Cats 2019, why?

Hello dear readers,

I hope you all had a pleasant Christmas.

I am sure you all remember the Cats film brought out in 2019, the film so incredibly awful that in some ways it is legendary!

I watched it at the cinema with my favourite person on Christmas Eve 2019, we had seen the trailer and our hopes were not high but at the time we were hosting a community radio show themed around Cats so thought it would be interesting to discuss, our review was certainly detailed!

I am a big fan of the original musical, I remember watching it on VHS frequently as a child and my brother and I trying (and failing) to recreate the beautiful dance sequences. I even once managed to see the offical show on stage and used to listen to the soundtrack on Vinyl.

As previously stated, I watched the film last year and was both perplexed and horrified by what had been created. Although there were one or two moments that twinged at my heartstrings (notably Sir Ian Mckellin singing about his shaking paws and Jennifer Hudson's performance of Memory) mostly I felt amazement.

I decided to give the film a second go this week to see if maybe it would improve with another watch so I settled down with a blanket and some sewing.

I was wrong.

Despite having a stellar cast this film is a mess, from the use of CGI (the classic moment in which Dame Judi's hand and wedding ring is displayed), the downright creepy animated cockroaches and mice with human faces (why..), to the way certain characters have been turned into jokes (Bustopher & Jennyanydots, originally two of my favourite characters, also Mcavity and Rumtumtugger were disappointing) and the odd sizing of the cats compared to their surroundings.

I could go on, these are just some of the many thoughts I have on this film but I fear it may turn into an essay.

I try to avoid being disparaging of creative endeavours especially considering how much work goes into these productions but I think Tom Hooper perhaps bit off more than he could chew in this situation, I hope he has better luck in the future as I did enjoy his previous

musical adaptation.

To conclude, this film is probably best watched primarily by adults who are looking for something amusing/faintly horrifying to watch. I think I will stick to the original!

Katherine