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Cats
It was the longest running Broadway musical in history so I guess a film version was inevitable, but 2019's film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats is a pretentious, confusing, and snore-inducing musical that drags itself across the screen at a deadening pace, making an hour and 40 minute film seem 27 hours long.
Apparently, there is a tribe of cats called the Jellicle cats that prowl the streets of London, who have some kind of annual contest where one of the cats is chosen to descend to something called the Heaviside Layer where they are awarded a new life as a Jellicle and we are subjected to a young cat named Victoria being introduced to this year's contestants.
The original Broadway version of this musical opened in 1982 and ran for over 7400 performances, the longest running Broadway musical ever, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. A few years ago, I tried to watch a DVD of the Broadway show, featuring most of the original cast and I turned it off after about 25 minutes. So be reminded that this review is coming from someone who loves musicals but couldn't get through the original Broadway show.
As with any effective motion picture experience, it all starts with the written page and I think that's the primary problem with this piece. The story is confusing and not terribly interesting and we're never really quite sure what's going on. We're never really sure who this cat Victoria is and what her position is in the story. Is she a contestant? A judge? Is she a Jellicle? She appears out of nowhere at the beginning of the film and is immediately hassled by all the other cats, so I guess she's not a jellicle, but if that's true, what is her role in the story? With her role in the story never really being made clear and her also having the lion's share of the screentime, it became very difficult to figure out what was going on here. And the excitement of the Heaviside Layer made no sense. When the winner makes the final ascension, it looks more like a punishment than an honor.
Research revealed that before the cast began shooting, they spent several weeks going to "cat school"...where they learned how to move and act like cats. I will confess that this is one part of the movie that works. The actors for the most part, do move and act like cats and it was interesting watching how their tails would react to certain situations or the way they would express affection. It was odd though that they are talking and singing for most of the story, but a couple of scenes where they are supposed to be simulating applause or joy, they do it through clawing and purring.
Another demerit here is one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's least melodic scores, aside from the iconic "Memory", over sung here by Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson in an attempt to bring something new to the song, but it doesn't work because her interpretation of the song comes off as if she doesn't understand what she's singing about. I did enjoy Taylor Swift's "Macavity" and Sir Ian MacKellen's "Gus: The Theater Cat" though.
Director Tom Hooper, who won an Oscar for directing The King's Speech was really out of his element here. There are some solid production values, including art direction and makeup (even though Dame Judi Dench looked a lot like Bert Lahr in The Wizard of Oz), but this was a directing assignment that should have gone to Rob Marshall, someone with experience directing musicals. Though Hooper did direct Les Miserables, another musical I couldn't get through. On the other hand, heavy-handed direction was just the tip of the iceberg of what was wrong with this hot mess of a movie musical.
It was the longest running Broadway musical in history so I guess a film version was inevitable, but 2019's film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats is a pretentious, confusing, and snore-inducing musical that drags itself across the screen at a deadening pace, making an hour and 40 minute film seem 27 hours long.
Apparently, there is a tribe of cats called the Jellicle cats that prowl the streets of London, who have some kind of annual contest where one of the cats is chosen to descend to something called the Heaviside Layer where they are awarded a new life as a Jellicle and we are subjected to a young cat named Victoria being introduced to this year's contestants.
The original Broadway version of this musical opened in 1982 and ran for over 7400 performances, the longest running Broadway musical ever, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. A few years ago, I tried to watch a DVD of the Broadway show, featuring most of the original cast and I turned it off after about 25 minutes. So be reminded that this review is coming from someone who loves musicals but couldn't get through the original Broadway show.
As with any effective motion picture experience, it all starts with the written page and I think that's the primary problem with this piece. The story is confusing and not terribly interesting and we're never really quite sure what's going on. We're never really sure who this cat Victoria is and what her position is in the story. Is she a contestant? A judge? Is she a Jellicle? She appears out of nowhere at the beginning of the film and is immediately hassled by all the other cats, so I guess she's not a jellicle, but if that's true, what is her role in the story? With her role in the story never really being made clear and her also having the lion's share of the screentime, it became very difficult to figure out what was going on here. And the excitement of the Heaviside Layer made no sense. When the winner makes the final ascension, it looks more like a punishment than an honor.
Research revealed that before the cast began shooting, they spent several weeks going to "cat school"...where they learned how to move and act like cats. I will confess that this is one part of the movie that works. The actors for the most part, do move and act like cats and it was interesting watching how their tails would react to certain situations or the way they would express affection. It was odd though that they are talking and singing for most of the story, but a couple of scenes where they are supposed to be simulating applause or joy, they do it through clawing and purring.
Another demerit here is one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's least melodic scores, aside from the iconic "Memory", over sung here by Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson in an attempt to bring something new to the song, but it doesn't work because her interpretation of the song comes off as if she doesn't understand what she's singing about. I did enjoy Taylor Swift's "Macavity" and Sir Ian MacKellen's "Gus: The Theater Cat" though.
Director Tom Hooper, who won an Oscar for directing The King's Speech was really out of his element here. There are some solid production values, including art direction and makeup (even though Dame Judi Dench looked a lot like Bert Lahr in The Wizard of Oz), but this was a directing assignment that should have gone to Rob Marshall, someone with experience directing musicals. Though Hooper did direct Les Miserables, another musical I couldn't get through. On the other hand, heavy-handed direction was just the tip of the iceberg of what was wrong with this hot mess of a movie musical.