Despite the absurd nature of the motion capture dots and suits—let alone the subject material—telling the story in this cinematic way became “surprisingly normal” over time. “You get over the laughs early on,” says Ian McKellen, who aptly plays thespian cat Gus. “You look ridiculous, then you forget it. To be with this particular group of people, nobody was above that.”

Still, there are some physical feline principals to keep in mind. That’s where Cat School comes in, led by movement director Sarah Dowling, who served as the film’s cat behavioral specialist. So what are some of the tenets of Cat School? “My cat language was in my shoulders—the rolling,” shares Francesca Hayward, who swapped ballet slippers for paws to play Victoria.

“I would always go back to senses,” fellow dancer and co-star Robbie Fairchild shares. “The first thing that’s going to make you look human is if you look with your eyes. You have to turn your eyes off. Your ears go first, then your nose, then your eyes. Their eyes are the least powerful sense that they have.”

Their work pays off on the big screen, but will they ever use their newfound feline intuition elsewhere? “It reminds me of algebra,” admits Jason Derulo, the film’s Rum Tum Tugger. “We’ll only use it for this and never use it in real life.”

Or, it could be what every movie musical needs moving forward. It’s not too late, Steven Spielberg.