Cats

Rated: GCats

Directed by: Tom Hooper

Screenplay by: Lee Hall, Tom Hooper

Based on: Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, the musical “Cats” by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Produced by: Debra Hayward, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Tom Hooper

Starring: James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson and introducing Francesca Hayward.

‘It’s party time, with your permission, of course.’

With dark streets lit by the neon signs of, The Egyptian and, The Rising Sun, cats prowl the streets…

Based on the multi award winning musical (including seven Tony Awards), Cats, I expected a lot of, well, cats singing.

That is the nature of the beast, so to speak.

What I wonder is how to write a review about a musical when I really can’t stand the things.

And I have to say the movie got so bad, it was kinda good.  Sometimes.

Take Skimbleshanks (Steven McRae) the Railway Cat.  He had nothing else in the story except being a tap dancing, ginger cat that lives on the railways.  It still tickles me because it was just so bad.

But, I love that ginger Railway Cat!

Weird, right?!

The whole movie is just a little bit weird.  But basically, Victoria (Francesca Hayward) gets dumped by her owner in the streets and suddenly, all the street cats start singing about being a Jellicle cat and how one cat gets chosen by Old Deuteronomy (Judi Dench) for another life at the annual Jellicle Ball.

With a few, I mean a FEW, jokes thrown in like, Cat got your tongue; and other jokes in the same bad dad joke arena, the film is all about singing and dancing.  To the point the question was asked, ‘Who is Deuteronomy?’

And I thought, No doubt they’ll sing about it… Guess what, they sang about it.

I couldn’t wait for the film to be over so I could cleanse my brain with a crime thriller of some description.

Then, either because I got used to the painfulness, accepting the cat reality, or, the movie got a little better, I found myself moved by the beautiful sweet voice of Victoria.  And I could visualise some of those beautiful ghosts (from some of the more famous songs fans will be well aware of).

But most of the time, I was scratching my head (influenced by that cat scratching behaviour, no doubt), wondering, why?

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Natalie Teasdale

I want to share with other movie fans those amazing films that get under your skin and stay with you for days: the scary ones, the funny ones; the ones that get you thinking. With a background in creative writing, photography, psychology and neuroscience, I’ll be focusing on dialogue, what makes a great story, if the film has beautiful creative cinematography, the soundtrack and any movie that successfully scratches the surface of our existence. My aim is to always be searching for that ultimate movie, to share what I’ve found to be interesting (whether it be a great soundtrack, a great director or links to other information of interest) and to give an honest review without too much fluff. BAppSci in Psychology/Psychophysiology; Grad Dip Creative Arts and Post Grad Dip in Creative Writing. Founder of GoMovieReviews.

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Cats
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Author: Natalie Teasdale

I want to share with other movie fans those amazing films that get under your skin and stay with you for days: the scary ones, the funny ones; the ones that get you thinking. With a background in creative writing, photography, psychology and neuroscience, I’ll be focusing on dialogue, what makes a great story, if the film has beautiful creative cinematography, the soundtrack and any movie that successfully scratches the surface of our existence. My aim is to always be searching for that ultimate movie, to share what I’ve found to be interesting (whether it be a great soundtrack, a great director or links to other information of interest) and to give an honest review without too much fluff. BAppSci in Psychology/Psychophysiology; Grad Dip Creative Arts and Post Grad Dip in Creative Writing. Founder of GoMovieReviews.

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