Remember when we all thought that the first Sonic the Hedgehog trailer was one of a kind in its terrifying, nightmare-inducing uncanny valley? Well, we were wrong. My God, we were so, so very wrong. And how do I know that? Because I have watched the trailer for Cats.
For those of you who were too young, or not musical-theater-inclined enough, to remember, Cats was a hit Broadway show about the secret life of cats, including the act of being re-born into their next life. You’ve at least heard the show’s most popular song, “Memory” because it basically became a parody of itself in the ensuing years since its original run.
The film stars Jennifer Hudson, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Idris Elba, James Corden, Rebel Wilson, Taylor Swift, and Jason Derulo, of all people. It is directed by Tom Hooper, who also directed the musical film adaptation of Les Miserables, so it isn’t his first rodeo.
Now, the thing the Internet is freaking out about is not the soundtrack or the casting, but rather the ridiculously cringe-worthy CGI. Now, in the original show, the actors wore painted or fuzzy leotards with pretty intense face make-up. The movie decided the best thing to do was, instead of trying to follow that tradition, was to merge the faces of the human actors into humanoid-cat bodies. It is…disturbing, to say the least. It’s understandable that they would want the audience to see the actors as cats, but when you give them fur and ears with human bodies and hands, it just looks creepy. And I’m not the only one who thinks so:
What button do I press on twitter to make the Cats go away
— Alex Hirsch (@_AlexHirsch) July 19, 2019
I have an idea, why don’t they do a film version of the Broadway musical CATS but make the trailer so deeply disturbing that all you can do is stare in terror?
Wait. What?
They did that?
Never mind, then.
— Gail Simone 💙💛 (@GailSimone) July 19, 2019
who the fuck thought any of us were mentally well enough to consume that 'cats' trailer? irresponsible marketing. read the FUCKN room
— Jill Gutowitz (@jillboard) July 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/waswickh/status/1152051609909825536
https://twitter.com/SenornerdAct2/status/1152043702015156224
Yo guys! 2019 is officially the year of weird CG cat drama! This is actually exciting pic.twitter.com/rUmfrHxxuj
— redicnomad.bsky.social ₍ᐢ.‸.ᐢ₎ (@Redicnomad) July 19, 2019
There is very little time for them to make any changes to the CGI, though if the Internet’s collective shrieks of terror could save the Sonic movie, maybe we can make this look less like a den of nightmares as well.
Cats will premiere in theaters on December 20, 2019.
