Oscars: James Corden and Rebel Wilson attacked by VFX body over ‘demeaning’ Cats mockery

‘The best visual effects in the world will not compensate for a story told badly,’ said Visual Effects Society

The Visual Effects Society has hit back at the Oscars after James Corden and Rebel Wilson mocked the much-ridiculed VFX in their film Cats.

Before reading the nominees for Best Visual Effects, the co-stars said: “As castmembers of the motion picture Cats, nobody more than us understands the importance of good visual effects!”

In response, the VFX body has now released a statement saying the joke “demeaned” their craft.

“The best visual effects in the world will not compensate for a story told badly,” they said, adding that “on a night that is all about honouring the work of talented artists, it is immensely disappointing that The Academy made visual effects the butt of a joke”.

The statement, which can be read in full here, added that VFX practitioners “should not be presented as the all-too-convenient scapegoat in service for a laugh”.

Cats, which also stars Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Judi Dench and Ian McKellen, had an extremely poor critical reception, flopped at the box office and dominated headlines for its strange use of CGI.

It was awarded two stars by The Independent’s critic Clarisse Loughrey, who wrote that the film is “one of those rare cinematic events that feels like a collective hallucination”.

Corden, whose character coughs up a furball into the face of Ray Winstone, gave an interview last year in which he said he hadn’t seen Cats but “heard it’s terrible”.