Why Cats the Musical Works and Cats the Movie REALLY Doesn't - Adaptation Analysis
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- Опубліковано 22 січ 2021
- Tom Hooper was given a very popular musical that ran for decades, and through his lack of knowledge and appreciation for the original work, he messed up his live action adaptation horribly. Let's dive into the details of what makes for a decent adaptation, and look at the specifics of where Tom Hooper went wrong.
Sources:
Cats (2019) - Universal Pictures
Cats (1998) - Universal Pictures
Inception (2010) - Warner Bros
Pride and Prejudice (2005) - Focus Features
The Lion King Broadway Musical
• Circle of Life - The L...
70th Annual Tony Awards 'Hamilton'
• 70th Annual Tony Award...
Your interpretation of Cats is exactly what I thought. Like these cats don’t feel like they’re competitors they feel like a family. The 1998 version of the cast feels like they know each other and love getting together once a year for a fun party. That’s the biggest sin of the movie, it just felt like no one liked not only being there or that they even liked each other, that it was just another competition. Just a 10/10 video you made 👍
Why to did he think it was a good idea to straightwash mistoffelees 😭😭
*and* Tugger
I love how this focuses on how the characters are really important - I have not seen this emphasis on the community of the cats in more popular analysis videos, but it's exactly right. All the cats, even the minor background ones, have individual, recognizable designs. Most of them have distinguishable personalities. They are all a big family and they love each other. And a very accepting family at that - Hooper wanted to make a comment on tribalism with Grizabella being an outcast for being Macavities mistress, but in the musical, that role (at least implicitly) gets inhabited by Demeter, who is still a respected member of the tribe and the other cats defend her when Macavity tries to kidnap her. Victoria is still pure after being the center of an orgy and probably having sex with three different toms (none of which is Mistoffelees). They all love and respect Caripocat and Tantomile, despite them being kinda scary. They are all so proud of their young magic prodigy, even though he can be overzealous at times. Even Mungojerrie and Rmupleteazer, who do nothing but cause trouble, are still absolutely part of the group.
And I think the plot has the problem that it a) makes no sense but gives you the feeling that it SHOULD and b) has a worse structure than the musical, because there the Macavity fight was at least, well, a thing and gave Munkustrap a moment to shine and then Mr. Mistoffelees is a resolution after tension so that the upbeat musical number makes sense as the last dance spectacle before everything concludes with the big emotional number, centered around Grizabella and memory, and then the musical ends. In the film, Macavity never really gets defeated, all the other cats have to rescue themselves in an awkward scene and Macavity just... fails and loses his magic for no reason? What? Like, the plot is weirder and MORE nonsensical than the original, and the original is already weird. Just... why?
I knew of the musical, but had never seen it, saw the trailer for the movie, decided to never see that, and watched the critique by Sideway. Then I watched other critiques...and saw UA-cam videos from the musical, several times over, listened to the songs repeatedly and from productions that seemed to be small local or high school theaters that were so bad I cried with laughter and enjoyed every moment to professional productions on foreign stages. At last I purchased a copy of the '98 DVD, and watched it twice.
I can now say, this director should have never touched the musical. Lés Miseblés works for him because the original form was a massive tome of a novel, easily enough adapted to stage and screen. This was not true of Cats.
I am a nerd, and proud at that, so I researched cat lives and researched the descriptions. Because of the near constant additions and subtraction to the cast based on changing character designs, lack of performers capable of filling the roles, or alternative names being around the globe, I decided to stick with the most universally recognizable cats.
1) Old Deuteronomy is likely the eldest or second eldest cat and is the greatest and most beloved. His current age is roughly 13-15. He is unsteady when walking, but is fearless and more than ready to fight defending his tribe. He seems to make hid home near the Vicarage as he is most likely to find him rarely too far from it. Likely the vicar provides him with food and care from his own supplies.
2) Grizabella is the oldest queen and third eldest cat being a little short of Deuteronomy in age. We do not know where her haunts are in relation to the junk yard, but we know that all of the cats viewed the bars, dives, and brothels she haunted as being of "liw resort". It seems that at one time she frequented a more upper class district similar to Bustoffer. It is possible that either Bustoffer and she were either related or were matted, considering her sleek black cocktail dress in the '98 version and others and her high heeled shoes, I would say they at one time were mated. She does seem to possess some mild magical gift but not in any great degree as Mistoffelees, Deuteronomy, Jemima, McCavity, Coricopat, and Tantomile. At some time in the last year or two she was nearly killed and she is now slowly dying, and indeed is unlikely to live more than a few more hours. Her health can be seen to decline as she appears every few hours. Her presence also alarms the older cats, likely due to her injuries and impending death.
3) Gus the theater cat is between 15-20 years of age, making him ancient by cat standards. He is very thin and shabby with only Jellyorum, the second oldest queen, to provide for him. Added to his afflictions he has both palsy, cataracts, and is becoming increasingly senile. He is still a generally happy cat, and the owner of the local pub seems to put a little something out for him on occasion. However, his years are not resting easy making him feel sad, lonely, and useless.
4) Jellyorum rounds out our most senior cats. At 10-13, she is the second oldest queen. She spends her days caring for Gus, even though she has become much reduced in weight to do so. She is closest to Jennyanydots. She is the most vicious and dangerous of the queens, especially if the kittens are in perceptible danger, but once the threat is no longer perceived, she is almost as quick to give approbation and welcome.
5) Munkustrap and Rum Tum Tugger, aged between 5-6, are the two sons of Deuteronomy. Both are brave and daring, but Munkustrap is the undisputed leader, Rum Tum Tugger his goad, though they care for one another deeply. The also look out for the other cats, but especially for Mistoffelees. Munkustrap apparently has been granted a middle to upper class home while Rum Tum Tugger seems to either live around the junk yard or nearby. It seems based on coloring that Pouncival, Tumblebrutus, Plato, Alanzo, and some of the other kittens may be the offspring of these two. In the end it seems that Rum Tum Tugger pairs with Bombarulina and Munkustrap with Demeter, possibly not for the first time.
6) Skimpleshanks and Jennyanydots are also likely 5-6 years of age. Some kittens could be there's. They do not seem particularly close so likely there are no kittens between them. They are protective of the kittens and try to shield them from any perceived threats.
7) Alonzo seems to be Munkustrap's son and second. He is a tom aged 2-3 years and still enjoys some of the gamed of the younger cats. He carries on the fight against McCavity when Munkustrap falls.
8) Bombalurina, 5-6, and Demeter, 3-5, are rarely seen apart. It is possible that these two are parent and child with Jemima being the daughter of McCavity and Demeter. It is also possible that littermates Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, one or two years old, are the offspring of Bombalurina and McCavity.
9) Victoria is between one year and eighteen months old and from a fairly well off location. She lives in an opplulent location and is treated well. She has only come into her first heat and her new mate is Plato, himself only just reached full maturity. I disagree that she mated at least two other cats at that time. If she did, I agree neither of them was Mistoffelees, who I cover next and last.
10) Mistoffelees is between six to eight months old, which means he is not fully mature just yet. He is also second in power to McCavity, but only because McCavity has years of experience over him. In a few more years, McCavity will be challenged by this cat with greater potential. His intuitive or psychic powers may have greater potential than the twins as he notices both Deuteronomy and Grizabella before they do, though they are more confident in their abilities and make more assured declarations. Further, he is shy, introverted, and awkward, observe his interactions with Munkustrap, followed by the teasing of the kittens, at the beginning of Gumby Cat. We also see him attempt to defend the tribe from McCavity, but he shelters in fear behind Deuteronomy, who sends him away to safety as he is too young for this fight. His main interactions are with Munkustrap, Rum Tum Tugger, Victoria, and Old Deuteronomy. Among the cars, he seems to be the least touched or most touch averse. He displays an internal conflict between his desire for companionship and to be close to the other cats with his introverted shyness and aversion to prolonged contact. This leads to many of his awkward moments with Rum Tum Tugger and Munkustrap or other cats. Being shy, and doubtless afraid, he disappears after MCavity captures Deuteronomy, as does Rum Tum Tugger, who seems to track him down knowing of his powers. Doubtless he feared his powers would not be believed, so Rum Tum Tugger, vouches for him, and takes the intro, verse, chorus, and next verse to get both Mistoffelees' and the other cats' confidence built up in hid power. He then performs admirably. It is possible that he is the last child of Deuteronomy and Grizabella, but considering his reactions to Bustoffer, he is either his son or nephew. Munkustrap shields him from Grizabella during her first appearance, which could also make him the son of Munkustrap. This seems to be further confirmed by the constant reassurance and instruction that he receives from both Munkustrap and Rum Tum Tugger. His story arc closes when he and Deuteronomy are at the center of the embrace and when Deuteronomy bows to both him and Cassandra.
All of this nuance gets reduced to the banality of interchangeability. There is almost no distinction between the cats. Further, some of the songs do not really make sense if the cats themselves are singing it. One was mentioned earlier, but I am going to mention another.
We can see that Mistoffelees is a shy and introverted cat in the musical. We also know he lacks confidence because he is almost always looking for instructions from Munkustrap, Deuteronomy, or Rum Tum Tugger. This makes his very public singing about being shy as reasonable as bragging about humility. These things do not go together logically. Further, if you examine the phraseology from Rum Tum Tugger's song and that of Mistoffelees, we see that they only make sense if Rum Tum Tugger is the one singing.
"If you offer him pheasant he would rather have grouse.
If you put him in a house he would much prefer a flat,
If you put him in a flat then he'd rather have a house.
If you set him on a mouse then he only wants a rat,
If you set him on a rat then he'd rather chase a mouse." Rum Tum Tugger's song
"His manner is vague and aloof
You would think there was nobody shyer
But his voice has been heard on the roof
When he was curled up by the fire
And he's sometimes been heard by the fire
When he was about on the roof
At least they all heard that somebody purred
Which is incontestable proof
Of his singular magical powers" Mr. Mistoffelees song.
If you notice, Rum Tum Tugger has a habit of making a statement and then citing its reverse in his songs. This is done once as well for Mistoffelees' number, at least. This the character with the closest pattern of speech should be sing this song, and that is not Mistoffelees, but Rum Tum Tugger.
I appreciate your emphasis on how the competition interferes with the huge community feeling of the musical. I definitely think having their friends sing about them is much more effective than them singing about themselves too. It makes the "i am" songs so much more lovable. Even those that do sing their own songs (like Rum Tum tugger) have the ensemble around them participating too! Instead most of them just sound arrogant as hell.
Even Andrew had an inkling that the movie would be bad when, Tom Hooper, said he did not want anyone who had been involved in any of the Musical productions involved in the movie. I don't even want to see it. The trailer and other peoples reviews are enough for me. >^.".^
Minus the actors & actresses of course?
beyond amazing analysis ! i love the way you described the original stage play; as one big family gathering. this deserves so much more attention
I just came across this and WOW... YOU ARE SPOT ON! I did the show on the road and on Broadway for 5 years (Record Breaking and Final company). You even gave me additional insight that I had never thought of in terms of the stage musical. THANK YOU! You are fantastic!
Im super impressed that you did Cats the Musical - I was into all that & Cats was my goal (teen pregnancy was my reality 😅).❤
Thanks for this take on this! It seems like every take I see deepens my understanding of what went wrong in the movie. And in particular, after seeing this review (alongside Sideways'), something clicked in my mind after seeing this. The general consensus seems to be that CATS should never have been adapted at all, because it's only suited for the medium of the stage. But after you brought up how the cats are a family who love each other, and after hearing Sideways' take on the actual story within the stage musical (there is one)... I'm wondering... might there have been a potential good movie hidden in the stage musical after all? It would have a completely different tone than the stage musical, but it could have been a good production in its own right.
What if CATS the movie was all the action and songs, but it was seen entirely through Grizabella's eyes, from the outside looking in? A large family, all congregating and touching and singing and enjoying each others' company, that she's not allowed to be a part of. Grizabella is already the closest thing the original musical has to a protagonist. She's the only one with a character arc. She's the one who gets an "I Want" song ("Memory"). What if the movie actually went one step further and made her the protagonist, showing us this family from her eyes?
Deuteronomy wants to welcome her back in, but can't unless the family accepts her back. The younger cats are all curious about her, but they're prevented from touching her by the older cats. All she wants is to be touched and to be welcomed back.
I don't know... this is literally just an idea that occurred to me 20 minutes ago after seeing your video. But the bones of the story were already there, and it makes a heck of a lot more sense as an emotional core, than what I understand was in the movie that existed. It could even... you know... be meaningful and new. Kind of like what Wicked did with The Wizard of Oz.
Now I have to watch them both! Great observations.
LOVED this explanation! Thank you for your insight and your ability to use a list of questions to get to the heart of the problem. I have my own Mungogerrie and Rumpleteaser (actual littermates) and in spite of the differences in size and temperement, it's amazing to watch when they do things in tandem. I've seen several productions on stage and been delighted by each for the very reasons you've mentioned. And yes, they are one great big extended family. After all, for as many wives as Deuteronomy has had, he's most likely the father, grandfather. or great grandfather of almost all of them.
Actually I think a much better cats adaptation would be an animated Studio Gibli style movie. about a human ending up in the magical world of the cats. Ending up at the ball and learning about this magical place and thease magical cats. Animation lends itself much more to the randomness of cats and suspends the disbelief much more.
The 1998 version also is able to get away with it because it's on a stage with Stage Costuming, Makeup, and Lighting. It looks like they are on a stage which is generally enough to get people to suspend disbelief more than a serious live-action performance.
@@lucyla9947 best version I'm shocked my vhs is still in tact. I watched it constantly.
I'm just saying if they HAD to turn it into a feature length more conventional movie. Animation is the way to go.
This was a really fantastic analysis, thank you! I loved the discussion of what questions should be asked when making an adaptation (I am definitely going to be thinking about that all the time now when watching other things) and your focus on the characters. I haven't really seen anyone else talk about the loss of community in the 2019 film, and that was a really solid point.
It makes me mad that this doesn’t have thousands of views and comments! Fantastic vid
This is a fantastic breakdown of how the movie ended up as disastrous as it did and done in a very entertaining way!
ahhh, i love your comprehensive review, mirrored my thoughts exactly
Your analogy was brilliant. Best I've seen.
This was very educational and I enjoyed your video immensely.
You only have 43 subs but you earned a new one, I got this recommended on my home page and new this video essay was gonna be great, as a cats fan, thank you.
While JHud is a fine singer, she is no where in the same league as Elaine Paige.
Yes, singers who do musicals and live shows sing quite differently than recording/ pop singers. To get so many non musical singers for a musical seems like a misfit.
using some of the info in this vid to make a Munkustrap cosplay :D
Movies have one thing stage musicals don't: 5+ minutes of credits. They could have just had "Addressing of Cats" play over the credits, which would have been a little treat for musical fans without breaking immersion.
By watching some of the numbers and sets, you see how this movie could have been good - cinema can be surreal and metaphorical, and you can have much more detailed and complex sets and effects that actually serve the story (like in skimbleshanks when they pantomime a train). It could genuinely be an amazing idea to adapt Cats, if the person who did it had any idea of how to adapt a musical and understood the appeal of Cats. What's weird is that Tom Hooper apparently loves the musical?? Proof that you can love something without understanding it.
The cotton eyed joe method lmao
Dang, this movie could have worked so well in stop-motion.
More videos please
I would reverse every single negative thing I've ever said about Cats 2019 if they replaced "The Addressing of Cats" with "The Hollow Men" presented the exact same way: dead-eye Cat Judy Dench just staring out through the camera into your soul, a chorus of cats echoing back
FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM
and Cat Judy wraps up with
*This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.*
THE END curtain falls, theatre is dead silent, amazing. It would ripple back through the entire film and make it sublime in reflection. It would become my favorite movie of all time.
She could probably make it through the whole poem faster than Addressing of Cats too.
ALAS!
Im honestly convinced he's never seen any musical live on stage
I was super lucky to have seen Cats during its original First broadway run in 1983. Then they made the phenominal Cats 1998 movie. This latest remake was senseless & disrespectful. Hollywood continues to turn everything that was once magic into pure sh*t.
feel like Movie cats are the cats who don't like each other or loners, not catd who all seem to like each other and well..cat family.
like the big cats...herds
I will say that I kind of disagree since the point of a musical is up for interpretation by the individual audience members. It can be as much about cats as anything else. Personally, when I heard the songs from the musical the first time, I felt that it was lending these "cats" more personality than most things have dared to before or since, even if there's no plot and it looks unrealistic and wacky... I loved cats as a cat lover, not a musical lover -- that came later -- and hence, appreciated it's humanised depiction of cats because it brought cats up to our level... or maybe it dropped humans to a cat's level... not sure which one, but it did one of those things for me.
MOM,THE ANTHRO feline Aliens abducted my pet CAT Eevee!!!!!!!!😨😨😨😨😨😨😨😨😨