And for the second time this year…
Musicals from stage plays adapted into screenplays are risky. Musicals on film that are not non-Pixar Disney animated features are risky. Remember when Mike Myers portrayed “The Cat in the Hat,” and how weird it was??
Yea…
This film cost $95,000,000 to produce, direct, and distribute. Someone thought “cats” with humanoid bodies covered with hair was a shoe-in! Almost $100 milli—that’s wild.
So, like, even though they’re cats, right… when they walked on all fours, they had human limbs. So their legs were longer than their arms. I could excuse the humanoid cat bodies, but why did the human features of the actors portraying the characters matter? Why not give them feline-like mouths and nose and add in whiskers? The audience would still know who the actors were! They could’ve just used the eyes of the human actors and the guessing game would still have been easy. Like one of the actors was the dancer from the N*E*R*D* “Lemon” video f/ Rihanna—the main dancer who let The Bad Gal shave her head. I know I’m weird, but I noticed it was her immediately and probably would’ve if…anyway. ‘Twas frustrating.
For the money, they could have just made this an animated film with the cast’s voices and a little motion capture sprinkled in, and dropped it around The Tony Awards season. The CGI facial features not keeping up with the movements of the character’s bodies was also cringe-worthy.
“Cats” marked the first time I got so frustrated with a film that rather than hitting the “phone check,” I tried to use my phone as a remote to see how much time had elapsed. Bruh.
Double Bruh: three of the ten people in the theater filed out at the one hour mark. Think of that! The film is 110 minutes long, and three-tenths of the audience decided they’d rather spend the remaining 50 minutes not wasting their time. AND THEY PURCHASED CONCESSIONS! And not the little meep-meep concessions, shawties had a LARGE POPCORN and THREE SMALL DRINKS! PLUS THE TICKETS. Bruh, bless their pockets. As they walked out, I peeped the looks on their faces. 😹😹😹 They all looked like they’d just finished working a seventeen-hour shift, or something. Like it pained them to sit any longer.
And so you might ask, “was it that bad?”
.
Yes, bruh. Yes.
And then a fourth person left fifteen minutes after them!!! LOL! 😹😹😹
I think the director, Tom Hooper, tried to make the best out of this adaptation. He’s no stranger to taking source material from a stage play that was based on a book, and transforming it into a fantastic film, see “Les Miserables” (2012). The dropped ball was more in the CGI of the characters than in his direction.
Some Positives:
Casting: Didn’t know the setting was in London, so acquiring actors and dancers from the UK was smart, thoughtful, and culturally-approps! Shouts to Dame Judi Dench, James Corden, Sir Ian McKellen, Idris Elba, and Jason Derulo— they were perfect in their roles regardless of the flawed final product.
Choreo: Shouts to the choreographers! Directing a musical for stage is challenging enough, so I can’t imagine the feat of a huge film production.
Actors/Dancers: You can tell the actors and dancers are super talented! The main protagonist is played by Francesca Hayward, a principal ballerina in the Royal Ballet in London. She and all the other supporting characters did a really great job! I only wished the final product showcased their talents in a better light.
J HUD: It👏🏾 is👏🏾 clear👏🏾 that Jennifer Hudson is one of the greatest voices of a generation. She could sing the “Terms and Conditions” and I’d be all ears. ‘Twas lovely to see her in this role singing THEE “Cats” song. Just a fantastic talent, and she keeps getting better. 👸🏾