Cat's Eyes: what is TF1's live action series worth? [critique]

The first two episodes were screened this week at the La Rochelle Fiction Festival. Verdict?

France, the other country of manga. While the Nicky Larson and Cupid's Perfume by Philippe Lacheau celebrated its fifth anniversary last February, it is another equally important work by Tsukasa Hōjō that is undergoing a facelift in France. After having enjoyed a great success in Dorothée Club In the 90s, Cat's Eyes made its comeback in live action on TF1 and quite logically came full circle. One enigma remains: how can a channel with an extremely large audience offer a series that speaks to the greatest number of people, while refusing to make concessions in terms of quality? If Cat's Eyes does not completely solve the equation, the series does not have to be ashamed visually in front of the competition. The substantial budget (we are talking about 25 million euros) is immediately visible, at least in the first two episodes that we were able to discover in preview during the La Rochelle Fiction Festival.

Imagined by Michel Catz (you couldn't make it up!), this new iteration of Cat's Eyes has the good idea of ​​telling the story oforigin story of the three thieving sisters and to set the action in Paris, in 2023. The opportunity for Alexandre Laurent (director of Le Bazar de la Charité and Les Combattantes) to shoot a number of scenes in real locations in the capital. The pilot opens with a rather exciting chase in the heart of the Eiffel Tower, where Tam (Camille Lou), tries to escape the police after getting her hands on a mysterious painting.

We learn it a little later, but the young woman has just found her sisters, Sylia (Constance Labbé) and Alex (Claire Romain), after years of separation. Tam is obsessed by the idea that their father's death ten years ago in the fire at his gallery was not accidental. And the reappearance of this kakemono that she has just stolen could well prove her right…

The series is based on a genuinely nice mix of adventure, comedy and heists. Not enough to change the contours of French audiovisual, but Cat's Eyes has the great merit of finding itself at the right place between the old-fashioned charm of the manga from which it is inspired and a certain modernity in its staging. The winks to the animated series are visible but never ostentatious – enough to satisfy fans without losing newcomers.

It's a shame that the random level of acting of a certain part of the casting (notably the hesitant interpretation of MB14, seen in Ténor, who plays the somewhat silly cop Quentin Chapuis but seems to be playing in another series) and the overly long format of the episodes (almost an hour, where thirty minutes would certainly have given the affair some rhythm) regularly remind us of the “big TF1 production” DNA of this Cat's Eyes vintage 2024. Not necessarily a problem for the general public.

Cat's Eyes, coming soon to TF1.