A tribe of cats must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life.
Director: Tom Hooper
Cast: James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel
Release Date:
Comedy, Comedy, Drama, Family
Rated PG for some rude and suggestive humor
Runtime: 1 h 50 min
Review:
My knowledge of the Cat's stage play is fairly limited. I've never gotten around to finding out why it was such a cultural phenomenon but have heard the song Memories in passing. So I walked into the screen adaptation of the musical mostly blank. Tom Hooper's film is veritable cornucopia of strangeness and WTF moments that it's hard to take your eyes off it. The much talked about digital fur is instantly distracting and the effect never really seems to wear off for the duration. It doesn't help that some characters wear clothes and shoes while other don't for no discernible reason, ultimately your left wondering who decides. Its not the only question that will pop up in your head mainly because the plot mostly consist of introductions with a very general end game which is actually pretty dark once you start to think about it. Still there are some positives to be appreciated here such as newcomer Francesca Hayward debut. Hayward's re purposed Victoria is the audience's avenue into this strange world filled with tiny child mice and dancing human cockroaches. Mind you the film takes very little time to ease the audience into any of this so you jump into the deep end pretty quickly. Thankfully Francesca's performance is endearing enough to keep you on board if you didn't immediately jump off board. Her ballerina skills are on full display through the seemingly endless song and dance sequences. The bigger names all have varying levels of success with their characters as they go full feline. Ian McKellen and Judi Dench bring and air of respectability to the whole thing with each having a moment to shine in the latter portions of the film. Meanwhile James Corden and Rebel Wilson play into the whole silliness of the whole thing, it work sometimes but when it misses it misses badly. Jason Derulo seems to be doing his own thing, particularly during his main song early on. Idris Elba is all in from the start but he's never given enough screen time to really leave a proper impression outside of leaving you feel confused. Taylor Swift's cabaret inspired sequence is lively once you get past her dollar story British accent. Jennifer Hudson is given the film's singular song and you'd be hard pressed to deny her talent even though she can't seem to decide what volume to sing said song at during various attempts. If this all sounds like a strange hodgepodge of ideas and talents well it is. At certain points during the film I wasn't sure if I was actually watching some terribly campy 70's grindhouse musical or an unused portions of legendary Marlon Brando 1996 dumpster fire The Island of Dr. Moreau. At the same time you sort appreciate the audacity of the whole thing like going full bore into the feline mannerisms, so much neck cuddling and nose kisses, while dealing a story is mainly about cats vying for the opportunity to die and move on to it's next life.
C
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