really diminishes that with the horrific look. They really should’ve just filmed a stage version of it.
This movie seemed strange to me when I first heard it was being made and the more and more I saw about it the less I felt tempted to see it. It is really sad when CGI is used in a way that just makes a popular or interesting narrative look bad. It doesn’t speak well to the medium or the people who put in so much time to create the film. CGI and visual effects is a tough industry to be in and so when they have to make movies like this where everyone bashes their work, when it might not have been their first choice film to create in the first place, it really speaks to the current state of the industry.
I hold the controversial opinion of believing that the film was not awful. Once I started watching it I got used to the cat CGI, and the story, while disjointed and not a purrfect fit for the screen, it does have a kind of warmth and kindness to it. For pure entertainment it serves its purpose and does not deserve the shit that has reigned down upon it. And the clothing is worn by male and female cats, and the two leads, a male and female character, are both naked, so I do not believe that there was a imbalance in sexualization. Cats did not deserve the disdain it has received
Why would they ever make a Cats movie, if people could barely understand the Broadway version. Sometimes art is best in its original form. This reminds me of all the books that are better than their movie versions. Cats was just simply misunderstood!
This was a hilarious read and I can now say that I know enough about Cats that I would ever want to know. I get the appeal behind remaking old Disney movies and other classic hits as live action because at least they aren’t trying to win an Oscar and a lot of people enjoy them. But remaking this musical with an accomplished director, full celebrity cast, and complicated visual effects in the hopes of winning awards, I will never understand how it turned out the way it did.
There were so many discussions on Cats early this year, but I opted out of it as soon as I saw the trailer for it. It was a huge disappointment and a bit frustrating to see such a poorly done remake movie even make it to theaters. I am starting to wonder if there are any creative people remaining in the big companies now… I wish 2020 could open a new decade for films with talented creators and cinematic efforts that do not rush for award competitions.