Posted on 12/19/2019 6:21:35 AM PST by C19fan
Back in the summer of 2015, the co-directors of Disney’s “Zootopia” went rogue, disregarding the advice of their corporate colleagues and appearing onstage at the Annecy animation festival disguised as the talking-animal cartoon’s fur-covered lead characters, an anthropomorphic rabbit and her foxy best friend. The audience ate it up, but behind the scenes, the Disney suits were sweating. For decades, the family entertainment company had been dealing with a very specific group of enthusiasts, identified as “furries,” who get off on dressing up in full-body animal costumes, drawing inspiration wherever they can find it. By now, Disney lawyers know how to deal with that crowd, but other studios have to learn the hard way.
I mention this because it’s just one of dozens of things the folks at Universal seem not to have taken into consideration before making a movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-running musical “Cats” — another being the need to define, for generations uninitiated, the meaning of “Jellicle,” a nonsense word repeated nearly six dozen times in the opening number alone. Fans of the original show may embrace it; so too will furries, I’d wager. But it’s not enough to take a blockbuster Broadway phenomenon with one iconic earworm — Lloyd Webber’s unforgettable “Memory” — and a loose plot about a community of street cats competing for a chance to be reborn, and trust it to work on the big screen.
(Excerpt) Read more at variety.com ...
Rather watch real cats on YouTube.
How gay is it?
Anything with Taylor Swift in it is to be avoided.
Sounds like a terrible idea for a movie. The cat costumes and makeup really only work (IMO) onstage where stylization is more accepted. Movies are more realistic and stage-bound stylization rarely works.
The ‘cats’ with short fur look like people with skin disorders.
‘Cats’ is one of the few musicals I never played. Kinda glad I didn’t.
I thought the theater costumes were awful...they looked more like shihtzus
My time machine is nearly ready. I am really torn between going back and assassinating Karl Marx, or T.S. Eliot.
I saw the stage play. The worst play I have ever seen in my entire life. Truly awful.
So Taylor’s a ‘furry’ now?
too much snark in this review....i couldn’t finish it
Taylor Swift will go down as the best actress since Madonna.
I am really torn between going back and assassinating Karl Marx, or T.S. Eliot.”
WTF?
What on earth are you talking about, throwing Eliot into the same brew as Marx?
In general, plays do not translate to film.
I agree; this might have worked as a cartoon, but not with live actors.
Haven’t seen CATS, so I have no idea if it is a good stage show or not (only one memorable song — very memorable — but is there more to it than that? Can’t say.)
Hahahahahaha...choices...choices...
oh, just to clarify....I didn’t like the REVIEW....I intend to see the movie, and am determined to love it.
But i love the show, and I’d have to say, anything that puts even Eliot’s not-so-serious words prominently out there is going to get my enthusiastic support.
With regards to the music in the show....in my opinion....yes, there is a LOT that goes on. The number of styles/genres probably reaches a dozen or so. This is of course what ALW has always done so well. The music follows the characters and develops them.
I think CATS is a remarkable collab....two geniuses at work....of course post-humously in Eliot’s case.
There’s so much more to be said about CATS. I think it’s amazing. I adore it, and Eliot is a major life figure for me (and many others). (Of course I adore Hamilton, also, and I get it that I’m in the bottom 1% at Free Republic in that regard.....lol).
I love the musical Cats, but this looks terrible.
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