It would be easy to bash Cats like so many other reviewers have done because the movie really is bad and the puns are just too tempting. But the truth is, it’s not a complete cat-astrophe. (Okay, I couldn’t help it.)
I mean, let’s face it: Cats was disturbing even as a show, and yet it was so popular, it ended up running in London for 21 years and on Broadway for 18. It also won seven Tony awards, including Best Musical, so you can’t blame director Tom Hooper for trying.
I think, from the moment the first trailer was released, though, moviegoers were speechless. What were they to make of A-listers like Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson and Taylor Swift covered in CGI fur and whiskers, slinking around, at times literally with their tails between their legs?
Things that worked in the stage version of Cats don’t work on the screen. The scale feels totally off and the costumes don’t really make sense: Why are some of the cats wearing sneakers and tap shoes? Why is Judi Dench wearing a fur coat over her fur? Why does Idris Elba look naked (not complaining about that one, by the way)?
Despite its star power, the music never comes close to the energy or emotional impact of the original soundtrack. Even Jennifer Hudson’s Memory can’t touch Betty Buckley’s iconic version. There’s no question that Hudson kills it vocally but her acting is one note — as has-been Grizabella, she has the same wounded puppy expression the entire time — and it doesn’t translate to an empathetic reaction from the audience.
To make it worse, when Old Deuteronomy (Dench) is considering which cat she will grant a new life, she calls for “the next contestant.” Then, new cat on the block, Victoria (Francesca Hayward), tells Grizabella to sing, and it’s like we’ve suddenly entered Feline American Idol.
The filmmakers would have done a greater service to audiences if they had just filmed the actual Broadway show and shown it in theaters to people who may never get to experience it otherwise.
I’m sure this movie was expected to bring new life to the beloved musical but, instead, it may sadly end it.
I actually loved Cats when I was a kid in college.
I probably would’ve snuck off to a movie theater to see something that was more of a replica of the Broadway version – for nostalgia if nothing else.
This just looks too weird to me though. I think part of my enjoyment was the costumer’s work at making people look catlike – the cgi would take away from that for me.