Phaona Studio

Since there is a lot of discussion about the new costume designs (which I have some mixed opinions...), I just want to add that I love the new Cassandra wig. Because in my headcanon, Cassandra is an oriental shorthair. That's why the huge ears :D

Mungojerrie & Rumpleteazer movie version

I loved their clean calico colour scheme in the film (though they'd make good bengals too, but maybe I’ll talk about bengal cat representation in the cats 2019 in some other post)

Okay.. where should i start... The setting and the character designs are sooo different from the stage production, even the plot seems to be a little different..

My feelings when I watched the trailer: 😱😭😂

Design

First the designs... I was expecting them to f* the character designs up with the CGi, but I totally didn't expect them to go for "Cassandra style" hair for all the characters, since no live production (as far as i know) has chosen to do so.

Also the characters' faces seem to be a bit bland. The stage makeup is really heavy for obvious reasons, but it also enhances the catlike features. Also the movie characters' bodies have less variation and pattern... Hard to identify different characters from the trailer.

One thing that also bothers me is that the original musical already has characters with strong looks, but also personalities. It seems that they have made a lot of changes to the characters (e.g. I heard that Coricopat and Tantomile aren't twins)... I don't get this at all..

I do like the setting though! All the neon lights and different locations are something new (in a good way!)

Plot

The plot seems to be centered around Victoria. Well, I guess that a movie needs to have a main character, besides Grizabella (who is not nearly in every scene), so Victoria seems to be a quite obvious choice. Other option could be Jemima I think.

One thing I don't really like is if the characters are going to talk too much. I like ALW musicals, because they're almost all singing. So don't mess my musicals up with dialogue 😂

Also, it seems that they're pairing Victoria up with Mistoffelees. I guess the world isn't ready for Tugstoffelees 😄

....

Well, after the first shock, I'm pretty intrigued by the movie version (since it's new material after all, the video release was over 20 years ago). Though another professionally filmed stage version would be so much better.

The casting seems... interesting, but my biggest worry is the so called “new technology” that the production team is supposedly using to enhance the cat-like features. Yikes. I sincerely do not hope that they use motion capture to change the actors’ facial structures to be more cat-like. That almost never works and throws the beloved characters straight to the Uncanny Valley. I’m ok with using technology to make their tails or ears move though. 

Other than that, I have only a few hopes for the movie:

- Please include Conjuring turns in Mistoffelees’ number 

- I’d be sooo happy if they’d feature Etcetera in the movie, since she’s been cut like from all the productions nowadays.

So... I’m not asking for a lot: Don’t mess the actors’ faces with CGi, let Misto do his Conjuring turns and bring Etcetera back, please?