Why I Won't Even Bother With 'Cats'
Dubbed as the worst reviewed film of the decade, Cats is a CGI adaptation of the smash-hit musical from Tom Hooper. Based on T S Eliot's collection of poems, Cats follows a group of felines through the night of the Jellicle Ball, handing each musical number over to one of them for their unique qualities, skills and interests. The blend of absurdity, stunning choreography and wit has won the hearts of thousands from 1982 until the present day, including my own. However, from the moment the trailer began, my musical-lover heart was set on avoiding this film for as long as I possibly could.
The critics are appalled by Cats for a plethora of reasons, including Mark Kermode who has discussed that Hooper is just not a good enough director to be able to handle this kind of project. According to Kermode's review on his weekly BBC Radio 5 Film Show, the CGI is so complex that Hooper's skill set could never meet the task. However, I argue that the success of this film was decided long before Hooper began directing this star studded cast of animated cats. No director could have made this film a success, and here's why.
I can only assume that Tom Hooper was handed this grenade due to the success of Les Miserables. Just two spots behind Cats in the list of Broadway's longest running musicals, Hooper made Les Mis an Oscar winning film in 2012. His deeply personal style of directing is what made this transition so smooth. Boubil and Schonberg's timeless score delves into the emotions of Les Mis's characters, ripping out their most personal experiences and presenting them with brutal candour, through melodies that when you hear them, immediately transport you to 19th century Paris. Hooper takes this human-focused approach, and uses the camera, winning renown particularly for the one-shot mastery of 'I dreamed a dream', performed by Anne Hathaway as Fantine. This scene won Hathaway a well-deserved Oscar, and is exactly why the film worked in its evolution from stage to screen. In a Broadway/West End theatre you can only achieve storytelling this personal through music, and Hooper recognised that this could be done in it's own way through the use of a camera. Thus, you have a good old musical combined with Hooper's style of directing, and voila, a successful musical-cum-movie is made.
Cats was never going to achieve this, because its about cats. One of the legacies of the musical is its beautifully designed costume, which transports audiences from the theatre to the alley-way in which the jellicle cats preside. In addition to this was the artistry of the choreography and the skill of the dancers, which perfectly embodied how you would imagine a group of cats to roam about. As I hope to have explained through Les Mis, when turning a narrative from one medium to another, something needs to be added. There has to be a new level of storytelling given in order to justify this new medium. By making Cats CGI, every single thing that was impressive about the musical is negated. The uncanny nature of the costumes is dulled and made down-right creepy by animation. The skill of the performers is made distant by animation. The mistake in this film came from the moment that someone decided to animate it, because through this new medium nothing is added, and everything is taken away.
Now if it was Hooper's decision to make Cats the CGI disaster that it is, then this is all on him. But that does not mean that Tom Hooper is a bad director incapable of making such transitions a success. Certain narratives belong in a certain form, because that is where they thrive. And that is why I'll be opting for the DVD of Cats on Broadway every time, rather than this bizarre animation that has tainted the legacy of the story it was attempting to renew.
The critics are appalled by Cats for a plethora of reasons, including Mark Kermode who has discussed that Hooper is just not a good enough director to be able to handle this kind of project. According to Kermode's review on his weekly BBC Radio 5 Film Show, the CGI is so complex that Hooper's skill set could never meet the task. However, I argue that the success of this film was decided long before Hooper began directing this star studded cast of animated cats. No director could have made this film a success, and here's why.
I can only assume that Tom Hooper was handed this grenade due to the success of Les Miserables. Just two spots behind Cats in the list of Broadway's longest running musicals, Hooper made Les Mis an Oscar winning film in 2012. His deeply personal style of directing is what made this transition so smooth. Boubil and Schonberg's timeless score delves into the emotions of Les Mis's characters, ripping out their most personal experiences and presenting them with brutal candour, through melodies that when you hear them, immediately transport you to 19th century Paris. Hooper takes this human-focused approach, and uses the camera, winning renown particularly for the one-shot mastery of 'I dreamed a dream', performed by Anne Hathaway as Fantine. This scene won Hathaway a well-deserved Oscar, and is exactly why the film worked in its evolution from stage to screen. In a Broadway/West End theatre you can only achieve storytelling this personal through music, and Hooper recognised that this could be done in it's own way through the use of a camera. Thus, you have a good old musical combined with Hooper's style of directing, and voila, a successful musical-cum-movie is made.
Cats was never going to achieve this, because its about cats. One of the legacies of the musical is its beautifully designed costume, which transports audiences from the theatre to the alley-way in which the jellicle cats preside. In addition to this was the artistry of the choreography and the skill of the dancers, which perfectly embodied how you would imagine a group of cats to roam about. As I hope to have explained through Les Mis, when turning a narrative from one medium to another, something needs to be added. There has to be a new level of storytelling given in order to justify this new medium. By making Cats CGI, every single thing that was impressive about the musical is negated. The uncanny nature of the costumes is dulled and made down-right creepy by animation. The skill of the performers is made distant by animation. The mistake in this film came from the moment that someone decided to animate it, because through this new medium nothing is added, and everything is taken away.
Now if it was Hooper's decision to make Cats the CGI disaster that it is, then this is all on him. But that does not mean that Tom Hooper is a bad director incapable of making such transitions a success. Certain narratives belong in a certain form, because that is where they thrive. And that is why I'll be opting for the DVD of Cats on Broadway every time, rather than this bizarre animation that has tainted the legacy of the story it was attempting to renew.
Image Source : https://www.slashfilm.com/cats-trailer-new/
Comments
Post a Comment