People are not fans of Universal Studios’ Cats.
Reviews have been flooding in since the film hit theaters on Dec. 20, and the reaction has been harsh. While most people found plenty to laugh at in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, few found much to enjoy in the movie. In response to the terrifying appearance of the overly humanoid cat characters, memes quickly began flooding the internet.
One user drew comparisons between the cat’s startling appearances and the historically terrible depictions of cats from the medieval era.
“The cast of Cats as medieval cat paintings: a thread,” Twitter user @EmmaTolkin wrote.
THE CAST OF “CATS” AS MEDIEVAL CAT PAINTINGS: A THREAD pic.twitter.com/CZhxj1u5fm
— 𝕯𝖎𝖑𝖉𝖔 𝕭𝖆𝖌𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖘 🎾💦 (@EmmaTolkin) December 23, 2019
What followed was a truly terrifying, but remarkably accurate, thread of memes.
https://twitter.com/EmmaTolkin/status/1208991901497450496
Why were medieval people so bad at painting cats? Had these people ever seen an actual cat before?
Taylor Swift as Bombalurina pic.twitter.com/N4erd5BBnO
— 𝕯𝖎𝖑𝖉𝖔 𝕭𝖆𝖌𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖘 🎾💦 (@EmmaTolkin) December 23, 2019
Jason Derulo‘s medieval counterpart is my favorite. Why does that cat have a human mouth, and why—dear god why—is it screaming? Maybe it paid to see Cats in the theater.
James Corden as Bustopher Jones pic.twitter.com/IFDv4HiRCm
— 𝕯𝖎𝖑𝖉𝖔 𝕭𝖆𝖌𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖘 🎾💦 (@EmmaTolkin) December 23, 2019
These memes are strangely, shockingly accurate. Perhaps the people behind Universal Studios’ adaptation based their character design on some of this remarkable art.
Rebel Wilson as Jennyanydots pic.twitter.com/ohFCpsOdaY
— 𝕯𝖎𝖑𝖉𝖔 𝕭𝖆𝖌𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖘 🎾💦 (@EmmaTolkin) December 23, 2019
The medieval comparisons were far from the only memes to be born from the near-universally mocked film. As people left the theater—presumably still in a daze from the strangely erotic nightmare they just witnessed—they immediately took to the web to voice their opinions.
“Anyone who is attracted to Idris Elba be warned: every time he meows or shouts one of his cat-phrases my entire soul left my body,” Twitter user @MsGeorgiaOQueef wrote.
https://twitter.com/MsGeorgiaOQueef/status/1207165512435691520
https://twitter.com/MsGeorgiaOQueef/status/1207168503205154816
I watched Cats in a sustained, two hour, full-body recoil. It is HIDEOUS. It is TERRIBLE. It is NIGHTMARE and CHAOS come to horrible life.
— Sarah Marrs (@Cinesnark) December 19, 2019
THEY NEVER STOP SINGING#CatsMovie
I’ll have a detailed analysis on Thursday but here’s my capsule review of #catsmovie:
— Gary Whitta (inactive) (@garywhitta) December 18, 2019
Imagine doing this constantly for two hours: pic.twitter.com/2KU1ERfTuV
I SAW CATS. And of everything In the movie. This was the most upsetting. The tap dancing cockroach number. Who let this happen???????? #catsmovie pic.twitter.com/TSEVtC2kwh
— Tiffany Navarro (@tiff_nav) December 22, 2019
There is no drug on earth like this, no chemical that can produce the horrific visions this movie presents.
— Adam Deats 🌕 (@AdamDeats) December 23, 2019
If you haven’t already seen Cats, it appears to be well worth the two-hour runtime–even if only for the memes.
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