CATS Film Adaptation Thread

[Impossible2]

BenjaminNicholas2 said: "everythingtaboo said: "And I'm so tired of Jennifer Hudson singing the sh*t out of everything in the place of actual emotion. There's nothing behind her singing besides power. Where's the character aside from looking shocked and confused?""



Yes. I'm glad someone said it. Hudsonhas two volumes: Loud and very loud. Her technique is sloppy. Her phrasing shows how much she could use some additional coaching in the breath control department. While on film, she can be edited to come across very well, her live performances can't hide her inherent problems. Color Purple was well above what she looked comfortable doing. Thankfully Heather Headley came along a little later to make sure we all understood how great a role Shug really is.

I don't think she deserved this role. People often confuse power-belting with emoting and connecting with a song. Hudson has yet to show people that she can, in fact, act.

"

This seems to be a bit of a trend ATM. I went to see Regents Park's Jesus Christ Superstar (which has gotten raves across the board) at the Barbican last week and every single performer was exactly the same. They were all fantastic singers, but not one of them portrayed any type of character what so ever. There was no connection at all and it was a totally cold and unemotional experience.

It was like watching a battle round on The Voice doing JCS.

[Mike Barrett]

Ya so I’m gonna see this play first then go and laugh the HELL outta this film like wow this looks like a pc video game

[sueb1863]

FANtomFollies said: "After watching it a couple more times - I'm just surprised they aren't a little more cat-like since they went to the trouble of using CGI. For example, I would have liked to see them with cat eyes and a cat nose."

That's the biggest problem - they're just normal human faces on bodies that have tails and tiny cat ears. They don't look like cats. They should have at least used makeup like the stage show did to suggest cat features and put fur on the sides of their heads to suggest more hair. Like I said, they don't look like cats, and if they don't look like cats this isn't going to work at all.

[serena221b]

Dear God, wtf did I just watch?! I'm listening to the soundtrack when it gets released, but that is it! I am not stepping into the uncanny valley again!

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Twitter is having a field day lampooning this Hahahaha

That’s why I said, the best thing to come out of this is memes

[JBroadway]

I don't know wtf I was expecting but it certainly wasn't this nightmarish Snapchat-filter-gone-wrong

[Scarlet Leigh]

Okay. On a SERIOUS note though, the LOOK of it being a joke aside, I DO see some positive stuff in this. I had to watch it like 10 times to get all the giggles out before I could actually look at it with a straight face, but I like the idea of making Victoria the kind of glue that holds all the bits together. Cats has a lot of backstory to it's characters and nothing to really tie them together. To tell the story from the POV of Victoria attending the ball for the first time as she is meeting all the different colorful characters and is learning about them... I dig it. I am also a little biased because Victoria is my favorite character in Cats so it kinda directly appeals to me but you can see her here as a main featured player in pretty much every number featured.

[rlj1010]

My thoughts:

https://archive.org/details/TheAmazingAlexandersnlSpoof

[BroadwayStar4]

It should have been a CGI-animated movie with cats that look like cats, not humans.

[Speed]

BenjaminNicholas2 said: "everythingtaboo said: "And I'm so tired of Jennifer Hudson singing the sh*t out of everything in the place of actual emotion. There's nothing behind her singing besides power. Where's the character aside from looking shocked and confused?""



Yes. I'm glad someone said it. Hudsonhas two volumes: Loud and very loud. Her technique is sloppy. Her phrasing shows how much she could use some additional coaching in the breath control department. While on film, she can be edited to come across very well, her live performances can't hide her inherent problems. Color Purple was well above what she looked comfortable doing. Thankfully Heather Headley came along a little later to make sure we all understood how great a role Shug really is.

I don't think she deserved this role. People often confuse power-belting with emoting and connecting with a song. Hudson has yet to show people that she can, in fact, act.

"

Jesus Christ.  Are you f***cking serious???  Her acting in Dreamgirls was electric which is why she won EVERY SINGLE AWARD.  She is a fantastic actress who has conquered Broadway, TV, and film.  And how can you say her only voices are loud and loud when she is singing VERY QUIETLY for HALF THE TRAILER.  

[devonian.t]

Like they say in 'Six Degrees of Separation'- all the reasons why you can't make a movie of Cats.

[sueb1863]

The approach they took would have worked a lot better if they'd made the faces look more like cat faces. Make the ears and eyes bigger, maybe some makeup on the noses, put fur on the sides of their heads.

 

[Elfuhbuh]

What I absolutely HATE about this trailer is that there was potential there. They didn't just slap something together, and you can tell, because the sets, the lighting, the music all look and sound colorful and fun and good. The choreography looks like it'll be a joy to watch. But the design of the cats is just...it's ruining the rest of it. (Although Old Deuteronomy, Gus, and Grizabella all don't look that bad, probably because they all have that fur sticking from the sides of their faces that evens everything else out.)

[jimmycurry01]

Speed said: "BenjaminNicholas2 said: "everythingtaboo said: "And I'm so tired of Jennifer Hudson singing the sh*t out of everything in the place of actual emotion. There's nothing behind her singing besides power. Where's the character aside from looking shocked and confused?""



Yes. I'm glad someone said it. Hudsonhas two volumes: Loud and very loud. Her technique is sloppy. Her phrasing shows how much she could use some additional coaching in the breath control department. While on film, she can be edited to come across very well, her live performances can't hide her inherent problems. Color Purple was well above what she looked comfortable doing. Thankfully Heather Headley came along a little later to make sure we all understood how great a role Shug really is.

I don't think she deserved this role. People often confuse power-belting with emoting and connecting with a song. Hudson has yet to show people that she can, in fact, act.

"

Jesus Christ. Are you f***cking serious??? Her acting in Dreamgirls was electric which is why she won EVERY SINGLE AWARD. She is a fantastic actress who has conquered Broadway, TV, and film. And how can you say her only voices are loud and loud when she is singing VERY QUIETLY for HALF THE TRAILER. "

Jennifer Hudson did a serviceable job in Dreamgirls. The editor did an amazing job.

[Bettyboy72]

"Jennifer Hudson did a serviceable job in Dreamgirls. The editor did an amazing job."

^^^^THIS!!!!

The editor and Condon should have gotten the Oscar for walking her through that performance. 

Have you seen her proficient in any other film? No. She was a flat mess in the SATC film. Took the air out of any scene she was in. Then there are her numerous projects like the Winnie Mandela movie that never even see the light of day because she is so bad. 

She's can't act to save her life. She can convey emotion when singing though. 

 

[Justin D]

now seeing this, im a fan of the show so atleast i will have a nice new soundtrack to listen to.

this looks so weird, and is all the things i worried about, basically human forms and cat features. it makes you appreciate the stage costumes alot more. I will still go see it for sure but I might go high.

[Justin D]

Mind you, it is interesting that they are trying to give it a plot by focusing the action around victoria, the white cat, a minor character from the show, in that its like her first time at the jellicle ball so they are showing her what goes on

[CukorLover]

AMC Stubs discount Tuesday. Only $5.00

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

I’m sorry i’m Sorry I’m being a troll here but...

Remember how this had ONE day of exciting hype from that featurette? Bahahahah

Like that innocent day of people remarking on how it looked should be preserved. What a pure time yesterday was.

[chernjam]

What's even more comical is this thread/boards.

Before 5:00 this afternoon everyone knew that it would not be an official trailer

After that everyone decided this is the worst movie idea ever after a 2:30 length trailer.  I mean they haven't finished work on the thing yet... 

I'm not a Cats-fan.  Saw it once and couldn't stand it.  Other than ALW's music and appreciating some of the dancing/staging - it did nothing for me.  Didn't go to see the revival and had no desire to.

Yet between watching the promo the other day and then this trailer I'm looking forward to it.  It's a different, creative approach to a well-known property (one of the most well known around the world properties).  I suspect it's going to be better received by the general public then it would ever have been on this board

[Elfuhbuh]

I don't know...I'm not speaking from a place of wanting this movie to be bad or fail, because Cats is one of my favorite musicals, but the general online reaction to this trailer has been horrendous, and the like/dislike ratio on the trailer's YouTube upload is almost 50/50. It'll be interesting to see what the critics say about it when the movie is released.

[dmwnc1959]

That trailer certainly was mesmerizing. Left me sort of numb, but not in a bad way. Confused, more like it. I’m seeing the National Tour when it comes through Pittsburgh on March 1st, and I don’t think I want to have that movie in my head while watching the musical. May watch it when it comes to Amazon Prime.

[BrodyFosse123]

They literally used that face swap filter on SnapChat.  This is insane!

[Broadway61004]

Speed said: "BenjaminNicholas2 said: "everythingtaboo said: "And I'm so tired of Jennifer Hudson singing the sh*t out of everything in the place of actual emotion. There's nothing behind her singing besides power. Where's the character aside from looking shocked and confused?""



Yes. I'm glad someone said it. Hudsonhas two volumes: Loud and very loud. Her technique is sloppy. Her phrasing shows how much she could use some additional coaching in the breath control department. While on film, she can be edited to come across very well, her live performances can't hide her inherent problems. Color Purple was well above what she looked comfortable doing. Thankfully Heather Headley came along a little later to make sure we all understood how great a role Shug really is.

I don't think she deserved this role. People often confuse power-belting with emoting and connecting with a song. Hudson has yet to show people that she can, in fact, act.

"

Jesus Christ. Are you f***cking serious??? Her acting in Dreamgirls was electric which is why she won EVERY SINGLE AWARD. She is a fantastic actress who has conquered Broadway, TV, and film. And how can you say her only voices are loud and loud when she is singing VERY QUIETLY for HALF THE TRAILER."

Actually, I'm pretty sure she won every single award imaginable because of her singing, because of the fact the Academy can't differentiate between emoting and acting and because it was an insanely weak year for supporting actresses.  It had nothing to do with her acting, which was non-existent in the film.

[ErikJ972]

Scarier than the It trailer that dropped today.

Think there's any chance for a redisgn of the cats? Like what happened after the Sonic movie trailer came out? This response to this online has been even more brutal.

I'm looking forward to the Blank Check podcast on Tom Hooper.