Cats (The Film)
Aug. 16th, 2025 03:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
varidogEven before the film Cats was filmed, it began with some challenges.
* People dressed at animals are cringe
* People moving and like cats is cringe
* Sincerity is cringe
* Musicals are cringe
* Stylized visuals are cringe
As a film adaptation, it was doomed. Just doomed. Add in the immediacy of being with the characters, as opposed to ten rows back, and that makes the uncanny valley all that deeper.
So, I won't talk about those things. They go with the work and the medium.
I liked the late 70's to early 80's synth sound. That was cool. I'm glad that they kept that.
The choice of all-green screen messed with my head. In theory, it was a great idea, because it saved a fortune on sets, but it left my brain screaming.
Likewise, all the FX for the costumes also saved a fortune on makeup and costumes, but it also amplified the uncanny valley. Before they did this, they really needed to have done some test runs of the technology, getting viewer feedback.
Their other options, real sets and real costumes, may not have worked any better.
As for all the bonkers parts, I was down with them. I loved me those dancing cockroaches. I'm a sucker for inutterably questionable choices.
In the end, though, I felt that the film was a bit tedious and uninspired because the source material was a bit tedious and uninspired. If you aren't into Cats, then you are not into Cats.
* People dressed at animals are cringe
* People moving and like cats is cringe
* Sincerity is cringe
* Musicals are cringe
* Stylized visuals are cringe
As a film adaptation, it was doomed. Just doomed. Add in the immediacy of being with the characters, as opposed to ten rows back, and that makes the uncanny valley all that deeper.
So, I won't talk about those things. They go with the work and the medium.
I liked the late 70's to early 80's synth sound. That was cool. I'm glad that they kept that.
The choice of all-green screen messed with my head. In theory, it was a great idea, because it saved a fortune on sets, but it left my brain screaming.
Likewise, all the FX for the costumes also saved a fortune on makeup and costumes, but it also amplified the uncanny valley. Before they did this, they really needed to have done some test runs of the technology, getting viewer feedback.
Their other options, real sets and real costumes, may not have worked any better.
As for all the bonkers parts, I was down with them. I loved me those dancing cockroaches. I'm a sucker for inutterably questionable choices.
In the end, though, I felt that the film was a bit tedious and uninspired because the source material was a bit tedious and uninspired. If you aren't into Cats, then you are not into Cats.
