The First Trailer for "Cats" (2019) is Here to Get Stuck in Your Memory

Scene from Cats (2019)

It was seven years ago that director Tom Hooper managed to turn Les Miserables into an Oscar-winning movie. While many complained about the close-ups, the bombastic nature and sheer dedication to such an iconic musical made it one of the boldest films of his career. With that in mind, nothing is likely to compare to Cats, his next musical and the first film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber juggernaut. Considering how divisive his last musical was, it's not going to be easy for audiences to get on board with a film about singing and dancing cats. As the first trailer, dropped with much anticipation and months of build-up, finally arrives it asks the viewer to start expecting something weird and different, much like the stage show itself.

The popular notion among people is the belief that Hooper is a bad director who lucked into a few Oscar-nominated films. It's a fair criticism considering that Les Miserables was itself a divisive movie with many believing that it sacrificed the epic scope for something less profound in close-up shots. With that said, I was a fan of his previous musical and found the boldness to try something different was an effective tool. Could Russell Crowe sing? Maybe not so well. However, it was all part of a movie musical that still holds some reverence for me, because I do believe it captured the energy that most musicals of this decade lack. Yes, it doesn't have the choreography or vibrancy of a Mary Poppins Returns, but it did have sheer chutzpah that few filmmakers would think to pull off.

It's exactly what's been most interesting about Cats from the very beginning. While the stage version has a very distinct look, the idea of translating it to film definitely comes with some edits. How do you make cats look cinematic, especially when they perform dance numbers and sing to the moonlight? It's all so much to consider, and Hooper still seems like an odd choice. Considering that musical fans are still divided about his previous film, Cats up to today has existed in this perfect realm of speculation. What could they actually look like? They could just be clones of the stage show and work just fine, but is that cinematic? There's so much to consider here, and it's why Cats had such an anticipated trailer, especially following the video that suggested that it featured the best in "digital fur technology." There's oh so much to wonder about.

With that said, it almost feels like a fool's errand to try and bring this story to life, no matter how iconic and long-lasting it has been in the zeitgeist. It's true that Webber adaptations have mostly been decent on films, such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita. What could possibly go wrong with the newly crowned EGOT's latest? Many would speculate that it ends up closer to The Phantom of the Opera-level quality than the others, which could be a tad painful. Considering Hooper's reputation, it's hard to fully know. Still, there's nothing like having a first reaction to a trailer like Cats. Love it or hate it, there's no look that is bound to be more singular than Cats. 

Check out the trailer below:

It looks... like something. Here's the plot description according to IMDb:

A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.

To be totally honest, the immediate backlash to the look of the film is something that was definitely expected. For those who know what cats, the actual animals, look like it's a bit of a mess. The fur on some of them definitely looks a little too close to the skin. Even the fact that they're mostly standing up humanlike is a bit disorienting to some extent. With that said, I am not so bothered by the look, even if it does have an acquired taste about it. The designs feel more in line with the costumes onstage than revolutionizing any new look.

I'm also a fan of the set design, which feels like a nice offset for these characters. Where I thought it would look too big for these characters, scenes such as cats jumping onto a bed actually have the right depth perception. There's also plenty of decent design to the streets that the characters inhabit. With that said, I'm not familiar with the overall show, so some of it still seems a bit odd and the idea of a cat sitting at a table with a knife and fork seems like an odd pick. Still, it's hard to not praise the film without resorting back on a "What did you expect?" mentality. I worried that the cats would look too furry. Instead, they seem to be using a decent level of fur technology, even if a bodysuit might have been more interesting and to most people less off-putting.

Can Hooper pull it off? For many, the answer is already a capital NO! However, there's a perverse approach to releasing it on Christmas Day. The strategy worked before for Les Miserables. Who knows. Maybe the technology isn't quite perfected and later cuts will look more "authentic." For now, there's a lot to process with this trailer, and it's likely that the studio is banking on the film cleaning technical fields at the Oscars. It makes sense, though the question is whether it will be any good, or even tolerable. Jennifer Hudson really sings the heck out of "Memory," so there's that. But can people tolerate three hours of this? Only time will tell. I'm still a bit optimistic, for better or worse.