Sarah Halle Corey
Where were you when Cats-pocalypse happened? On July 18, millions of people around the world were subjected to the horror that is the trailer for the Cats movie. Putting celebrity faces on CGI cat bodies might sound like a good idea in theory, but in practice, it creates something uncanny.
There are some things that can’t be unseen, and the Cats trailer is definitely one of them.
Cats is based on the musical of the same name, which premiered on Broadway in 1982 and played for a record-breaking 18 years. It had a short-lived revival on Broadway in 2016, but now the musical will reach the masses on the big screen. Cats is based on the poetry of T.S. Elliot and features the music of Andrew Lloyd Weber. It tells the story of a group of street cats the night that one of them will be chosen to ascend to the “Heaviside Layer” and be reborn.
The movie is jam-packed with a star-studded list of performers, including James Corden, Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Ian McKellen, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, Rebel Wilson, and Jason Derulo. Tom Hooper is directing, which makes sense since he does know a thing or two about directing blockbuster musical movie adaptations after bringing Les Miserables to the big screen. But, all the star wattage in the world can’t save Cats from the wrath of fans on Twitter.
There are a lot of things that are quite odd about the humanoid cats in the Cats trailer. People on Twitter are dissecting every detail, from the human breasts on the cats to the fact that many of them wear fur coats on top of their fur bodies. It’s all a lot to take in, but thankfully we have memes to help us come to terms with the strange wonder that is the Cats trailer.
1. Some people are really disturbed by the whole human-faces-on-cat-bodies things.
therapist: judi dench as a cat isn’t real she can’t hurt you
judi dench as a cat: pic.twitter.com/1cLqmS22xO— raya (@intoanewlife) July 18, 2019
2. Other CGI-heavy trailers have gotten flack, but that’s nothing compared to how people are tearing Cats apart.
we owe the team behind the sonic the hedgehog movie a huge apology pic.twitter.com/nDG9Y4qXVZ
— David Mack (@davidmackau) July 19, 2019
3. Some people just don’t know what to make of all this.
I DONT KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT ANY OF THIS #CatsMovie pic.twitter.com/MxLdObyeEd
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) July 18, 2019
4. Even real-life cats are confused by Cats.
I showed my cat the Cats trailer. pic.twitter.com/tSGVi24Amk
— Janna Layton (@JKBartleby) July 19, 2019
5. In fact, some people think that cats need to work on their public image after this trailer.
every cat should be hiring a publicist right now at this very moment
— hunter harris (@hunteryharris) July 18, 2019
6. Others are just done with cats altogether.
This trailer made me hate my real cat
— Jake Baldino (@JakeBaldino) July 18, 2019
7. A lot of people are freaked out by the cats’ bodies.
somehow the people in Cats look more nude than if they were actually nude, and it's weird as hell. pic.twitter.com/vw8vtsIAUa
— Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (@Hello_Tailor) July 18, 2019
8. The cats’ tails are especially disturbing.
I’ve looked at a lot of cats in my life and I’ve never seen one with a tail coming out of its ass pic.twitter.com/XnskEXjZax
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) July 18, 2019
9. And there’s still some confusion over the cats’ anatomy.
https://twitter.com/mollypriddy/status/1151977470234517504
10. And there’s confusion over how their bodies function.
https://twitter.com/lisadraws/status/1152073087040405504
11. People are really freaked out by the CGI.
https://twitter.com/LeftAtLondon/status/1152015759003942912
12. Like, really freaked out.
https://twitter.com/nwalks/status/1151963181390159886
13. Really, really freaked out.
https://twitter.com/bimadew/status/1151967336536186880
14. Some people think they may have seen the Cats cats before.
https://twitter.com/PAYOLETTER/status/1151967184903712768
15. There might be some dark forces at play in the Cats trailer.
The Cats trailer is literally more terrifying than the IT trailer.
— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) July 18, 2019
16. One cat, in particular, is freaking out some people.
the James Cordon cat is giving me a panic attack pic.twitter.com/snDc9PzwXd
— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) July 18, 2019
17. Although, some people are showing a little empathy for the movie’s director.
Tom Hooper scrolling through Twitter rn pic.twitter.com/dcyeOwm350
— MrsFishVEVO (@Will_Kellogg) July 18, 2019
18. In fact, some people even enjoyed the trailer.
::whispers in a small voice::
I liked the "Cats" trailer.
— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) July 19, 2019
19. But, of course, the people who liked the Cats trailer are still in the minority.
I appreciate the Cats trailer for bringing America together. We needed something to unify us, and our shared hatred of the trailer could be a game changer.
— Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (@IBJIYONGI) July 19, 2019
20. Some people even wish they could go back in time to before they had seen the trailer at all.
https://twitter.com/fwiqua/status/1152147612042027008
21. Other people are wondering if it was all just a dream.
https://twitter.com/bimadew/status/1152197130720882689
22. Some think the trailer doesn’t explain the plot very well.
Just read the plot of Cats on Wikipedia and it is like somebody tried to transcribe a dream seconds after waking up from wisdom tooth surgery.
— Tim Onion (@oneunderscore__) July 18, 2019
23. But other people are here to help explain Cats to the uninformed.
Please stop saying the plot of Cats is confusing. The plot of Cats is that they're cats and they introduce themselves until one of them gets permission to die.
— Louis Peitzman (@LouisPeitzman) July 18, 2019
24. For some people, the trailer was a total surprise.
Okay, I didn’t know there was going to be a live action Cats movie and… I was happier before
— Celeste Ng (@pronounced_ing) July 18, 2019
25. And a lot of people are wondering how they can go back to before they saw it at all.
just watched the CATS trailer
how do i unwatch the CATS trailer
— jacksfilms (@jacksfilms) July 18, 2019
26. Although it’s hard to remember what life was like before the Cats trailer.
https://twitter.com/McKelvie/status/1152162495362191361
27. Maybe people would have reacted better if the trailer had a different tone.
https://twitter.com/ianabramson/status/1151977667207372800
28. Some people got exactly what they expected.
I know this will be a controversial tweet, but the Cats trailer is exactly how I imaged a trailer for Cats to be.
— Charlie McDowell (@charliemcdowell) July 19, 2019
29. Others are still upset about what they saw.
this is the funniest, and most cursed, three seconds of any trailer i’ve ever seen in my life #CatsMovie #CatsTrailer pic.twitter.com/2MD1c4tBev
— lil-lee (@angelofmusicals) July 19, 2019
30. And then there are people who are just asking the important questions about the cats’ health.
I do have questions about Cats trailer. First, they're all outdoor or indoor/outdoor cats. No strictly indoor cats (preferred). No scenes of catching mice or lizard tails hanging out of mouths, which seems unrealistic. & I'm worried they're all sick–none r grooming themselves.
— Jeff VanderMeer (@jeffvandermeer) July 19, 2019
31. But in the end, maybe everyone’s overreacting.
I don't know why you're all freaking out over miniature yet huge cats with human celebrity faces and sexy breasts performing a demented dream ballet for kids.
— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) July 18, 2019
We all better brace ourselves for when the whole movie comes out this Christmas.
