One thing that I find really cute about the lyrics and the performance is that it's so clear that this is from the perspective of a cat. Skimble is there to hunt mice, but he knows that the train can't leave without him, so he thinks that it literally can't leave the station without him. He follows the guard around to make sure that he doesn't forget to ask about the tea, when from a human's perspective, he's just a cat following a human around. He thinks that he has such an important role and it's the cutest thing ever
Just reminds me when cats walk around your house with such "I am on a mission" energy. We have no idea what mission they are on but they mean business.
Exactly!! Honestly as a person who enjoys the cats musical outside of this movie I never really see the jellice cats as doing things that cats do, like they’re just not real cats to me. But I could totally see Skimbleshanks wandering around a train believing he is the only thing keeping the entire operation going
If you listen carefully you can hear the orchestra sighing in relief because they can actually play the music correctly with the actually click track and sheet music.
Them actually letting Steven McRae pre-record this song in a studio instead of doing it live on film makes this number sound so much better than the others
Stephen McRae is actually a celebrity -- he's one of the best dancers in the world. In fact, other than Ian, Dame Judy and, ugh, Taylor, he's the only one in the film that I had actually heard of before seeing it.
One thing tho, how in the heck did this man manage to make a version better than the 90’s in this shipshow of a movie? Like he had EVERYTHING against him, but still did amazing. When I think of remaking musicals, I’ll probably end up using this as an example ngl. He took the song and ran with it without ruining the original. I personally was never super fond of skimblshanks’ number, but holy hell his rendition REALLY brought it to life, and that tap dancing is phenomenal. You almost NEVER see tap dancing used in modern media unironically which is a real shame, it’a a dying art which doesn’t deserve to die. It’s beyond refreshing to see someone do it some justice on a big screen today. Bring back tap dancing plez.
@@dumbdumb8526 I genuinely think it's because steven is a badass. He's a dancer by trade, so he's one of the few actors that actually sung and danced to the beat, and the rest of the actors had to as well, for this number at least. He had some good ideas and he's just damn good at what he does, so it resulted in an honestly good rendition. and like you said, it's not really one of those blockbuster songs like memory or mr mistopheles, so it being this good is a nice surprise.
You know why this is the best part of the movie? Because Skimble is a professional dancer/singer and he chose to use the proper backing track. Also it's the only song in the film that is staged and performed in a similar manner to the stage show.
@@BiologicalClock I still think it honestly could have easily worked out if they just stopped trying to reinvent the wheel. Stop fucking around with the camera with shots cutting away from dancing (my own only problem with this number), stop breaking up numbers with extra shit like what they did to poor Rum Tum Tugger, and just make it long tracking shots of Cats singing and dancing. The recorded stage version proves that it could be done, a CGI movie would just need a completely different team than what botched both this and Les Mis. Just... have them record the songs and use backing tracks the entire time to time all the dancing. One-up the stage version by making full use of movie magic to change from props tricks to movie special effects you can do in multiple cuts and with CGI. Basic-ass shit that the Disney Renaissance would have done, just with more live action.
All the non-celebrities in this movie are professional dancers and/or singers except for Mistoffelees. Munkustrap is a Tony nominee. I think most of the fault lies with Tom Hooper’s weird recording choices, which he couldn’t ruin this number with because you HAVE to have a set beat for tap
@@hollum1648 Tom Hooper is such a hack, pretty much ever film of his is a disaster from a film making perspective, even if the box office performance doesn't always reflect that
Steven McRae being an Australian dancer with no previous film work and making this the only song in the film worthy of the original musical says everything about what this movie is like. Also, tap dancing in 13/8, absolute madlad
Well, yeah, but he's Steven freaking McRae. He's not well known in the movie world, but in the ballet and dance world he is a GOD. Basically if anyone could pull off tap dancing in 13/8 it would be Steven McRae.
That’s so fucking stupid, the song is good because the tapping adds so much too it, it’s not just the singers or the orchestra. How couldn’t they realize that? Although I guess that could be asked about a LOT of things with this movie...
It really gives the song a heavier beat and merges in with the orchestra beautifully sounding almost like another instrument in the spotlight it just adds something that the original skimbleshanks was missing a good beat....which irony here.
Can we stop pretending that the music was off-beat just because the orchestra was recorded last (like literally every other movie ever made)? I know that people who make video essays never do any actual research, but none of the music in this movie is objectively out of rhythm, the dance choreography was done in sync with a normal track, and the orchestra wasn't recorded any differently than any other film. For god's sake, Andrew Lloyd Weber orchestrated it and Nile Rogers worked on the soundtrack.
@@Adam-nz3ix he was very highly respected but it's all in past tense. Possibly getting too old to do this anymore and doesn't want to just stop his life. He's a happy cat
I saw him in the background earlier in the movie and I already loved this character just by his design not even knowing that he's a named character with a song.
Honestly, the idea to have this be a tap number to evoke the sound of a train, is so good I think it’s where all the good-idea power of the movie got spent. I’m kind of stunned it was THIS of all things that thought of it. ....I actually think this version is better than the stage musical DONT KILL ME.
Honestly, I hope if they ever do an update to the production, they add in a tap dance for this number. Even if it's just Skimble, the taps for the train is so fitting for him.
This was the only part of the film that seems like a good adaptation and even elevates the original, that I'm convinced Tom Hooper didn't direct this part
@@kathrineparr6550 This, McCavity and Rum Tum Tugger? The only ones performed by people with musical talent? Though Rum Tum Tugger was ruined by stupid ass cutting away.
This number is proof that *IF* the movie had just stick with the actuall rhythm of the songs, we could even look past the weird looks of the cats to apreciate the great musical this should and could have been
As horrific as this production is, I hope that some stage shows going forward will incorporate the tap dancing for this number because it's fabulous and fits the song and choreography so well.
It’s not written into the stage version’s score, so you’d have to gain permission from the licensing company to alter the script which they almost never allow. Theatrical rights are very tight.
Sideways once said that the best scenes in this movie were the ones performed by actual dancers like this one because they know how to stay on beat and don’t try to mess with the tempo of the original songs, and after seeing this I have to agree.
I can't believe that the Universal Pictures YT Channel could not even put Steven McRae's name in the video description on the clip of him carrying the movie on his own back while tap dancing. Also as a side note, Robbie Fairchild as Munkustrap is carrying this disaster of a movie on his back as well. I hope this monstrosity won't ruin their careers.
@@TinyShinyUnique That is true. I meant in the sense that, along with Steven McRae, she is not trained as an actress but is instead a principal dancer from Royal Ballet and this is also her first movie. So, I was also including her in the hope that this terrible movie doesn’t ruin her prospects of being cast in any future film. Sorry, I didn’t make that clear in my first reply ☺️
One little touch I love comes in at 4:18 when the camera zooms in on his feet and there's a subtle change in what he's dancing on. Then it zooms out and the sound smoothly transitions from the clicking of tap shoes on wood to the more hollow sound of him dancing on a drum. It's a really cool sound cue and also a very neat camera trick, as opposed to having some kind of transition where the imaginary train scene fades out and is replaced by the real world. The most tragic part of this movie is that the people who tried, really tried. Unfortunately that group is short several important cast members and one director.
That's such a nice moment, perfect way to foster the suspension of disbelief. They should have used that building as the "stage" and transitioned like this the whole way through the movie.
@@StoutShako just watch Steven McRae's footwork at that section. He spins multiple time previously, goes into some seriously complex tap steps right at that transition, and then more spins. I have to admit playing that transition bit over and over again just to catch the footwork.
@@gymnosva And to make it even more complicated, the first half of that shot is 100% CGI and blends into the real McRae as the drum transition happens! I animated this shot and matching up with his crazy footwork was really hard, the madman is just too fast :P
I think Steven McRae was also one of the few actors that requested the click track while performing this. The other actors basically sang to their own beat, and the orchestra had to try and keep up. The director just misunderstood the plot of Cats as a whole. The UA-camr Sideways does a long video explaining everything that went wrong with this film, and even he says this scene is one of, if not the only, saving grace of the film.
With how some of the song is written in a very odd time signature (13/8 the part right as they’re all heading outside and chanting) and the tap dancing you basically NEED to keep to a steady beat.
Ironically this method works in this case because Steven isn’t a professional singer, thus likely wasn’t completely comfortable with dancing and live singing with a British accent all at the same time.
@@quangtran9843 He honestly has a good singing voice and is the best singer in the movie due to him having a backing track when filming instead of making the orchestra follow him making his own tempo and crap like most of the others; thus making it on par with the original music and how musicals are usually supposed to be done.
Never seen this dancer before - Steven McRae apparently - and he is simply spectacular, even among the ridiculous effects he captured my full attention. It was impossible to look away, his movements were so fluid and on point! The tap dancing matched this number so well.
Steven's Mad Hatter was like 70% of the reason I - despite being a 22 yr old nerd who'd never danced in her life - got into ballet back in 2018. I'm so happy this trainwreck movie could introduce more people to it. (The other 30% was the Nela/Vadream take on the Giselle act II pdd, if anyone was curious)
Why is this so good? Is it because it actually has a steady tempo? Is it because the dancer is amazing? Is it because he is wearing pants and shoes so you don't get weird CGI cat legs and feet? I can't decide. It's so good.
Honestly Steven McRae seems to be a very talented performer. I hope he goes on to perform in bigger and better projects cause this is gonna look pretty damn bad on his resumé!
Skimble is my favorite Jelicle. He doesn't even care about the Heavy Side Layer, he's just happy to be there showing off. He's a much needed breath of fresh air between Gus and Macavity.
I always had the feeling that Skimble wasn't one of the candidates, but maybe he's always the closing performance to the ball. He's so punctual that the others know his departure for the train before or during the big ball scene marks it's midnight (because he runs the midnight rail) and when he returns to the ball, it's just before dawn. So everyone was listening to Gus and all sad and then Deuteronomy cheers everyone up by pointing out But Look! Skimbleshanks is here! And everyone was having a blast before Macavity crashed the party. And we know it's close to the end because as soon as they get Deuteronomy back, it's sunrise so they have to make a choice. Skimble might one day be asking for a chance at the Heaviside Layer, but his current energy and enthusiasm tells me he's not ready to leave just yet.
Most of the participants aren't actively trying to get to the heavy side layer. I'd say Gus and Bustofer are the only two who actively want it, maybe Jenny. The rest are either there to participate or to steal the show... one way or another (looking at you Rum Tum and Macavity)
@@Kahtisemo Skimbleshanks, for me, is like the uncle who the children are always excited to see during family gatherings to hear his stories about his job as the Cat of the Railway Train, and he's always happy to oblige. As for the movie, Skimble is younger so he's more like the cool big brother to the other cats. Either way, he doesn't come across as wanting to be the Jellicle Choice because he's content with his life.
Steven McRae was the most professional person in this fucking film. Actually followed the click track. Actually knew his shit. Absolute legend behaviour, which is entirely unsurprising for a ballet principal; ballet is probably the art that demands the highest skill after circus arts. I *adore* the addition of the tap to mimic the clicking of a train. Would love to see him do this in the proper show tbh he'd kill it!!!
@@katie2275 There were plenty of talented "famous" people in this. They just let their egos get the best of them because they were enabled by the director's terrible idea of what makes a good musical movie (see: Les Mis. Which was considered better than this simply because we didn't have eldritch abominations scampering around.) That being said, there are two obvious exceptions, and no I will not be naming them because Everybody Knows.
Just remember to support Sideways and his *fair use* documentary. He already had to edit out parts that some mouth-breather or bloody suit copyright claimed.
This movie may be an eldritch horror and a terrible remake of the musical but this is one of the best tap routines I've seen. This is the best part of the movie.
It's such a shame the editing is still so erratic in this scene. Too many close-up when it should be focusing on his whole body and/or the whole group's synchronisation.
There's something a critic once said that I want to repeat here: "People never complain about bad effects in good movies." Seeing this video in isolation proves the point he was making. See, I watch this clip on its own and I *don't* care that the effects aren't very good because it captures my attention and holds it. In fact, it holds my attention so well that I don't even *notice* that the effects aren't very good. The song is a toe-tapper, it's performed really well and, minus a couple pointless interruptions - like tiny mouse coming out of nowhere to shout "CATS!" for no reason - I never get taken out of the moment. I'm too into it to care what the effects look like. But you throw us Reba Wilson and her complete inability to stay on key, and her off-beat tap-dancing cockroaches, and the terrible pacing and directing of the scene that makes it impossible for me to become immersed and suddenly the bad effects are all I can pay attention to. The effects didn't ruin this movie - the terrible directing and scripting did.
Yeah to be honest I'm a bit desensitized to people looking and acting like cats because of the musical so it really isn't that hard for me to get into this scene just on how they look. The glitches and mistakes are a different matter mind you, but like you the performance is so enthralling that I don't really think of even looking at mistakes and just enjoying the song. The tap dancing was sublime and as much as Reba Wilson sucked I'm glad they didn't try to force her character to tap dance like she was supposed to and moved it over to Steven McRae who CAN tap dance and was able to work it into the song in a clever way by having it replicate the sounds of a moving train.
Have to disagree with you to a certain point. This was one few good songs in the movie, but, the visual is very distracting and so off putting. The fight between the abstract and realistic style was on full display here. Examples, the cats look like real cats, but with human faces, hands and feet and shoes, and the scene shifts suddenly. there are realistic looking sets, and cat fur and features, but then abstract elements, like setting shifts, human shoes, and at most times, it appears the actors are floating on the floor, it is so bizarre. I wish they had just made an improved and modern version of the 1998 recording. Did still enjoy this version of the song, and the tap dance and drum beats, that was great, and I know the actors gave it their best, just such a crazy direction they took this movie.
In case you haven't watched Sideways's video yet, Rebel wasn't off key. She's actually a decent singer and has proven that many times, it's just that the line she was given to sing in Jennyanydot's song is the melody, but it sounds like a harmony, and what we percieve as the melody is a harmony. Very interesting video though, I do recommend it.
The tapdancing to mimic the sound of a train chugging along is honestly genius and dare I say, better than the original musical's version of the song (or at least the 90's recorded version)
I agree! Not gonna lie, Skimbleshanks' number, particularly in the '98, wasn't my favourite (especially after the absolute tearjerker that is "Gus The Theatre Cat"), but the 2019 version really knocked it out of the park! I wish future revivals of this show incorporates tapdancing to this number too. Too bad the tapdancing was omitted from the movie soundtrack.. It's still good, but that tapdancing really makes the song even better.
The only original idea they had that didn't make things worse. And as a hopeless train nerd that actually is pretty accurate to what a steam locomotive sounds like going from a dead stop to try and reach speed. They had to have listened to the real sounds.
Skimbleshanks was always my least favourite song. It seemed too out of place for how late it came in the show, compared to, say, Bustopher Jones, and it felt mostly extraneous. IIRC, it's actually one of the first songs dropped when people want to make a performance shorter. This move, actually made me fall in love with Skimbleshanks. It was amazing, imaginative, well executed, and I fully anticipate tap-dancing being incorporated into stage performances of the song in the future.
@@Tylendal242 Skimbleshanks and Growltiger's Last Stand are the numbers that are dropped the most when they need to make the show short. I agree though, thr only positive addition that this movie could inspire is the introduction of another tap number to the show.
I love how the song fits with how it goes with this movie. "Skimbleshanks! Where's Skimbleshanks?! We can't get anywhere with this movie without him!" Lo and behold he appears and makes the best number but unfortunately at the end of it he vanishes in a puff of smoke, as does the chances for the movie.
Friendly reminder that Steven McRae is not a singer or actor, but a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in London. Yet he managed to give us one of the few numbers in this movie to even resemble the stage musical. Because he knows you need a consistent tempo to dance to.
I’ve not seen anyone address this, but the cats are too small for the environment. It seems like they’ve taken the height of a cat on all fours, and made all the characters that same height, despite them being on two legs. A real cat, on two legs, would be so much bigger than these seem to be.
@@33link333 yes!!! Even in the trailers, the scale changed all the time. Just not thought through, leaving the effects team to do their best in a rush.
Leave it a dancer to blow actors out of the musical waters simply by acknowledging the fact you can’t bs the rhythm of a song in 12 or 13, or whatever time signature this song is in. Fun song in a bad musical, best song in a train wreck film.
Hell, even I know that and I’m a terrible singer. But at least I try to keep to the rhythm and times of the instrumental. Even If my volume gets out of control and I end up singing uh... how did they describe it... like a roller coaster? Yeah, roller coaster seems right. Would have been better If no one had heard me, but at least I’d kept the melody. Oh well. At least it was entertaining, for those who weren’t horrified.
@@thenablade858 Funny thing is that Dame Judi Dench was supposed to be Grizabella in the original London production of _Cats_ but she had a heel injury during rehearsals, and Elaine Paige replaced her.
I think there are three characters in this film where the designs look good: Skimbleshanks, Mr. Mistofolees, and Gus. What do they have in common? 1. They all wear clothes giving them a less uncanny valley and more cartoonish look. 2. They all have some feature (mustache, extra fur, mask pattern) which disguises their obviously human faces. The character designs in this film may actually have been fixable.
I also think that another reason is that they added extra fur on the side of their heads making them look rounder. Cats' heads are round! The others have their unmistakingly human oval-shaped head which contributes to the uncanny valley a lot.
The only scene in the movie that captures the essence of the stage show and a glimpse of what the film COULD have been if this movie was in the hands of someone who enjoyed musicals and knew what they were doing.
Everyone's gonna mention the click track part cause of Sideways but there's a lot more to what makes this one work out. Skimble's clothes fills up the character design a bit more (the stage show had arm/leg warmers and poofy heads to not seem "naked"). Munkustrap actually starts the song so it's not just a one man show like so many others in the movie. And that whole transition from warehouse>rail bridge>train>warehouse is just _cool_. I actually feel like I'm watching a Cats movie that isn't bound by the stage but still feels as fantastical. It's wholesome and joyous as most of the show should be and without cheap gags or body horror.
Kind of funny how at 2:13 or so the cats *start* to put together a pantomime train out of thimbles and trombones, like in the stage version, but Skimble just tapdances his way out of the set an onto the tracks before you can even really notice they're doing it.
I have to give the performer for Skimbleshanks props, this is probably one of the best performances out of the whole film. If the rest of the movie was like this I'd have less to complain about. I think he also makes the best transition into CG cat, but that's not saying much.
@@majobonilla8056 Totally agree, I think all the cats that have extra fur on their bodies or have clothing covering part of themselves up look the best in this version. If they just made the faces a little less humanoid I think the transition would have gone over a lot more smoothly while still keeping to those human proportions.
@@majobonilla8056 oh, for sure. the cats look too human so seeing that some cats wear clothes and others don’t just make me think that the ones not wearing clothes are.... too naked
I think the reason Skimbleshanks's appearance worked is for a similar reason the stage costumes work. The cats in the musical aren't ment to look like cats, they are ment to look like people dressed like cats.
You can almost imagine him going. " alright kiddies, let the professional show how things are done." You can tell he was running a clinic on how a musical is done.
@@novatlas1945 I think it has to do with focusing their eyes on a single unmoving object -- like a spot on a wall -- as much as possible, while turning their heads as little as possible.
Yes it's called Spotting and year's and year's of practice you focusing on a fixed spot flicking your head around first while preparing your feet to turn then whipping your body around just after your head has moved and your arm's have to be prepared as they give you the strength and speed to get your body around quickly and you must have good core strength also hard to explain so your eye's never leave that spot something as a Dancer I found very very very difficult never really mastered it 😢 baci x
aight so heres my theory - it is generally accepted among people who have seen this movie that Skimbleshanks is easily the most visually appealing Jellicle Cat in the film. i would argue that this is for several reasons: first, this number is considered to be the strongest in the film. it seems to capture the spirit of the original musical better than most other numbers in the film; (as many of you know, the youtuber Sideways pointed out how this number actually utilizes a click track, meaning it is actually listenable. due to the fact that most actually enjoy this number quite a bit, it creates the connection within the mind that Skimbleshanks=good. thus any time they see Skimbleshanks, they are reminded of the One Good Part of the movie. second, steven mccrae is a very charismatic dancer. if you’ve seen any of his other work, you know that he is very hard to look away from when he is onstage. he has an atmosphere that makes you want to look at him. third, Skimbleshanks’ costume. unlike basically any of the other Cats, Skimbleshanks is actually wearing clothes in the film. moreover, he is wearing PANTS. one of the things that gives this film its weirdly psychosexual undertones is the fact that all the cats are, well...naked. since we’re shown that other cats (Skimble, Gus, Old Deut) can and do wear clothes, it gives the implication that all the other cats are completely nude. this already makes people uncomfortable. then add onto that the fact that some cats (Macavity) have “fur” that is essentially just skin, you’re left with a remarkably uncanny effect that borders on the pornographic. its like seeing naked fursonas on the internet: not great. but Skimble wears PANTS - he specifically covers up the area that would make most people the most uncomfortable. furthermore, he is wearing pants and no shirt, giving the vibe that he is bare chested underneath the suspenders (i don’t need to do rocket science here and tell you why people are attracted to a bare-chested handsome dancing cat man). Skimble is just that more human underneath the cat, in a way that, unlike with the others, makes him more appealing to look at. theres not that weird psychosexual undertone to him that you get with other cats (theres a sensual undertone i guess? but i think youre just gonna get that no matter what because Cats is gonna Cats. plus its not the lovecraftian horror we get with the other cats). also, he has a mustache-beard-thing!! and a hat! by giving Skimble these very simple design elements, they humanize him that much more, in an actually good way, unlike the rest of the film. tldr; skimbleshanks is hot bc the number is good, steven mccrae is hot, and skimble’s outfit is 🥵 thank you for coming to my ted talk
i’ve been thinking about how skimble wearing pants makes the scenes with him in it infinitely more tolerable. besides eliminating the weird porno feeling most of the characters have, it probably makes vfx work easier since the team doesn’t have to cover his entire body in fur. skimble really makes me wish tom leaned into the human aspects of these characters more (ie GIVE THEM PANTS PLEASE GOD)
For me not only ia his whole design hot for exactly the reasons you mentioned, but also he makes these very serious and cool expressions, combined with some really great camera angles! Basically everything around him is cool
I feel like it (him wearing pants) makes the shoes tolerable too. Like everyone else just wearing tap shoes on their strange naked cat bodies (without the leg warmers the stage show uses to make *them look more like cats*) is just so strange and off-putting to me. Clothes is handled just so so poorly in this. I like the characters who wear coats and hats and stuff bc one, it makes the design interesting and actually stand out, and it helps to disguise the strangeness of the cgi. But then they take it off and it feels like they're naked and that's a whole other can of worms. I think the tldr, is the design choices of this movie are bizarre and they took absolutely 0 cues from the stage production, and it shows.
Oh absolutely. Honestly my biggest issue with the designs is that they kept the oval human heads, but cat heads are circle or square, and the cat ears make them look off putting. The stage show handled it so well. So when they put a cute hat on meffisto, it balances it out and it looks nice. Just put everyone in some kind of clothes and give them hats please! Or just dont make such terrible designs in the first place
In light of the trainwreck this movie otherwise is, "Skimble won't let anything go wrong!" Suddenly has the same energy as All Might saying "I am here!"
It is a CRIME that Steven McRae didn't get his name on the poster of this movie. He carried the entire thing with just one scene (sure, maybe he didn't want his name on this movie for reasons of "it isn't good", but still, he totally deserves it)
While I was watching the movie with my friends we were kinda laughing at how terrible it was but then this number came on and we were legit blown away with how different it feels from the rest of the movie. All of the movie could have been like this!!! (His costume is even the most human out of all of them. He has that whisker mustache for example. I think this is the style of costuming they should have gone for if they didn’t want the leg warmers)
EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN WEARING PANTS. Or at least shorts! SHORT SHORTS EVEN! !!!LEOTARDS!!!! Literally ANYTHING aside from what they went with, and what they did with Jennyamydot.
No literally 04:19 with the tracking shot and the transition to it being the train onto the drum and then following Skimble during his spin?? HOLY SHIT ITS ACTUALLY SO GOOD
steven mcrae CARRIED this movie on his inexplicably talented and suspendered shoulders. i dont even care that the effects are abysmal when everyone is on beat and the songs have rhythym.
@@krau2880 Agreed--and also someone fucked up the mixing and managed to bury "touch me, it's so easy to leave me"--the peak of the song--UNDER the orchestra!
possibly better than memory, at least in this version, in my opinion. not when it comes to just the singing obviously, Jennifer Hudson does a great job at singing it, but with all the bad cinematographic choices they made on that one and Grizabella just not really looking like Grizabella... idk man.
@@krau2880 if they had had her prerecord it and the orchestra just play it correctly like this song was done, it would have been good. Live and with the orchestra going with her instead of just playing it normally, it was just annoying.
I’d green light this film if this was the proof of concept. It’s the only part of the film that feels like it’s from the show and I’m not gonna lie.. it slaps.
You can feel the enthusiasm of the orchestra, dancers and singers to finally have a number to show off without the actors messing with the tempo, nonsensical cutaways to improv comedy or CGI demons that dance out of sync. If the entire movie had been like that it would've been a good experience.
When the music is actually taken care of properly it really lets the actual dancing shine too. That tap dancing was awesome and it looks like all the background cats were "together" in a way they don't seem for pretty much the rest of the film.
@@HadirUntukAnda i know it’s crazy right 🤣 hire dancers to dance in your movie. La la land forgot about that one. They just got big names and gave them tap 1 recital steps
@@brendanmilburn9067 and that logic would be fine if it wasn’t a musical. Especially a musical that was trying to pay tribute to gene Kelly type movies. In a musical we suspend our disbelief. We understand that not every character is actually an incredible singer and they didn’t all get together and learn the choreography before hand. If they were auditioning or something, that would be fine. But since it’s a dance break, which is literally a break to show off dance skill, I’m not forgiving 🤣 especially when I’ve seen high schoolers with no dance experience do harder choreo in musicals
Even though the movie wasn’t perfect, this was the one song in the movie they didn’t screw up. And even though they cut a section of the song out, which I was disappointed with, they still made this song great. Especially with adding the tap dancing.
It's a small ting, but omg I LOVE how the tap dancing changes to fit the material that he's on. It goes from duller thunks when he's on the wooden rails, but then as he spins and they transition to the railway bridge the taps become more like tinks. Same thing when they go into the train car and then back to the theater.
What I really like about this is that from how it's shot it's kind of implied that the train set isn't literally there and the whole movie should've been like that
2:22 that spin into that saunter. Really shows he understood the assignment of cats. It was fun and silly, the song slaps, and doesnt take itself seriously or explain itself. The movie is horrible but this scene is great. If only the rest of the movie was like this.
I know that Sideways, in his takedown of this movie, complains about the tap dancing interrupting the song... but I think it's quite nice. It's like a train pulling out of the station and pretty clever. More importantly, from 2:29 the cats all get little tap-dancing booties to dance along. There's nothing wrong with this number at all, it's just great.
The first time I saw this video, I kept rewatching that spin he does 1:00. I can't put my finger on why (I've got no dancing expertise or training whatsoever so my eye is totally untrained) but something about how perfect his control and poise were when he did it immediately told me that he was a far better dancer than the others. I know that's a weird thing to focus on, since it's probably the least impressive part of the amazing dancing he does in the rest of the video, but something about him making the simple thing so effortlessly flawless really jumped out.
No joke when they go from the tap break and transition outside and the chorus kicks back in? Chills every time and reminds me what I love about musicals. Too bad literally nothing else in the movie achieves anything close to this
It's because Steven McRae is a dancer primarily that this ends up being the best number in the movie. He can actually keep to the beat of the music rather than improvising and expecting the orchestra to adjust. You can even hear him tapping his foot as he sings. He doesn't have the best voice, but he's charming and entertaining, and he's putting his whole body into the routine. It's legit entertaining to watch, bad cgi aside. It's the closest this movie actually got to feeling like Cats.
It's very telling that in a film filled with Hollywood A-list celebrities, the only scene that received universal praise is one where they simply got the principal dancer from the Royal Ballet to do his thing in front of the camera
To start I would like to say this was the ONLY song from the 2019 Cats I wanted to listen to again...out of a 2 hr movie, only Skimbleshanks. Pros: I LOVE the tapping, it's not as cute as the '98 choreo but it adds such a great sound I hardly care. The pure tapping at 3:16 is SO good. The whole ensemble (besides some principal cats ofc) is involved, dancing and moving around all the scene changes. It just feels like the stage version so much more than some other songs where it had been boiled down to pretty much the main cat, 2 backup dancers with all the extras just being around. While this Skimble does seem younger, it doesn't break his character at all and they give him some fancy red suspenders to match. Idk what they did with the ensemble bits in most of the other songs, cause they sound so empty but here they sound fuller than ever. cons: I miss the scottish accent, not a deal breaker but it would've been cute. It was always adorable to see Old D come in at the end and join the dancing, I wish they had kept that here. The tempo drops are mildly annoying, but they are picked again so quickly I don't care THAT much. 9/10 If you listened to this and got excited for the rest of the songs from Cats 2019, I am sorry to report none of them come close to being this good. (High praise to Steven McRae!)
That sudden start of music with no introduction was so jarring. The rest of it... dare I call it charming? Honestly, in this number, even the creepy CGI isn’t very creepy. Maybe because the cat they focus on is wearing pants, or maybe because their actions aren’t super weird. My favorite non-Memory song that’s so good it makes the rest of the movie even worse than it already was.
It's definitely in part because of the pants. The problem with the character design in this movie is a) how weirdly sexual it is (because they look "naked" yet have no visible genitals or nipples, it's just confusing to look at), and b) the uncanny valley of the super-realistic fur, twitching ears and tails, etc. with the human faces, hands and feet. Putting clothes on the character resolves the first problem instantly AND it also elevates it OUT of the uncanny valley because "anthropomorphic animals wearing clothes" is so fantastical and allows better suspension of disbelief. The director, Tom Hooper, is on record saying he wanted the cats to look "realistic." That's exactly the wrong direction to go in, and it's why they ended up looking so creepy. Leaning into how UNrealistic it is and giving them all clothes would have greatly saved the visuals.
@@bluesonicstreak7317 Yeah, “realistic” is not a good move for a movie like this. He should have embraced the fantasy. The train helps with the fantasy setting too, I think, since it reminds me of the Hogwarts Express or the Polar Express or even that train in the beginning of the recent(ish) Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The old style gives it something of a fantastical element. Hooper should have embraced the fantasy.
One thing that I find really cute about the lyrics and the performance is that it's so clear that this is from the perspective of a cat. Skimble is there to hunt mice, but he knows that the train can't leave without him, so he thinks that it literally can't leave the station without him. He follows the guard around to make sure that he doesn't forget to ask about the tea, when from a human's perspective, he's just a cat following a human around. He thinks that he has such an important role and it's the cutest thing ever
They made little pants for him of course he follows humans😊
Very true, I think the reason this song works so well is that it's by far the most cat-like song in the show 😅
Yes! This is the genius of this one scene! There must have been a gas leak when every other scene was being produced.
Just reminds me when cats walk around your house with such "I am on a mission" energy. We have no idea what mission they are on but they mean business.
Exactly!! Honestly as a person who enjoys the cats musical outside of this movie I never really see the jellice cats as doing things that cats do, like they’re just not real cats to me. But I could totally see Skimbleshanks wandering around a train believing he is the only thing keeping the entire operation going
Man his back must hurt
Must be. He was carrying this whole movie.
@@silverscreen842 That is true
Him, Francesca, and Jennifer all carried the movie
Heard he had to go the chiropractor after production for it
I came only to point out that Ian McKellen’s back also was very sore from helping the few people who carried this movie
If you listen carefully you can hear the orchestra sighing in relief because they can actually play the music correctly with the actually click track and sheet music.
Okay Sideways
Couldn't decide if it was relief or actual enjoyment and fun. Could be both too, I guess.
Them actually letting Steven McRae pre-record this song in a studio instead of doing it live on film makes this number sound so much better than the others
Same with the ensemble I feel. They actually have something consistent to dance and sing along with and can properly show their talent
Ah I see, a fellow sideways fan
Funny how the best scene in the entire movie is purely done by performers and not just celebrities used to put in the marketing. Funny that.
Maybe being celebrities doesn't equal a good performance
@@gnammyhamster9554 It's more that being a great actor doesn't mean you're a great singer/dancer.
LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK
COUGH COUGH Taylor Swift COUGH
Stephen McRae is actually a celebrity -- he's one of the best dancers in the world. In fact, other than Ian, Dame Judy and, ugh, Taylor, he's the only one in the film that I had actually heard of before seeing it.
this movie is unbelievably cursed but by god is steven mcrae an unbelievably talented man
He couldn't save the whole film, but at least we get a good number.
Tom Hooper's been able to do anything he wants so far but I wouldn't call him GOD
@@QuikVidGuy It's not "cursed by god" but "cursed, but by God" as in a variation of "[oh] my God".
One thing tho, how in the heck did this man manage to make a version better than the 90’s in this shipshow of a movie? Like he had EVERYTHING against him, but still did amazing. When I think of remaking musicals, I’ll probably end up using this as an example ngl. He took the song and ran with it without ruining the original.
I personally was never super fond of skimblshanks’ number, but holy hell his rendition REALLY brought it to life, and that tap dancing is phenomenal.
You almost NEVER see tap dancing used in modern media unironically which is a real shame, it’a a dying art which doesn’t deserve to die. It’s beyond refreshing to see someone do it some justice on a big screen today. Bring back tap dancing plez.
@@dumbdumb8526 I genuinely think it's because steven is a badass. He's a dancer by trade, so he's one of the few actors that actually sung and danced to the beat, and the rest of the actors had to as well, for this number at least.
He had some good ideas and he's just damn good at what he does, so it resulted in an honestly good rendition.
and like you said, it's not really one of those blockbuster songs like memory or mr mistopheles, so it being this good is a nice surprise.
You know why this is the best part of the movie? Because Skimble is a professional dancer/singer and he chose to use the proper backing track. Also it's the only song in the film that is staged and performed in a similar manner to the stage show.
@@BiologicalClock I still think it honestly could have easily worked out if they just stopped trying to reinvent the wheel. Stop fucking around with the camera with shots cutting away from dancing (my own only problem with this number), stop breaking up numbers with extra shit like what they did to poor Rum Tum Tugger, and just make it long tracking shots of Cats singing and dancing. The recorded stage version proves that it could be done, a CGI movie would just need a completely different team than what botched both this and Les Mis. Just... have them record the songs and use backing tracks the entire time to time all the dancing. One-up the stage version by making full use of movie magic to change from props tricks to movie special effects you can do in multiple cuts and with CGI. Basic-ass shit that the Disney Renaissance would have done, just with more live action.
All the non-celebrities in this movie are professional dancers and/or singers except for Mistoffelees. Munkustrap is a Tony nominee. I think most of the fault lies with Tom Hooper’s weird recording choices, which he couldn’t ruin this number with because you HAVE to have a set beat for tap
The youtuber Sideways said the same thing about this number
@@hollum1648 Tom Hooper is such a hack, pretty much ever film of his is a disaster from a film making perspective, even if the box office performance doesn't always reflect that
good
Steven McRae being an Australian dancer with no previous film work and making this the only song in the film worthy of the original musical says everything about what this movie is like. Also, tap dancing in 13/8, absolute madlad
Well, yeah, but he's Steven freaking McRae. He's not well known in the movie world, but in the ballet and dance world he is a GOD. Basically if anyone could pull off tap dancing in 13/8 it would be Steven McRae.
@@theshillneckedlizard8364 I thought it was in 11/8: 3x3 + 1x2. I could be wrong, ofc.
Or, triplet, triplet, triplet, 1 2 3 4
@@kasegiyabu5030 triangle, triangle, triangle, staple, staple is how you can count it
@@kasegiyabu5030 There's two sets of two beats, so it's 9/8+2/4, giving you 13/8.
The fact that Steven McRae who isn’t trained in singing managed to make this the best part of the whole movie is amazing
And if memory serves, the tap dancing was also his idea
@@jacobfeagin8560 if it was then he’s a genius because it enhances the music so much
@@Powered1Buttercup He is a genius.
I think that speaks more to how terrible the rest is
If there was any justice, Steven McRae and Robbie Fairchild would get to make whatever damn movie musical they want.
When the song forces them to keep to a steady beat.
The Orchestra: Oh thank god
yeah yeah you watch sideways we already saw you
*artist, lol
@@takanga7726 eeehhh to be fair, it's not that hard to notice the messed up tempo.
This song can't be fucked with, it would destroy it entirely
@@DTux5249 None of the music is off-tempo. Just because the UA-cam equivalent of Fletcher from Whiplash says it doesn't mean it's true.
The fact that the soundtrack left out the sounds of the taps is a crime, it just elevates the music and its such a shame its not present.
Yea now I gotta listen to this one and hear that annoying fucking mouse yell
That’s so fucking stupid, the song is good because the tapping adds so much too it, it’s not just the singers or the orchestra. How couldn’t they realize that? Although I guess that could be asked about a LOT of things with this movie...
Are you serious?? I was just gonna add this on Spotify. Wow the one song they don't manage to fuck up and yet they still manage to ruin it
What the actual fuck. Tap dancing is part of the percussion in the music, these people do not understand music, let alone musicals
It really gives the song a heavier beat and merges in with the orchestra beautifully sounding almost like another instrument in the spotlight it just adds something that the original skimbleshanks was missing a good beat....which irony here.
"For, Skimble won't let anything go wrong".
Not even the rhythm for the poor orchestra, in his number.
😂😂😂
Man knows how to keep his shit on track lmao
Woah it’s almost like you watched the Sideways video.
@@PuffyOne1898 didn't we all? 😂
Can we stop pretending that the music was off-beat just because the orchestra was recorded last (like literally every other movie ever made)? I know that people who make video essays never do any actual research, but none of the music in this movie is objectively out of rhythm, the dance choreography was done in sync with a normal track, and the orchestra wasn't recorded any differently than any other film. For god's sake, Andrew Lloyd Weber orchestrated it and Nile Rogers worked on the soundtrack.
I'm pretty sure that Skimbleshanks didn't want to be the jellicle choice, he just wanted to flex 😂
He just wanted to flex that he has the best number here because he actually has a click track
@@ezelfrancisco1349 "Nah, just play the click track, it's what I'm used to anyway"
@@Adam-nz3ix he was very highly respected but it's all in past tense. Possibly getting too old to do this anymore and doesn't want to just stop his life. He's a happy cat
He just wanted to save this awful movie 😭 (nah he’s always bop tho)
@@Anna-tk7ui, Universal should have produced Sideway's review. I'm sure that it's gotten more views.
This clip really shows the two things that could have been done to improve cats immensely:
- Keep the beat in the songs
- Give the cats pants
Clothes in general are appreciated.
Or give them accessories like in Chicken Run
I saw him in the background earlier in the movie and I already loved this character just by his design not even knowing that he's a named character with a song.
😂
Or at least hire dancers instead of celebrities
Honestly, the idea to have this be a tap number to evoke the sound of a train, is so good I think it’s where all the good-idea power of the movie got spent. I’m kind of stunned it was THIS of all things that thought of it.
....I actually think this version is better than the stage musical DONT KILL ME.
I definitely find myself listening to this version just for the tap dancing and the counting the satisfying "123 123 12 12" at 2:25
It is. It slaps 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Honestly, I hope if they ever do an update to the production, they add in a tap dance for this number. Even if it's just Skimble, the taps for the train is so fitting for him.
I don't blame you for thinking that. it sounds a lot more clean than the play recordings I could find.
This was the only part of the film that seems like a good adaptation and even elevates the original, that I'm convinced Tom Hooper didn't direct this part
This is the only song in cats that sounds like a song. I like the beat.
That's because it's like the only song that stays on beat-
It's because it's the only song where the performers used a metronome
Theres literally three songs with a beat lmao 😂
@@kathrineparr6550 This, McCavity and Rum Tum Tugger? The only ones performed by people with musical talent? Though Rum Tum Tugger was ruined by stupid ass cutting away.
@@ManticorePinion Also the ones performed by dancers, just saying
This number is proof that *IF* the movie had just stick with the actuall rhythm of the songs, we could even look past the weird looks of the cats to apreciate the great musical this should and could have been
Or at least let the film have a good high-selling soundtrack.
If we can’t bear to look at the movie, the least we should be able to do is to listen to it
As horrific as this production is, I hope that some stage shows going forward will incorporate the tap dancing for this number because it's fabulous and fits the song and choreography so well.
true! but it'll be hard for smaller theatres putting it on to find someone slaying that tap dance the way he did haha
Skimbleshanks always felt kinda extraneous. The tap dancing really gives it its own character.
Whoever decided to do it is a genius.
@@Tylendal242 The whole show is extraneous. Skimble is just too awesome for the show to contain.
It’s not written into the stage version’s score, so you’d have to gain permission from the licensing company to alter the script which they almost never allow. Theatrical rights are very tight.
Sideways once said that the best scenes in this movie were the ones performed by actual dancers like this one because they know how to stay on beat and don’t try to mess with the tempo of the original songs, and after seeing this I have to agree.
Sideways?
@@branastasia8013 yep
why don't you just explicitly say it was sideways so that he can get the recognition he deserves?
@@isidoooora because I had fucking forgotten who said it dude.
I love sideways’ cat video🙂
you can see it in his face, steven mcrae KNOWS during this number that he's carrying the whole film
oh he definitely carried this song, but c'mon now. not even sisyphus could carry this trainwreck
The only thing lovers and haters of this movie can agree on is that Skimbleshanks slaps
Lol what lovers
@Butt McAss As a massive Cats fan, I can tell you that it’s because we finally have new content - even if it’s garbage, it’s our garbage.
Taken straight from Sidways vid I see.
@@timtam3730 what? No
@@lalalucy9497 Not hating, just pointing out that thats exactly what Sideways said.
this guy isnt even a singer but he managed to steal the whole movie, now that's talent
He may ot be a trained vocalist but he's at least trying unlike the other ones.
The thing is, he’s a dancer. His forte is something that actually aligns with Cats
That bit where he tapdances the startup of a steam engine is pretty kickass.
Also Sideways squad check in.
Present
Aye 🙋🏻♀️
Here!
Reporting, sir!
Hey ho!
Am I the only one that finds it funny that the only part of this movie that isn't a complete trainwreck is the part that has to do with a train?
@JPCROTC ayyyyyyy
Now that you mention it, I see it and love the irony!
@JPCROTC There's is such a meta level for this joke...
Shots fired! Hahahahah!!! Oh man!!
Applaud you wit my friend 👍
I can't believe that the Universal Pictures YT Channel could not even put Steven McRae's name in the video description on the clip of him carrying the movie on his own back while tap dancing.
Also as a side note, Robbie Fairchild as Munkustrap is carrying this disaster of a movie on his back as well. I hope this monstrosity won't ruin their careers.
And Francesca Hayward too!
@@TheGeographyWatch Yes! But at least her name is included
@@TinyShinyUnique That is true. I meant in the sense that, along with Steven McRae, she is not trained as an actress but is instead a principal dancer from Royal Ballet and this is also her first movie. So, I was also including her in the hope that this terrible movie doesn’t ruin her prospects of being cast in any future film. Sorry, I didn’t make that clear in my first reply ☺️
@@TheGeographyWatch Meh, she didn't do much for me in the movie. Robbie and Steven really outshined the garbage circumstances they were put in.
Agreed! But maybe Steven McRae doesn't want to have his name listed on the disaster of a movie?
Not gonna lie, this was the best part of that movie
Definitely one of the few saving graces of the film.
Yup
That's because it was one of the few songs they bothered to use a click track for
Was also one of the only songs where all the performers are... actual performers and not just celebrities used to put on the cover and marketing
Steven McRae is definitely the best part of the movie
One little touch I love comes in at 4:18 when the camera zooms in on his feet and there's a subtle change in what he's dancing on. Then it zooms out and the sound smoothly transitions from the clicking of tap shoes on wood to the more hollow sound of him dancing on a drum. It's a really cool sound cue and also a very neat camera trick, as opposed to having some kind of transition where the imaginary train scene fades out and is replaced by the real world.
The most tragic part of this movie is that the people who tried, really tried. Unfortunately that group is short several important cast members and one director.
That's such a nice moment, perfect way to foster the suspension of disbelief. They should have used that building as the "stage" and transitioned like this the whole way through the movie.
They also had a similar moment at 2:20 when it transitioned to him dancing on the rail!
It’s like a fan of Cats snuck in to direct a scene but was kicked out immediately after
@@StoutShako just watch Steven McRae's footwork at that section. He spins multiple time previously, goes into some seriously complex tap steps right at that transition, and then more spins. I have to admit playing that transition bit over and over again just to catch the footwork.
@@gymnosva And to make it even more complicated, the first half of that shot is 100% CGI and blends into the real McRae as the drum transition happens! I animated this shot and matching up with his crazy footwork was really hard, the madman is just too fast :P
U CANT DO THE 1231231231212 WHEN SOMEONE MAKING UP THE TEMPO
A man of culture, I see
I see where you came from lol
I’m gonna be fair. Skimbleshanks slaps
@@billgoff1687 definitely the underrated one
@@billgoff1687 it's the only song I like from the remake and, without the mice screaming, I think it might be better than the original.
I think Steven McRae was also one of the few actors that requested the click track while performing this. The other actors basically sang to their own beat, and the orchestra had to try and keep up.
The director just misunderstood the plot of Cats as a whole.
The UA-camr Sideways does a long video explaining everything that went wrong with this film, and even he says this scene is one of, if not the only, saving grace of the film.
I was just about to comment this! That was such an amazing video
With how some of the song is written in a very odd time signature (13/8 the part right as they’re all heading outside and chanting) and the tap dancing you basically NEED to keep to a steady beat.
Ironically this method works in this case because Steven isn’t a professional singer, thus likely wasn’t completely comfortable with dancing and live singing with a British accent all at the same time.
@@quangtran9843
He honestly has a good singing voice and is the best singer in the movie due to him having a backing track when filming instead of making the orchestra follow him making his own tempo and crap like most of the others; thus making it on par with the original music and how musicals are usually supposed to be done.
I believe a lot of this song was also pre-recorded as opposed to live, which helps
Never seen this dancer before - Steven McRae apparently - and he is simply spectacular, even among the ridiculous effects he captured my full attention. It was impossible to look away, his movements were so fluid and on point! The tap dancing matched this number so well.
I think he was in the alice in wonderland ballet and was the mad hatter... not sure
@@vinetail5735 he was! Clips of that are on yt
@@silentsmurf ok, I just wanted to make sure. He is a fabulous dancer.
You absolutely have to check out the Mad Hatter routine from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He's amazing in it!
Steven's Mad Hatter was like 70% of the reason I - despite being a 22 yr old nerd who'd never danced in her life - got into ballet back in 2018. I'm so happy this trainwreck movie could introduce more people to it.
(The other 30% was the Nela/Vadream take on the Giselle act II pdd, if anyone was curious)
Why is this so good? Is it because it actually has a steady tempo? Is it because the dancer is amazing? Is it because he is wearing pants and shoes so you don't get weird CGI cat legs and feet? I can't decide. It's so good.
Hal, it’s about cats.
@Tidder T It is the scar that can never heal lol.
Tho credit to that underpaid intern; they know there history.
Ah, a man of culture I see
Not gonna lie. The actor tried pretty hard for this, and it shows. Steven McRae was a great choice for Skimble.
I would LOVE to see him perform this live.
Honestly Steven McRae seems to be a very talented performer. I hope he goes on to perform in bigger and better projects cause this is gonna look pretty damn bad on his resumé!
@@DHynes5 He's doing fine, he's a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet of London. He's very well known and respected within dance circles on stage
@@amalia7513 Well that's good to hear
Yep, from what I've seen of this movie, he seems like the only good thing about it. He's even better in this: ua-cam.com/video/Kq8zqhqjUIo/v-deo.html
Skimble is my favorite Jelicle. He doesn't even care about the Heavy Side Layer, he's just happy to be there showing off. He's a much needed breath of fresh air between Gus and Macavity.
I always had the feeling that Skimble wasn't one of the candidates, but maybe he's always the closing performance to the ball. He's so punctual that the others know his departure for the train before or during the big ball scene marks it's midnight (because he runs the midnight rail) and when he returns to the ball, it's just before dawn. So everyone was listening to Gus and all sad and then Deuteronomy cheers everyone up by pointing out But Look! Skimbleshanks is here! And everyone was having a blast before Macavity crashed the party. And we know it's close to the end because as soon as they get Deuteronomy back, it's sunrise so they have to make a choice. Skimble might one day be asking for a chance at the Heaviside Layer, but his current energy and enthusiasm tells me he's not ready to leave just yet.
Most of the participants aren't actively trying to get to the heavy side layer. I'd say Gus and Bustofer are the only two who actively want it, maybe Jenny.
The rest are either there to participate or to steal the show... one way or another (looking at you Rum Tum and Macavity)
@@Kahtisemo Skimbleshanks, for me, is like the uncle who the children are always excited to see during family gatherings to hear his stories about his job as the Cat of the Railway Train, and he's always happy to oblige. As for the movie, Skimble is younger so he's more like the cool big brother to the other cats. Either way, he doesn't come across as wanting to be the Jellicle Choice because he's content with his life.
Steven McRae was the most professional person in this fucking film. Actually followed the click track. Actually knew his shit. Absolute legend behaviour, which is entirely unsurprising for a ballet principal; ballet is probably the art that demands the highest skill after circus arts. I *adore* the addition of the tap to mimic the clicking of a train. Would love to see him do this in the proper show tbh he'd kill it!!!
That man gave it his all, and I respect his dedication.
His expression is basically the same as his character’s: convinced that he’s the only reason the whole thing goes so well
This is what happens when they cast people cos of talent rather than just because they’re famous
Even the few tempo changes follow the beat, that's how much McRae knew this stuff
@@katie2275 There were plenty of talented "famous" people in this. They just let their egos get the best of them because they were enabled by the director's terrible idea of what makes a good musical movie (see: Les Mis. Which was considered better than this simply because we didn't have eldritch abominations scampering around.)
That being said, there are two obvious exceptions, and no I will not be naming them because Everybody Knows.
This song unironically slaps.
The only genuinely *Good* one in the movie
@@peterstamerra445 and the climax of memory☝🏾
Yeah the one song I think they actually improved with the tapdancing.
Your comment lives in my head rent free. Idk why..just does.
@@elyse370 i do not like the movie's version of that song.
Just remember to support Sideways and his *fair use* documentary. He already had to edit out parts that some mouth-breather or bloody suit copyright claimed.
This movie may be an eldritch horror and a terrible remake of the musical but this is one of the best tap routines I've seen. This is the best part of the movie.
It's such a shame the editing is still so erratic in this scene. Too many close-up when it should be focusing on his whole body and/or the whole group's synchronisation.
There's something a critic once said that I want to repeat here: "People never complain about bad effects in good movies."
Seeing this video in isolation proves the point he was making. See, I watch this clip on its own and I *don't* care that the effects aren't very good because it captures my attention and holds it. In fact, it holds my attention so well that I don't even *notice* that the effects aren't very good. The song is a toe-tapper, it's performed really well and, minus a couple pointless interruptions - like tiny mouse coming out of nowhere to shout "CATS!" for no reason - I never get taken out of the moment. I'm too into it to care what the effects look like.
But you throw us Reba Wilson and her complete inability to stay on key, and her off-beat tap-dancing cockroaches, and the terrible pacing and directing of the scene that makes it impossible for me to become immersed and suddenly the bad effects are all I can pay attention to.
The effects didn't ruin this movie - the terrible directing and scripting did.
I agree with you completely. Also, did you happen to watch Sideways' video? 👀
Yeah to be honest I'm a bit desensitized to people looking and acting like cats because of the musical so it really isn't that hard for me to get into this scene just on how they look. The glitches and mistakes are a different matter mind you, but like you the performance is so enthralling that I don't really think of even looking at mistakes and just enjoying the song.
The tap dancing was sublime and as much as Reba Wilson sucked I'm glad they didn't try to force her character to tap dance like she was supposed to and moved it over to Steven McRae who CAN tap dance and was able to work it into the song in a clever way by having it replicate the sounds of a moving train.
Boy, do we have a video for you to watch
Have to disagree with you to a certain point. This was one few good songs in the movie, but, the visual is very distracting and so off putting. The fight between the abstract and realistic style was on full display here. Examples, the cats look like real cats, but with human faces, hands and feet and shoes, and the scene shifts suddenly. there are realistic looking sets, and cat fur and features, but then abstract elements, like setting shifts, human shoes, and at most times, it appears the actors are floating on the floor, it is so bizarre. I wish they had just made an improved and modern version of the 1998 recording.
Did still enjoy this version of the song, and the tap dance and drum beats, that was great, and I know the actors gave it their best, just such a crazy direction they took this movie.
In case you haven't watched Sideways's video yet, Rebel wasn't off key. She's actually a decent singer and has proven that many times, it's just that the line she was given to sing in Jennyanydot's song is the melody, but it sounds like a harmony, and what we percieve as the melody is a harmony. Very interesting video though, I do recommend it.
Sideways was right. This shit do kinda slap.
The tapdancing to mimic the sound of a train chugging along is honestly genius and dare I say, better than the original musical's version of the song (or at least the 90's recorded version)
I agree! Not gonna lie, Skimbleshanks' number, particularly in the '98, wasn't my favourite (especially after the absolute tearjerker that is "Gus The Theatre Cat"), but the 2019 version really knocked it out of the park! I wish future revivals of this show incorporates tapdancing to this number too. Too bad the tapdancing was omitted from the movie soundtrack.. It's still good, but that tapdancing really makes the song even better.
The only original idea they had that didn't make things worse. And as a hopeless train nerd that actually is pretty accurate to what a steam locomotive sounds like going from a dead stop to try and reach speed. They had to have listened to the real sounds.
Imagine if they had thought of that for the original...
Skimbleshanks was always my least favourite song. It seemed too out of place for how late it came in the show, compared to, say, Bustopher Jones, and it felt mostly extraneous. IIRC, it's actually one of the first songs dropped when people want to make a performance shorter.
This move, actually made me fall in love with Skimbleshanks. It was amazing, imaginative, well executed, and I fully anticipate tap-dancing being incorporated into stage performances of the song in the future.
@@Tylendal242 Skimbleshanks and Growltiger's Last Stand are the numbers that are dropped the most when they need to make the show short.
I agree though, thr only positive addition that this movie could inspire is the introduction of another tap number to the show.
A lot of people coming here after that Sideways essay.
hard to call it an essay when it's him losing his shit for an entire hour. loved every minute of it too lol.
the 123 123 123 12 12 is soooo satisfying
Literally exactly what i just did
well i sure am XD haha
Absolutely!
I love how the song fits with how it goes with this movie. "Skimbleshanks! Where's Skimbleshanks?! We can't get anywhere with this movie without him!" Lo and behold he appears and makes the best number but unfortunately at the end of it he vanishes in a puff of smoke, as does the chances for the movie.
Friendly reminder that Steven McRae is not a singer or actor, but a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in London. Yet he managed to give us one of the few numbers in this movie to even resemble the stage musical. Because he knows you need a consistent tempo to dance to.
I’ve not seen anyone address this, but the cats are too small for the environment. It seems like they’ve taken the height of a cat on all fours, and made all the characters that same height, despite them being on two legs. A real cat, on two legs, would be so much bigger than these seem to be.
I think the scale is weird in general, but I'd assume they are going off the idea that they _would_ be on all fours?
@@juliewinchester1488 It's just not consistent to that, it seems the scale of nearly every set is different to what came before.
@@33link333 yeah
It's weird
Like this whole movie
It’s honestly the only thing that bugs me about this scene but meh. That and the fucking annoying mouse yelling.
@@33link333 yes!!! Even in the trailers, the scale changed all the time. Just not thought through, leaving the effects team to do their best in a rush.
Gotta love that 13/8 time signature. This whole performance is a major flex on the rest of the movie.
honestly, the cast, orchestra, and everyone else involved during 2:10-2:35 ate so hard and left ZERO crumbs. i can't stop repeating this scene.
4:03
Tom Hooper: Shit! The song is coming out actually good! quick, put a random kid-mouse to interrupt the music!
Leave it a dancer to blow actors out of the musical waters simply by acknowledging the fact you can’t bs the rhythm of a song in 12 or 13, or whatever time signature this song is in. Fun song in a bad musical, best song in a train wreck film.
The song is in 13/8
Hell, even I know that and I’m a terrible singer. But at least I try to keep to the rhythm and times of the instrumental.
Even If my volume gets out of control and I end up singing uh... how did they describe it... like a roller coaster? Yeah, roller coaster seems right. Would have been better If no one had heard me, but at least I’d kept the melody.
Oh well. At least it was entertaining, for those who weren’t horrified.
Haha train
LMAOOO It’s funny because Taylor Swift and Jason Derulo are musicians. Also, what was Judi Dench thinking being in this? James Corden I understand.
@@thenablade858 Funny thing is that Dame Judi Dench was supposed to be Grizabella in the original London production of _Cats_ but she had a heel injury during rehearsals, and Elaine Paige replaced her.
Rebel Wilson and James Corden had us thinking of turning the movie off.
Steven McRae had us dancing around the living room.
Best comment!!!🤣
This is so true 😂😂
I think there are three characters in this film where the designs look good: Skimbleshanks, Mr. Mistofolees, and Gus. What do they have in common?
1. They all wear clothes giving them a less uncanny valley and more cartoonish look.
2. They all have some feature (mustache, extra fur, mask pattern) which disguises their obviously human faces.
The character designs in this film may actually have been fixable.
Old Deuteronomy also looked fine, in my opinion, because of all the extra fur around the actor's neck.
I also think that another reason is that they added extra fur on the side of their heads making them look rounder. Cats' heads are round! The others have their unmistakingly human oval-shaped head which contributes to the uncanny valley a lot.
Skimbleshanks won’t let anything go wrong. Even his own scene in this shitty movie
When your tap dancing is so good it makes Cats good for 5 whole minutes
The only scene in the movie that captures the essence of the stage show and a glimpse of what the film COULD have been if this movie was in the hands of someone who enjoyed musicals and knew what they were doing.
Everyone's gonna mention the click track part cause of Sideways but there's a lot more to what makes this one work out. Skimble's clothes fills up the character design a bit more (the stage show had arm/leg warmers and poofy heads to not seem "naked"). Munkustrap actually starts the song so it's not just a one man show like so many others in the movie. And that whole transition from warehouse>rail bridge>train>warehouse is just _cool_. I actually feel like I'm watching a Cats movie that isn't bound by the stage but still feels as fantastical. It's wholesome and joyous as most of the show should be and without cheap gags or body horror.
Kind of funny how at 2:13 or so the cats *start* to put together a pantomime train out of thimbles and trombones, like in the stage version, but Skimble just tapdances his way out of the set an onto the tracks before you can even really notice they're doing it.
It took me like 100 views of this video to even catch that. They telegraphed the start of the fantasy sequence SO poorly.
Yeah it bothered me so much how they did that. They need like 1 second more to show the fake train and or would have been so much more clear
I have to give the performer for Skimbleshanks props, this is probably one of the best performances out of the whole film. If the rest of the movie was like this I'd have less to complain about. I think he also makes the best transition into CG cat, but that's not saying much.
Not gonna lie, I doubt there is anything in this world that could make Steven McRae look bad
I think that the pants helps with that
@@majobonilla8056 Totally agree, I think all the cats that have extra fur on their bodies or have clothing covering part of themselves up look the best in this version. If they just made the faces a little less humanoid I think the transition would have gone over a lot more smoothly while still keeping to those human proportions.
@@majobonilla8056
oh, for sure. the cats look too human so seeing that some cats wear clothes and others don’t just make me think that the ones not wearing clothes are.... too naked
I think the reason Skimbleshanks's appearance worked is for a similar reason the stage costumes work. The cats in the musical aren't ment to look like cats, they are ment to look like people dressed like cats.
"Nah, just play the click track, it's what I'm used to anyway."
The tap dancing is legit good
You can almost imagine him going. " alright kiddies, let the professional show how things are done." You can tell he was running a clinic on how a musical is done.
The use of tap dancing to simulate the sound of clacking train wheels is brilliant.
I actually like this scene. And how do dancers spin around like that and not get dizzy?
@@novatlas1945 I think it has to do with focusing their eyes on a single unmoving object -- like a spot on a wall -- as much as possible, while turning their heads as little as possible.
@@SiiriCressey Amazing. I envy their talent.
Yes it's called Spotting and year's and year's of practice you focusing on a fixed spot flicking your head around first while preparing your feet to turn then whipping your body around just after your head has moved and your arm's have to be prepared as they give you the strength and speed to get your body around quickly and you must have good core strength also hard to explain so your eye's never leave that spot something as a Dancer I found very very very difficult never really mastered it 😢 baci x
@@anniecrestani1121 Very impressive, to have even attempted!
Whoever decided to add the tap dancing is genius and I hope future shows incorporate that.
aight so heres my theory - it is generally accepted among people who have seen this movie that Skimbleshanks is easily the most visually appealing Jellicle Cat in the film. i would argue that this is for several reasons: first, this number is considered to be the strongest in the film. it seems to capture the spirit of the original musical better than most other numbers in the film; (as many of you know, the youtuber Sideways pointed out how this number actually utilizes a click track, meaning it is actually listenable. due to the fact that most actually enjoy this number quite a bit, it creates the connection within the mind that Skimbleshanks=good. thus any time they see Skimbleshanks, they are reminded of the One Good Part of the movie. second, steven mccrae is a very charismatic dancer. if you’ve seen any of his other work, you know that he is very hard to look away from when he is onstage. he has an atmosphere that makes you want to look at him. third, Skimbleshanks’ costume. unlike basically any of the other Cats, Skimbleshanks is actually wearing clothes in the film. moreover, he is wearing PANTS. one of the things that gives this film its weirdly psychosexual undertones is the fact that all the cats are, well...naked. since we’re shown that other cats (Skimble, Gus, Old Deut) can and do wear clothes, it gives the implication that all the other cats are completely nude. this already makes people uncomfortable. then add onto that the fact that some cats (Macavity) have “fur” that is essentially just skin, you’re left with a remarkably uncanny effect that borders on the pornographic. its like seeing naked fursonas on the internet: not great. but Skimble wears PANTS - he specifically covers up the area that would make most people the most uncomfortable. furthermore, he is wearing pants and no shirt, giving the vibe that he is bare chested underneath the suspenders (i don’t need to do rocket science here and tell you why people are attracted to a bare-chested handsome dancing cat man). Skimble is just that more human underneath the cat, in a way that, unlike with the others, makes him more appealing to look at. theres not that weird psychosexual undertone to him that you get with other cats (theres a sensual undertone i guess? but i think youre just gonna get that no matter what because Cats is gonna Cats. plus its not the lovecraftian horror we get with the other cats). also, he has a mustache-beard-thing!! and a hat! by giving Skimble these very simple design elements, they humanize him that much more, in an actually good way, unlike the rest of the film.
tldr; skimbleshanks is hot bc the number is good, steven mccrae is hot, and skimble’s outfit is 🥵 thank you for coming to my ted talk
i’ve been thinking about how skimble wearing pants makes the scenes with him in it infinitely more tolerable. besides eliminating the weird porno feeling most of the characters have, it probably makes vfx work easier since the team doesn’t have to cover his entire body in fur. skimble really makes me wish tom leaned into the human aspects of these characters more (ie GIVE THEM PANTS PLEASE GOD)
@@hecklife6636 really i could have summed up this whole essay by saying “he got pants” and my point would have been made
For me not only ia his whole design hot for exactly the reasons you mentioned, but also he makes these very serious and cool expressions, combined with some really great camera angles! Basically everything around him is cool
I feel like it (him wearing pants) makes the shoes tolerable too. Like everyone else just wearing tap shoes on their strange naked cat bodies (without the leg warmers the stage show uses to make *them look more like cats*) is just so strange and off-putting to me. Clothes is handled just so so poorly in this. I like the characters who wear coats and hats and stuff bc one, it makes the design interesting and actually stand out, and it helps to disguise the strangeness of the cgi. But then they take it off and it feels like they're naked and that's a whole other can of worms. I think the tldr, is the design choices of this movie are bizarre and they took absolutely 0 cues from the stage production, and it shows.
Oh absolutely. Honestly my biggest issue with the designs is that they kept the oval human heads, but cat heads are circle or square, and the cat ears make them look off putting. The stage show handled it so well. So when they put a cute hat on meffisto, it balances it out and it looks nice. Just put everyone in some kind of clothes and give them hats please! Or just dont make such terrible designs in the first place
In light of the trainwreck this movie otherwise is, "Skimble won't let anything go wrong!" Suddenly has the same energy as All Might saying "I am here!"
It is a CRIME that Steven McRae didn't get his name on the poster of this movie. He carried the entire thing with just one scene (sure, maybe he didn't want his name on this movie for reasons of "it isn't good", but still, he totally deserves it)
"You could say that by and large, it was me who was in charge~"
*YOU DON'T SAY?!*
While I was watching the movie with my friends we were kinda laughing at how terrible it was but then this number came on and we were legit blown away with how different it feels from the rest of the movie. All of the movie could have been like this!!! (His costume is even the most human out of all of them. He has that whisker mustache for example. I think this is the style of costuming they should have gone for if they didn’t want the leg warmers)
As a lot of these comments had pointed out, this was one of the very few numbers that had a click track.
FOR GOD'S SAKE, GIVE THEM PANTS IF YOU DON'T WANT US WONDERING WHAT SORT OF MONKEY'S PAW CURSE STOLE THEIR GENITALS
EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN WEARING PANTS. Or at least shorts! SHORT SHORTS EVEN!
!!!LEOTARDS!!!!
Literally ANYTHING aside from what they went with, and what they did with Jennyamydot.
No literally 04:19 with the tracking shot and the transition to it being the train onto the drum and then following Skimble during his spin?? HOLY SHIT ITS ACTUALLY SO GOOD
What a concept. When you treat the musical like a musical it's actually decent.
I feel like most people are only here because they watched the recent Sideways video. Same.
Ah, a man of culture, I see
I’ve had this song stuck in my head since watching. I’m okay with it.
But of course. We all came to verify what Tommy, Tombo, Tomathy Hooper made of this once great musical
Solidifies the reason why this is my favorite scene in this movie
Reporting back a week later, still stuck. Even had a weird dream about it last night. I have a problem.
steven mcrae CARRIED this movie on his inexplicably talented and suspendered shoulders. i dont even care that the effects are abysmal when everyone is on beat and the songs have rhythym.
Well, if you’re gonna post a scene from Cats, it might as well be the best number from the movie besides Memory.
Jennifer Hudson did well but the orchestra didn’t know the changes she was making and it was obvious no one knew what the song was about
@@krau2880 Agreed--and also someone fucked up the mixing and managed to bury "touch me, it's so easy to leave me"--the peak of the song--UNDER the orchestra!
The OG has wayyy better songs. Like all the bits Jemima does, that then aren’t in this movie 🤡
possibly better than memory, at least in this version, in my opinion. not when it comes to just the singing obviously, Jennifer Hudson does a great job at singing it, but with all the bad cinematographic choices they made on that one and Grizabella just not really looking like Grizabella... idk man.
@@krau2880 if they had had her prerecord it and the orchestra just play it correctly like this song was done, it would have been good. Live and with the orchestra going with her instead of just playing it normally, it was just annoying.
I’d green light this film if this was the proof of concept. It’s the only part of the film that feels like it’s from the show and I’m not gonna lie.. it slaps.
I never noticed it until watching the sideways video, but I love how Steven is literally tapping his foot to keep the rhythm at 2:47
You can feel the enthusiasm of the orchestra, dancers and singers to finally have a number to show off without the actors messing with the tempo, nonsensical cutaways to improv comedy or CGI demons that dance out of sync.
If the entire movie had been like that it would've been a good experience.
When the music is actually taken care of properly it really lets the actual dancing shine too. That tap dancing was awesome and it looks like all the background cats were "together" in a way they don't seem for pretty much the rest of the film.
All right y'all, who's here because of Sideways?
fr, it's a wee bit suspicious seeing all these one day old comments here
Me
Yo.
I watched Sideways but didn't find this video until it showed up in my recommendation feed...may be watching a few too many Cats songs...
Me
4:10 is absolutely glorious!!!!! Incredible!!!! Goosebumps. The tap dancing, the harmonies, the rhythm sounds like a train. Absolutely brilliant
You know you've messed up when the best songs in a musical are sung not by singers, but dancers
When the tap number in this abysmal film is still 10x better than the tap number in la la land 🤣
well the singer is professional dancer
@@HadirUntukAnda i know it’s crazy right 🤣 hire dancers to dance in your movie. La la land forgot about that one. They just got big names and gave them tap 1 recital steps
Well La La Land intentionally wanted the dancing and singing rough to signify the unprofessional nature of the characters.
@@brendanmilburn9067 and that logic would be fine if it wasn’t a musical. Especially a musical that was trying to pay tribute to gene Kelly type movies. In a musical we suspend our disbelief. We understand that not every character is actually an incredible singer and they didn’t all get together and learn the choreography before hand. If they were auditioning or something, that would be fine. But since it’s a dance break, which is literally a break to show off dance skill, I’m not forgiving 🤣 especially when I’ve seen high schoolers with no dance experience do harder choreo in musicals
To be fair, Steven McRae is one of the best dancers in the world and really shouldn’t be compared to non dancing actors.
Even though the movie wasn’t perfect, this was the one song in the movie they didn’t screw up. And even though they cut a section of the song out, which I was disappointed with, they still made this song great. Especially with adding the tap dancing.
I could forgive the awful CGI if the whole movie sounded like this.
Yeah me too
Well, the CGI is ok but character design is sheet.
Absolutely. If it was all like this, the reviews for this movie would be VERY different, shitty CGI be damned.
Agreed. I hardly mind the character designs here because it sounds amazing
I could forgive it of they all looked as completed as Skimble did... I swear he's the most complete looking character in the entire show
It's a small ting, but omg I LOVE how the tap dancing changes to fit the material that he's on. It goes from duller thunks when he's on the wooden rails, but then as he spins and they transition to the railway bridge the taps become more like tinks. Same thing when they go into the train car and then back to the theater.
Ah, yes. The one decent number in this monstrosity.
Skimbleshanks was actually hospitalized after this number due to carrying the entire film.
3:15 this small tap dance part slaps so hard
Literally! I only come to this vid for that part😅
@@elyse370that's suck all official soundtracks doesn't include tapdance Through all song. One tiny-winy 10 sec piece is not enough (
What I really like about this is that from how it's shot it's kind of implied that the train set isn't literally there and the whole movie should've been like that
2:22 that spin into that saunter. Really shows he understood the assignment of cats. It was fun and silly, the song slaps, and doesnt take itself seriously or explain itself. The movie is horrible but this scene is great. If only the rest of the movie was like this.
In this Pandora's Box of a movie, Steven Mcrae was the tiny bit of hope. His back must really hurt carrying this mess
There is a reason Steven McRae is a principal dancer with the London Ballet, this man is a gift.
Skimble's human at the start of the song: "Screw the train schedule and all these passengers! I can't find my cat!"
I mean... He is not wrong)))
I know that Sideways, in his takedown of this movie, complains about the tap dancing interrupting the song... but I think it's quite nice. It's like a train pulling out of the station and pretty clever. More importantly, from 2:29 the cats all get little tap-dancing booties to dance along. There's nothing wrong with this number at all, it's just great.
The first time I saw this video, I kept rewatching that spin he does 1:00.
I can't put my finger on why (I've got no dancing expertise or training whatsoever so my eye is totally untrained) but something about how perfect his control and poise were when he did it immediately told me that he was a far better dancer than the others.
I know that's a weird thing to focus on, since it's probably the least impressive part of the amazing dancing he does in the rest of the video, but something about him making the simple thing so effortlessly flawless really jumped out.
Well, he is a ballet dancer in Royal Ballet in the UK😅
-If Sideways was a dance expert
Say what you will about the rest of the movie, but that is some hardcore tap dancing.
No joke when they go from the tap break and transition outside and the chorus kicks back in? Chills every time and reminds me what I love about musicals. Too bad literally nothing else in the movie achieves anything close to this
By in large the only song in Cats 2019 worth being in the movie.
It's because Steven McRae is a dancer primarily that this ends up being the best number in the movie. He can actually keep to the beat of the music rather than improvising and expecting the orchestra to adjust. You can even hear him tapping his foot as he sings. He doesn't have the best voice, but he's charming and entertaining, and he's putting his whole body into the routine. It's legit entertaining to watch, bad cgi aside.
It's the closest this movie actually got to feeling like Cats.
Steven McRae must of hurt his back from carrying the entire movie musical with this one number.
It's very telling that in a film filled with Hollywood A-list celebrities, the only scene that received universal praise is one where they simply got the principal dancer from the Royal Ballet to do his thing in front of the camera
To start I would like to say this was the ONLY song from the 2019 Cats I wanted to listen to again...out of a 2 hr movie, only Skimbleshanks.
Pros: I LOVE the tapping, it's not as cute as the '98 choreo but it adds such a great sound I hardly care. The pure tapping at 3:16 is SO good. The whole ensemble (besides some principal cats ofc) is involved, dancing and moving around all the scene changes. It just feels like the stage version so much more than some other songs where it had been boiled down to pretty much the main cat, 2 backup dancers with all the extras just being around. While this Skimble does seem younger, it doesn't break his character at all and they give him some fancy red suspenders to match. Idk what they did with the ensemble bits in most of the other songs, cause they sound so empty but here they sound fuller than ever.
cons: I miss the scottish accent, not a deal breaker but it would've been cute. It was always adorable to see Old D come in at the end and join the dancing, I wish they had kept that here. The tempo drops are mildly annoying, but they are picked again so quickly I don't care THAT much.
9/10
If you listened to this and got excited for the rest of the songs from Cats 2019, I am sorry to report none of them come close to being this good.
(High praise to Steven McRae!)
That sudden start of music with no introduction was so jarring. The rest of it... dare I call it charming? Honestly, in this number, even the creepy CGI isn’t very creepy. Maybe because the cat they focus on is wearing pants, or maybe because their actions aren’t super weird.
My favorite non-Memory song that’s so good it makes the rest of the movie even worse than it already was.
It's definitely in part because of the pants. The problem with the character design in this movie is a) how weirdly sexual it is (because they look "naked" yet have no visible genitals or nipples, it's just confusing to look at), and b) the uncanny valley of the super-realistic fur, twitching ears and tails, etc. with the human faces, hands and feet. Putting clothes on the character resolves the first problem instantly AND it also elevates it OUT of the uncanny valley because "anthropomorphic animals wearing clothes" is so fantastical and allows better suspension of disbelief.
The director, Tom Hooper, is on record saying he wanted the cats to look "realistic." That's exactly the wrong direction to go in, and it's why they ended up looking so creepy. Leaning into how UNrealistic it is and giving them all clothes would have greatly saved the visuals.
@@bluesonicstreak7317 Yeah, “realistic” is not a good move for a movie like this. He should have embraced the fantasy. The train helps with the fantasy setting too, I think, since it reminds me of the Hogwarts Express or the Polar Express or even that train in the beginning of the recent(ish) Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The old style gives it something of a fantastical element.
Hooper should have embraced the fantasy.