Cats have played significant parts in Pixar movies over the years, from the robotic Sox in Lightyear to Luca‘s aptly named Machiavelli. Yet they haven’t had one take the lead, until now, and come to think of it, there haven’t been a lot of cat leads in Disney, period, since Oliver & Company. Pixar’s Gatto, however, introduces us to Nero, a small black stray in Venice, voiced by Mark Ruffalo. Gatto marks a major departure from Pixar’s house style, too — it’s a mixture of 2-D hand-painted style with CG adding depth and environment. As a result, the characters look more like the preproduction sketch designs we’ve seen in Pixar making-of books than the smooth, polished characters of Toy Story and the like.
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Perhaps we can call this the Spider-Verse effect — thanks to Miles Morales’ multiversal adventures, audiences have proven they can appreciate more than just strictly representational characters at the highest resolution possible. Rough, more personally stylized caricatures can be just as appealing — even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got a graffiti-style makeover. With that in mind, take a look at the new, full trailer for Gatto which, be forewarned, gives away a lot of the plot.
Pixar Just Announced the Full Main Cast of Gatto, Too
Laurence Fishburne was previously announced as Rocco, the cat godfather who serves as Nero’s criminal boss; as was director Enrico Casarosa (Luca) as the voice of Saverio the pigeon. As of today, Pixar has also revealed Bianca Babaşa as Maja, the violinist; Sherry Cola as Regina; John Turturro as Capitano Briganti; Rumen Sali Shopov as Papu Janko; Rhys Darby as Focaccia; Isabella Rossellini as Contessa; Natasia Demetriou as Charon, the Underworld cat; Jamie Demetriou as Plague Doctor; Jason Schwartzman as Vivaldi; Saverio Raimondo as Ugo; Jason Mantzoukas as Rico; Matt Jones as Enzo; Austin Madison as Fishmonger; Beatrice Manfredi as Martinelli; Jesse Andrews as Bartolomeo; Tracey Ullman as Luisa; and Marco Calvani as Maestro Foscari.
As with most Pixar features, it will be accompanied by an animated short, which in this case is called “Loving Dory.” In a clear attempt at image rehabilitation, after leaving her daytime talk show in a cloud of stories about her being tyrannical behind the scenes, Ellen DeGeneres returns to her most lovable role as the absent-minded fish who falls in love with a plastic bag, mistaking it for a squishy, er, jellyfish. Try not to think too hard about how romance between a fish and a sea jelly works (just kidding; this is the Internet, so of course somebody will think too hard about it.)
It’s refreshing to see Pixar really try to open up to more styles. While they have often claimed there was never a house style, Turning Red is really the only feature that has looked significantly different from what could be called their default. There was a time when they, like Marvel Studios, could do no wrong — every feature was a critical and commercial hit, until it wasn’t. People tire of the same thing eventually, and allowing drastically different designs shows they’re more serious about art than safe commerce. It isn’t quite hand-drawn, as some people inferred when the movie was first announced, and the drawing may have been by light pen. Nevertheless, it’s a new look, and presents us with an afterlife very different from that of Coco. (But why does the plague doctor wear a mask, if he’s already dead? So many questions.)
Are you happy to see Pixar try something new, or is this style just not for you? Buzz down into comments and scare up your thoughts.
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