Studies show that people feel revulsion towards creatures that look like weird humansUniversal Pictures

The makers of Cats are hoping punters disagree with critics, who have savaged the film in some of the worst reviews ever committed to print.

The director Tom Hooper was still making changes to the final cut on Monday, 24 hours before its premiere in Los Angeles, in an attempt to salvage his work.

Hooper and others responsible for the film could have been spared a last minute panic if they had taken note of the well known “uncanny valley” effect: people feel revulsion towards creatures that look like weird humans.

Taylor Swift and other stars disappear under the weight of special effectsUNIVERSAL PICTURES

The term was coined in 1970 to describe people’s discomfort when entities try to appear human but fail. Masahiro Mori, a Japanese professor of robotics, suggested that people are happy to interact with robots…