If you’re a cat person, think again.
“Cats,” the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, was one of the biggest cinematic flops of 2019. The movie had all the trappings of a blockbuster hit: a star-studded cast, a critically acclaimed musical as source material and a colossal production budget of $95 million. Nonetheless, it was torn to shreds by audiences and critics alike, currently grossing $62.8 million at the box office and earning a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Cats” is freaky, uncomfortable, outlandish, rambunctious and distressing — however, it isn’t terrible. With so many discordant elements, “Cats” is a strange mix of beautiful and grotesque, awkward and graceful.
The production team saved this movie. The cat-people, who were strange at best and frightening at worst, were brought to life in the rain-soaked streets of London and the sparkling Thames River. Dynamic shots of the energetic, graceful choreography, glimpses of streets glowing with beautiful neon lights and whimsical set pieces, like the charming Milk Bar serving bowls of milk instead of alcohol, made this strange cat world charming.
Despite all its flaws and challenges, “Cats” never faltered or hesitated; the cast and crew committed wholly to their cat-people concept and made every creative decision, no matter how misguided, unapologetically, making them almost admirable in their failure. This movie was not good, but it undeniably had spirit and life.
The cat-people were horrifying, but at least they were realistically horrifying, with painstaking detail added to every movement of their tail and twitch of their ears. “Cats” remained true to its Broadway roots with beautiful, lively choreography and emotional, powerful singing, underscored by a talented orchestra. “Cats” utilized their star power well, with each actor putting on a convincing and fun performance. “Cats” made the bold yet wise decision to give the lead role to Francesca Hayward (Victoria). Although she lacked the star power of the rest of the cast, her professional ballet background made for powerful, elegant performances. Jennifer Hudson’s (Grizabella) emotional performance of the iconic song “Memory” made this movie almost worth watching. The production and performances were so good that sometimes, I almost forgot that I was watching a movie about humans in fursuits.
Almost.
Just when you get used to the movie’s strangeness, something happens to remind you why the movie flopped. “Cats” went too far and too over the top. The movie felt the need to remind the audience that the characters were cats by having the actors make random, awkward feline gestures. Actors who were clearly human hunched over to lap at bowls of milk, random hissing interrupted the flow of dialogue and cat-people constantly spread their legs while lying down in some uncomfortable imitation of a stretching cat. At one point, Jennyanydots (Rebel Wilson) unzipped her fursuit to reveal a show costume and then proceeded to eat cockroach-people and dance with mouse-people. “Cats” was bad. But at least it was never boring.
“Cats” managed to go too far and not far enough at the same time. The plot was confusing, and it sometimes felt like the cats were speaking another language with words like “Heaviside” (a mystical place of rebirth for cats) and “Jellicle” (the fictional type of cat featured in the movie) because they never took the time to establish any context. Almost every character was one-dimensional and impossible to become emotionally invested in. Victoria, the main character, seemed irrelevant; the plot was simply happening around her instead of her being an active character. Despite James Corden’s strong performance, his character, Bustopher Jones, was a walking punchline for the fat jokes that “Cats” relied on for comedic effect, which came off as lazy, tired writing. “Cats” unfortunately felt the need to increase their star power factor by making sure that Bombalurina’s performance screamed Taylor Swift. While the rest of the ensemble committed to being cat-people by moving gracefully to imitate a cat’s walking, Bombalurina’s performance clearly felt like Taylor Swift performing as herself in a catsuit.
“Cats” was ultimately too much and too little, and their failure to find a middle ground is what doomed them. In the end, most of their redeeming qualities are their Broadway musical roots, making it clear that if you want to see “Cats,” you should just watch the musical.
