exactly. almost every (negative) review is identical.

HEY! I thought the Film was Okay, it had its Flaws Sure, But I've seen Far Worse.

@M CC, You Wanna See a Rebel Come over take a look at what I got.

But cats bad

The movie is horrendous if you saw the original musical

Brilliant, heartfelt review. I haven't seen it yet but have been growing increasingly annoyed with reviewers I usually trust and agree with trash Cats over its plot. ALWebber took a loose collection of poems and ADDED plot but it was never meant to outshine the spectacle, music and dance, as you said. One reviewer actually said "The music's OK but nothing we haven't heard before" as if these wildly successful songs didn't keep Cats in theaters for 30+ years. Sheesh.

You mean "Pawn up" ;)

Two jazz hands 👋🏾🖐🏾👋🏾 from me.

I know right, this is a very fair and valid perspective to have

bopeton thumbs down for a world where saying “I like this” takes guts...

Exactly how it played out for me.

I feel this

SAME OMG 😭 I didn't see it a second time but tbh I think I genuinely would if I could

I loved it, too! I'm so glad I'm not alone! Sure, some of the performances were... meh... But the majority of it was so good!

SAME went in for a laugh, couldn’t stop thinking about it, started listening to the soundtrack, and now I think I have a slightly troubling crush on cat Laurie Davidson

You're not crazy! I went in and absolutely loved it! Actually saw it twice in theatres.

@@ajduclaire Glad you enjoyed it too :), it's literally such a fun surreal experience that I can't get enough of. I've seen it a few times in cinemas as well and it's grown on me everytime.

I kinda like it too bc of the music but I didn't like Jason and Rebel's part😐 Jason was sooo boring

So the thing is the 1998 version is kind of all this but much better so those of us that actually like the musical just got something worse than what we already had

Same

The Jellicle Ball dance segment is what you're referring to and it is VERY WELL DONE. And Skimbleshanks... Holy moly that guy can dance!!!

It’s almost like a religious experience “Memories” makes my eyes water it’s so lovely

There are some other great positive reviews, Zachary Michaels does one and Black Nerd Comedy. Loved both of their reviews and based on them I went and I really enjoyed the movie!

@@ali-boop Thank you much! I will need to go check those reviews out as well!

Kekeriki To be honest, I think the CGI was actually not bad, I thought it felt closer to the original with them having hands and that. It wasn’t very distracting either and the music and dancing were on point for me. The only thing I didn’t like was the overly human faces, they could have at least added cat noses, but again this didn’t spoil the experience for me.

I'm somewhat with you on your comments. I also loved the trailer when I saw it because it seemed to contain the essence of the stage show, while being a little different. However, I hate The Polar Express. I find it visually fine (not great) but can't stand the way it meanders.

I'm also immune to the "uncanny valley". Some examples like The Polar Express (which I've only seen clips of) just looks like bad animation but it doesn't bother me in any way. And I though the cat's trailer looked beautiful. While I don't experience any discomfort in the so called uncanny valley, I do notice that once animation stops being stylized and tries to be realistic, the physics and animation has to be pretty perfect in order not to look clumsy or comical or both. So for all examples I've seen that other people claim is creepy uncanny valley, for me they at worst are boring and aesthetically unpleasing; or so bad-it's-good funny (and this includes most early 3d animation and almost all real life humanoid robots) and at best just looks good enough to be acceptable and even look great such as the Cats trailer. While I'm not diagnosed, I do think I am on the autism spectrum; so maybe that's why I'm not bothered. Uncanny valley is also often used to describe how aspies comes off as weird; whke I on the other hand usually find aspie like behaviour interesting and comfortable. And I've read that a lot of other aspies also never experience the uncanny valley. In fact the only things that come close to triggering the feelings of "uncanny valley" for me is some actual real non-autistic, extroverted humans in real life. Particularly "salesperson" type personalities, with their excessive use of my name (if they know it) in every sentence, intense eye contact and overly "friendly" body language and excessive social laughter; it comes off as creepy and manipulative to me. I'd rather not buy anything than having to deal with such people in a shop; and I often just "run away" if I encounter someone like that.

@@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug Hi... As another "not diagnosed but probably on the spectrum" person, I rarely experience the uncanny valley, either. I had never connected that to my Aspergian tendencies... I supposed I'd assumed it was partly a matter of taste, my interest in stylized stuff and surreal images, tendencies I don't necessarily associate with Aspergers. Maybe there is a connection with aspie differences in sensory processing and social-emotional intelligence. If it's any indication, I enjoyed the Cats movie well enough... sister and I ended up being the only people in the matinee, which was both fun and somewhat saddening.... and I thought the cat character designs in particular were totally on target. I should note this is coming from someone who is reasonably familiar with the concept behind the show; while I've never had the opportunity to see it live on stage, I'm very familiar with the music, the video rendition of the play, and Old Possum's Book itself, which was a childhood favorite in our home. I actually knew the poems before I ever knew it was a musical, which I suspect puts me in a different position than most folks going into either the musical or the film of Cats. And for whatever reasons, I grew up with lots of stories about anthropomorphic animals and older movies where actors play animals in costume or with puppets. So, yes, humanoid fauna are home territory for me. But I realize that's not the case for many folks, more's the pity. Recommendation before seeing Cats, the movie: 1) Read T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical cats; if you're not a big reader, there's a particularly good audiobook version read by none none other than Sir John Gielgud and Irene Worth, which someone has conveniently uploaded to KZfaq. 2) Watch the 1998 DVD of the stage production, probably available free through your library. 3) If you have serious difficulties with the DVD, proceed at your own risk to the movie. All others, have at it! Foot note: I'm now wondering: could "uncanny valley immunity" also be the reason I've never been afraid of clowns? So many people seem to have an instinctive revulsion toward clowns, and while I'm sensitive to that fact, I've never understood the reasons. I can relate clowns to the uncanny value conceptually, but they just do not trigger that response in me.

@@Ian_Jules yeah I guess fear of clowns might be the same mechanism. Never been afraid of them either, but people who are seems to use the same terms (creepy, disturbing, terrifying etc) and body language of disgust (averting eyes, shuddering, gagging etc) as people who have uncanny valley do towards animation/robots they dislike. (I'm not a big fan of circus clowns either, as i find the humour boring, but never creepy)

I think I was about 10 years old when the Polar Express came out in 2004 and I saw it in cinema with my mom and absolutely loved it, and she loved it too, I didn't feel any uncanny valley at all and I don't see it with cats (I didn't watch the film yet though, only saw the trailer and photos). I do feel the effect of this valley sometimes though (can't remember examples rn), so I guess it is like with pain, we all have different levels of tolerance? Nothing weird about it 😁

Zack Abdulbaki same! The music was good and the acting was too, I don’t know why people are bashing it so much. Of course, i love the original too but the new film was good!

Zack Abdulbaki it’s amazing!!!

@@lavendercappuccino1933 Really, you don't know why? I've watched many reviews that explain in detail why many people don't like it, that doesn't mean you have to agree. I can certainly imagine a world where some people like a movie that the majority is horrified by. Humans have such a range of different personalities and opinions, why not.

Critics are bashing it because it's cool to bash it. They aren't ready to let their cat freak on. Furthermore most critics don't have the history with the product to approach it and appreciate it on its own merits. They keep clamoring to make sense of the plot when that's not even the real point.

Zack Abdulbaki OMG THERES MORE

Refreshing in a sea of people who watched it, isn't much into musicals at all, or at least not musicals that aren't Disney movies, who can't explain why they didn't like it (because it would literally just be "I'm not really into musicals"), so they start analyzing the movie instead and make revolutionary finds like "it didn't have much of a story". This is probably the best review we're gonna get on this movie until some time has past and people go back and actually start thinking about it.

Two Men and a Canoe watch the 98 musical. Cats is enjoyable as a musical but adding film language made it exausting, the intro on the jellicles-rum tum tugger-jennyanddots-bustopheles sequence made me tired.

I went to see cats..and i went to sleep ..a waste of time and money..It was hard to watch since i saw it live in Dallas in November..2019....its nothing better than seeing it live..

BallotBoxer That’s costumes in 2019. They did it for all of recent superheroes where they would make cg costumes.

Dennis Smith Perhaps the public is growing weary of stage to film and film to stage productions. They’re just lazy corporate money grabs.

There's not much lazy about this movie... Maybe misguided in some places but never lazy.

I think someone was bound to like this movie at some point, even if they are in the minority. People have liked weirder things than this.

Not going to lie, I would watch the hell out of an elderly spoof of Fast and Furious in the style of the Naked Gun movies.

@@lohphat This movie was Tom Hooper's passion project; information which physically hurts me to think about. I agree it had some incredibly questionable creative decisions (such as undertaking it in the first place). What I cannot agree with is that this movie is lazy, *or* solely corporate, *or* a money grab.

I immediately turn off any review that says they didn't see the musical or saw it and didn't care for it. It's not that their opinions aren't valid, it's that I know exactly where they're coming from. I'd rather hear from people that love the play and see what they thought of the movie. But other Then a handful of reviews, No one understands the play...

Truly 😍 loved every minute of it

Seconded on the way the dance stuff is cut... But there were a fair bit of decent dance sequences in this for that didn't cut too quickly

Thank you!

Make a video! We need more voices out there in favor of Cats

Ugh, I don't want that. High fps animation is anything but stylized

No. I was initially excited about the idea when I saw it. Thought that would have been a better approach until I saw the live action movie. Then I realized why an animated version would be the wrong move. Cats isn't about animation, it's about real people in costume dancing. It would be like making an animated Nutcracker... Cute in a Fantasia sort of way but not what a Nutcracker fan really wants.

I think so too... Or you really have to go into it with knowing you're not getting a mainstream movie

When ever I see a reviewer say they haven't seen the stage show or saw it and didn't like it, I immediately turn it off. Getting tired of the pile on from people that don't get it yet.

Don't worry about saving face ;)

If you like the stage version just know that the movie tries to have a bit more of a story. But the essence and the fun of the play feel really much intact. In that sense it is one of the most faithful movie musical adaptations though it does also have its faults as well.