Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

At this point the movie sort of speaks for itself doesn’t it…

The Synopsis
Victoria (Francesca Hayward), an abandoned white coated cat, is found by a group of strays who takes her under their paws to show her the ways of the Jellical Cats. On that night, they are on their way to the Jellical ball where one cat above all others will be given a chance by Old Deuteronomy (Judi Dench), at a new life.

However the streets aren’t safe for these Jellical cats as one bad kitty, Macavity (Idris Elba), will go to nefarious lengths to make sure he wins the Jellical ball.

The Good
I love a good musical, and know of the stage performances that ran for Cats, so was immediately intrigued and wasn’t even put off by the trailer.

There were some catchy songs in the movie, a tap dancing number springs to mind, as does Jennifer Hudson’s version of the song Memories, and dare I say Taylor Swifts Macavity, has been stuck in my head too.

Francesca Hayward who plays the lead Jellical cat Victoria is a trained ballerina and I did love watching those graceful moves come out.

The Bad
At this point it’s clear that this movie was terrible. If you haven’t yet heard then I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you – but let’s face it; you’re not really that surprised. My main issues with this movie boils down to the following reasons…

Firstly the CGI was so distracting, not only in the way it was put together but also because the cats bodies were constantly moving even when they were just standing still, as if they were bobbing about in the water. I just wanted them to stop, I wanted to not be constantly taken out of the movie by the very obvious, occasionally glitching graphics.

Next is that I had no idea what was going on for the first half hour of the movie if not for longer. I mean sure I got the gist of it at a point, but there was a lot of fan fare before the clarity; musical number to introduce some strange named cats – Macavity is mentioned or seen – musical number to introduce some strange named cats – repeat x3 JELLICAL BALL! I have never sat confused for longer in a movie than I did for Cats.

Finally the Cats themselves were just weird – why did some wear shoes, some have coats, and they all had human hands and feet? It sounds minor but it didn’t allow me to fully buy into the world. I do wonder why they didn’t just commit to the fat they were CATS!

The Conclusion
It comes as no surprise that Cats ended up being a complete flop at the box office. I would only recommend this movie so that others can understand how bizarre it was… That and so people can understand why I shudder to think of Idris Elba’s Macavity without his coat.