No film has ever
brought so many questions than the announcement of a live action adaptation of
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s famous Broadway musical, Cats. The original show itself is much divided being one of those
famous musical that you either love or hate, however one would never expect a
film like this to be made especially in live action with human cat hybrids.
However saying this is a film would be putting it nicely, because in actuality,
this is an endurance test. Cats 2019
is one of the most unsettling films to ever come out in recent memory and
unlike a film like Parasite or Midsommar;
this did not seem like the intention. It is a baffling mess of a film that
makes you question so many different things in regards to how something like
this could exist.
Proof
That You Cannot Adapt Everything Into Film
The film’s basic
premise is very much similar to the original Broadway play, being about a group
of cats gathering together one night to figure out which cat would be worthy
enough to become the “Jellicle Choice”.
The original play did not have much of a flowing narrative, with no real
act structure and it is more about introducing characters and moving on to the
next one. While it seems very clunky, this structure could work for a stage
production considering that a stage production is known for its spectacle for
being live and in person. Cats’
fundamental issue is that translating an entire Broadway show with essentially
no real story and adapting fully as a film does not work at all. The film does
not do a good job making this show have a more narrative flow to it because it
just adapts the moments from the play with not a real story tying it together.
There is somewhat of an attempt by making one of the cats from the play a
center focus as being the main one we’re supposed to latch onto and by giving a
bigger role to the film’s potential antagonist. The problem lies with both of
these characters don’t have much of a personality or backstory to them, making
us not be able to care or latch onto them as much as we would like. It is a
shame because there could have been a way of adapting the original Broadway
show and changing up its narrative to be more suitable for a film however the film
does not make any real attempt or put any effort to it. It leads into a film
that just feels pointless and bizarre from a story perspective and not in a
good way either. Even when the film does try to have some personality with its
songs and characters, it doesn’t change the fact that this story as it is does
not work as a film in the slightest.
Characters
are Just There for Their Song and That’s It
As mentioned earlier,
the original show for Cats was not a
traditional narrative and main purpose was just to introduce characters with a
catchy song attached to them. However, much like the story itself, this does
not work as a movie as characters are introduce and we never get a good
opportunity to get to know them or have them leave a huge impact. Whatever is
seen regarding some of these characters are just filled with pandering nonsense
dealing with either really bad jokes or dance sequences that go on for way
longer than they need to be. Not to mention we see these characters being
portrayed by already hit or miss actors at their worse or talented ones that
you cannot believe are doing the ridiculous acts this film requires them to do.
Some may say that the songs could potentially make up for it considering the
film is a musical and every song deals with these characters. While the songs
themselves aren’t inherently awful as some of them do provide a catchy melody
and even a not so modernized rendition for a change, it doesn’t save the lack
of development and backstory these characters have in all honesty. You can’t
focus on how good the songs may be if you’re focused more on how unnatural
everything feels and we haven’t even discussed the main factor that ruins the
entire film, being the horrifying look this film unintentional brought.
Nightmare
Fuel for the Ages
The biggest stand out
for this feature film is the visual aspect but unlike movies like Blade Runner 2049 or Spider-Verse, it is not a positive for Cats. Instead of making the film a
stylized animated motion picture with fun character designs of anthropomorphic
cats with very energetic movements, they decided to create this as a motion
capture film with ungodly human like cat people in this. Now, some may defend
this statement as it’s trying to stay true to the initial play, however
bringing Cats onto a film as opposed
to a play is much less acceptable. When watching a Broadway play, you are
already aware of the fact that you are watching live people performing the show
and if they’re playing non-human characters, you are require to have the suspension
of disbelief. You would have to imagine these actors on stage playing are
actual cats in the show, but when it’s a movie you can’t have that suspension
of disbelief because the question in your head while watching it is why isn’t
this animated? Not only that, but the cats in this film look disgusting unlike
the Broadway show where there was some impressive make-up, there are a ton of
horrifying uncanny valley faces to these weird furry bodies for these cat
people. The cats look too human like for their own good with faces that are
downright unnatural and that’s not even including some of the more downright disturbing
imagery this movie has. The film still tries to be one that’s made for families
but between all the unsettling imagery and unintentionally disturbing moments,
it becomes a film that practically appeals to no one. It is definite proof that
stylized animation should never be ignored by studio execs because otherwise
you get something as nightmarish as this film.
An
Unforgettable Endurance of Insanity
Cats
is
memorable and disturbing but for all the wrong reasons. Watching this film
unfold is rough with so many moments of pure cringe and agony that it will
bring so many questions to anyone watching it. Whether it is how Tom Hopper
went from Academy Award winning film maker to this, how something with such a
bizarre unsettling look got a PG rating and why did they simply not choose to
make this an animated film when that was the better option? Either way, this
film does not come recommended unless if you want a challenge to see how long you
would be able to handle the madness this film has to offer. As the tagline of
the film said, “You will Believe”, and by that, they mean believing that
something ungodly like Cats can
somehow exist.
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