Cats: Movie Review

Cats: Movie Review

Director: Tom Hooper

It's hard to exactly pinpoint why Tom Hooper's take on the eternally popular musical by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber fails to connect with anyone watching.

Is it the fact the film launches straight into the Jellicle world expecting you to either know or appreciate what's going on, dives into a series of scene-setting musical numbers that are just confused and confusing or is it that the CGI nature of what plays out is so distracting as to take you out of the moment and smash you over the head with it?

In truth, it's probably all of these things - and more so, it's also the case that the narrative is so flimsy on the screen, it's lacking a necessary coherence.

When a cat called Victoria (Hayward) is dumped on the streets, she joins the Jellicle world of cats who ready themselves for the Jellicle ball, where one of their number will be chosen as the Jellicle choice and who ascend to a greater life. However, the evil Macavity (Elba) is determined he will be the chosen one....

There's a nagging feeling that Cats is destined for guilty pleasure territory, and for similar treatment afforded Showgirls.

But the oddly staged, weird sets and mix of some impressive musical moments don't hang together, feels slight, and appears simply to be about the cameos - there's no logic or coherence to what transpires, and with the uncanny valley CGI, self moving ears and occasionally erect tails, there's too much to confuse the brain.

Jennifer Hudson's Memories sequence is stunning, the emotional connect the film needs, swathed as it is in sadness - and distracting as it is in her being covered in snot and what appears to be offcuts from other cats' furs. Ray Winstone's Cockney heavy is also comical - but mainly because of who the audience knows him to be.

That's the folly of Cats though - it never quite reaches the grand folly of what it could be, nor does it try to change it for a more impressive cinematic experience. Granted, it may appeal to the fans of the musical desperate to see the likes of Taylor Swift put in a cameo and a sultry jazzy song.

But for fans of furries wanting to see their idols in tabby attire, the film has nothing for it except its aesthetics. It's insane, challenging (not in a good way) and generally quite hard to process - what does emerge from the finality of Cats is the fact that it's not destined for the pantheon of great cinema musicals - if there's any kind of justice.

This is what the Cats dragged in - and much like a feline licking its own hindquarters, it's too self-obsessed to think about anyone in the audience. It's purr-fect alright - a purr-fect disaster of a Christmas treat that's more a trick than anything else.