Good afternoon everyone! Hope you all have been having a wonderful Sunday, whatever you have been doing thus far! Today, we continue on the movie reviewing trek, as we review a movie musical that happens to be based on a classic Broadway show that ran from the 1980s through 1990s, if not longer. It is the one and only Cats.
Plot: Based on the classic musical of the same name, a white cat named Victoria (Francesca Hayward) is dropped off by her former owner to a place where a tribe of anthropomorphic alley cats, known as the Jellicles, meet. This takes place at a time when these particular cats decide to nominate a cat, who will go to a paradise land known as the Heaviside Layer, and be granted a new life. With that said, will Victoria, or one of the other cats be picked to go to this place? Also can these cats deal with a villainous cat named Macavity (Idris Elba), who is trying to round up all these tribal cats?
As I’m sure many of us know, this particular movie musical that was directed by Tom Looper, and made by Universal Pictures, has been panned by many critics and audiences alike. For those of you who are still curious to know, is this version of Cats as bad as quite so many people have made it out to be? Allow me to put your guy’s worries to rest by saying that Cats isn’t exactly horrible, but it isn’t great either.
How about beginning with the positives of Cats, shall we? First of all, there are some of the songs of the film. Songs like “Beautiful Ghosts,” “Memory,” “Macavity,” and quite a few of the other songs will be enjoyed by quite a few people, most notably people who grew up watching the original Broadway play Cats. Granted, unlike songs from musicals from over fifty to sixty years ago, or even more recent songs from recent movie musicals like The Greatest Showman, the songs from Cats may not be quite as timeless. Or will they? There is also the landscapes and the visuals. If not for the rest of the film, people will more than likely be captivated by some of the incredible scenery, most notably when scenes are shot by a port, or there are morning sunrises, or things like that. As for the costume designs, they’re mostly good. However, those designs could have maybe been tweaked a little more. I know that sounds hard to explain now. However, just watch the film, and I’m sure you’ll know what I mean. There’s also some really good acting from Francesca Hayward, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, and evening Judi Dench to name a few.
Sadly, this is where the positives appear to end. Aside from these qualities, this movie version of the Broadway play Cats seems to go downhill. Sure, if it weren’t for the saving graces that were mentioned before, the cats of this film would fall flat on their faces and bellies instead of all four of their feet (as cats as said to often land on their feet when they fall). Thankfully the cats can still do what cats are said they can do often times. Where does Cats fall as a film? First off, there’s the story itself. I mean this film has an approximate running time of one hour, and fifty minutes. This film undoubtedly should have been an extra 30-45 minutes, if not longer. For what we got, Cats seems to be way too fast paced even for a musical. For those of you who have felt like songs have slowed down the pace of a movie, let me tell you all that the music here seems to do quite the opposite of that. Yes, a few of the songs are good regardless, but still. As for the fact that the film has songs that are sung during a good majority of the movie, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. In fact, that worked really well with the 2012 Universal musical Les Miserables. Before I go on, I will just say that I bring up Les Miserables mostly because of that one also being a musical, that one also being made by Universal Pictures, as well as the advertisements saying from the creators of Les Miserables during the previews for Cats. Anyway, here’s the difference! With 2012’s Les Miserables, that seemed to work really well. The only reason being is because that film was much more well-paced. Also, that story was around two and a half to three hours. Not to mention that most of those characters were well-developed. Sure, one or two of the characters could have sang a little better in Les Miserables, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, because of of all that, Les Miserables did a much better job of accomplishing what it set out to do, make a really good musical and story. In Cats, however, it’s obvious that the movie had a lot of potential to expand on the original play, as well as do the same for most of the characters in this film. Sadly, that did not end up being the case by a whole lot. Yeah, and quite a few people complained about the 2019 remake of Lion King not expanding on that story and characters? Yeah, let me tell you, Lion King seemed to do that a great plenty, even if not in the same way that remakes like Aladdin and Beauty & The Beast accomplished that mission. With Cats, however, it doesn’t seem to do so, at least not by much. Whether it was because Universal Studios didn’t have enough money to make the story longer, or they thought that more people would enjoy this film, or something along those lines, the studio had an opportunity to make a well-done film, and it likely ended up being somewhat squandered in the end. What a shame!
Well folks, that concludes my review for 2019’s Cats. Sure there are some songs throughout the movie that will be fun to listen to. And yes, the choreography is very good, and things like that. However, because there appears to be a big lack of depth with the story and characters, the movie seems to be dragged down from being a really good film. This particular film probably should have gone through a couple more rewrites, if not more, in order to be one of the best, if not the best musical ever. I would say still see it at least at the dollar theater, or even on video, if you want to see it for some of the fun songs, beautiful scenery, and things like that. Just don’t expect a film that will rank up with recent musicals like The Greatest Showman, or even Mary Poppins Returns, or musicals like those!
Final Grade: C
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 