Cats

The interesting aspect of musicals based on a stage play is that they either transpose well or they don't. "My Fair Lady", "The Sound of Music", "West Side Story", "The Music Man" all transposed effortlessly, however "Evita", and even "Les Miserables" didn't really transfer too well even though they were visually stunning. Well, the same goes for "Cats"--visually stunning, however the plot was not so.

 

A tribe of cats, namely Bustopher Jones (James Corden), Bombalurina (Taylor Swift), Mr. Mistoffelees (Laurie Davidson), Victoria (Francesca Hayward), Jennyanydots (Rebel Wilson) and Munkustrap (Robbie Fairchild), called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life. The ultimate decision must come from Old Deuteronomy (Judi Dench), all the while attempting to stave villain cat Macavity (Idris Elba) from his clutches. Who will ascend and can Macavity be fought off before the cat is chosen?

 

Others to round out the cast are Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella, Ian McKellan as Gus, Mette Towley as Cassandra, Jason Derulo as Rum Tum Tugger, Ray Winstone as Growltiger, Naoimh Morgan as Rumpleteaser and Laurent Bourgeois as Socrates.

 

This was stunningly directed by Tom Hooper ("Red Dust" '04, "Longford" (TV movie) '06, "The Damned United" '09, "The King's Speech" '10, "Les Miserables" '12, "The Danish Girl" '15) plus TV and video shorts. Although this filmmaker doesn't have a tremendous amount of work considering he's been directing as long as he has, the quality of his work suggests to me that he is extremely choosy about what projects he is attached to. He simply knows how to bring his characters to life, and this certainly makes it a joy to watch and observe. He could receive a nod come Oscar time. It was interestingly written by Lee Hall ("Billy Elliot" 2000, "War Horse" '11, Victoria & Abdul" '17, "Rocketman" '19) plus TV movies, and Hooper (TV short), based on the musical "Cats" by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which is based on the poetry collections, "Old Possum's Books of Practical Cats" by T.S. Eliot. As I was viewing this film, I couldn't help but think of the film, "Les Miserables", because of the similarity of how the screenplay was implemented. It was presented in a totally song version like "Les Miserables". In a marketing sense, this is a difficult format to reach an movie going audience. Since this format was created for the theater audience, the filmgoers have a more difficult sense about this format. One thing that Hollywood has to come to grips with is that theater and film audiences are their own breed--they are not synonymous. While a few people in the audience applauded before leaving the theater, others took their kids out, while looking perplexed in what they saw. Again, theater audiences are a different breed from filmgoers. I get the premise, however there were a number of things that weren't explained, so it made it confusing, and couple that with the fact that the audience must follow along in grasping the plot in song, and the script can come across as convoluted. Hall is a seasoned writer and Hooper not so much, but even if one of the writers were seasoned, it was next to impossible to reach the audience. What really saved this production was the direction, the costumes, makeup, casting, photography and visuals predominantly designed by MPC (Moving Picture Company) and Mill Farm.

 

If you are a regular theater goer, this will be a no brainer for you, however if you're strictly a filmgoer, this might be a stretch, unless you liked "Les Miserables". For film goers, this isn't a nice holiday film that's rated PG with cute kitties. This is an exhaustive Broadway stage production presented in its original way that should be presented in--in its totally sung throughout format.

 

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                                   Rated: PG                                            110mins.