I’ve seen the musical on Broadway in the late 90s. You are correct in that the music is not toe tapping kinda music but it works because it’s different and combined with some great voices and choreographed dances it was entertaining. The movie however never captures that element. It looked horrendous.
Thank you both. You saved me the pain of seeing this movie to see if Tom Hooper screwed up most of its frame composition with too much head room, too little head room, no lead room as actors talk directly into the edge of the frame and random dutch angles assaulting the eye. I was very surprised to see the trailers and find all the scenes competently framed. To this day i have been unable to watch the John Adams miniseries because of the way Hooper and his cinematographer break every Film 101 lesson on film composition.
I don't get all of these reviews calling it ugly. I saw it and I loved it. I'm not bothered by any of the points that most critics are having issues with! In fact, I love those very things that the critics disliked so much! Ha ha!
I have yet to find any critical analysis of this movie that is cogent and this video is no different. Nothing many critics have said convinced me not to see this film. Seems to be a mass subjective bias against this film considering about 90% of what Hollywood puts out there is crap anyways and most CG is overdone and tasteless.
I’m sure if you liked Cats already, you’re going to see it no matter what. I never listen to critics. I love the new Star Wars trilogy. I see literally dozens of RU-vid pages that have existed for years just to bash and promote hate against them. All Ive learned is that about half of them have never seen the movies and it’s easy to tell. The other thing is that they all hate the movies because a female is the lead character. So when you start with a bias and the webs tendency for pack mentality, things go downhill quickly. I’m sure that’s part of what is happening here. If you like it, great. I’ve never understood the need to attack movies the way people have begun to. People actually threatened to kill the director and actors in The Last Jedi....and those same people got mad when Disney talked about toxic fans. 🤷♂️🤦♂️
I saw the play a decade ago & thought it was "eh". Hot girls in cat costumes & a coupla good songs. I think the movie is much better & that it'll be a hit with kids.
There have been movies completely ruined by effects. I remember the late 90's remake of "The Haunting" and how the effects in that movie completely take over, making the movie difficult to watch and really hokey.
I know its as bad as every reviewer is saying BUT i would to hear a review from a fan of the original play. More of a comparison of the stage performance to this film. Like everyone else is thinking, it had to be the longest running play on Broadway for some reason.
I love the play and I really like the movie. I'm definitely buying the patched version on Blu Ray. I definitely noticed some goofy mistakes with shoe outlines when I watched it. Ironically it's getting torn to shreds for not having a narrative but it made a lot of sacrifices to add a story. It's an iconic work in the LGBT community and they took a song that had strong gay vibes and made it explicitly straight. A lot of characters are cut. And Cats the musical is infamous for being extremely demanding because there are no backup dancers. Everyone has a character and they are on stage pretty much all the time. The movie adds a lot of backup dancers and gets rid of a lot of characters to have a more traditional plot. I was relieved that they didn't add much dialogue and plot because that's part of the brilliance of Cats. They made the change to where the cats are mostly singing about themselves whereas in the play the cats are singing on behalf of other Cats. So you miss a lot of the implied connections between the cats. Ian Mckellans character 's song was touching as another cat praises this old and blind cat. You get the sense that he was incredibly kind when he was strong and famous enough to be cruel and now he is getting that kindness back. I always cry at that part. Here he's singing about himself so it doesn't have as much power imo. The remixes of the music made the songs feel fresh. The directions they took the songs in were insightful. The magician cat has a song where you can see that he's doubting his magical ability as he sings it, he's noticing as he's singing that these magical things he's done are probably just coincidence or misunderstanding. In the play the very same song is sung with absolute confidence in his magical ability by another cat who is cheerleading the magical cat. So it's actually really clever what they do in subtle ways. The choreography was incredible. They took it in a different direction and had different styles of dance to really express the different personalities of the Cats. This is stuff that makes me like it. I feel like it was a passion project from a genuine fan who didn't get the resources or the time he needed to perfect it visually.
It is family friendly. Hollywood films were highly censored untill the 60s so Broadway was the place during those times to see adult themed material . So most Broadway material isn't exactly family friendly until recently.
I think the stage production is very good. Still, it is definitely not for everyone. It is odd. I also love the music. That may be my nostalgia boosting it up. But this show lives and breathes as a dance piece. Just letting the choreography and the music carry you and not trying to follow a story. There is no story. The poems are just little chat character sketches. On film with the dance edited and spliced to bits, it can't work.
The moment the "critics" say they've never watched the play or listened to the songs, I dismiss all they have to say, because, even though the movie is horrendous and a bad movie, it should be judged as an adaptation of the source material.
The movie seems horrible, but it is just not true that all the songs sound the same. This is a common misconception mostly by people who haven't really listened to it. And I'm by no means a musical aficionado.
Doesn't matter what you say in review when you start off by saying you never saw the play and don't like the music. This movie is for those that love it. I have seen it ans will see it again. Who cares about the cgi or costuming? Not someone who goes to hear the music. It is a musical !!!
The original reaction to first the film and later the film evolved negatively with time. I myself couldnt have been more excited with the original trailor and many others seemed to concur. It wasnt until non theater enthusiasts chimed in that all the sudden tgere was some supposed negative reception. I will wait to reserve judgment on the film until after I see it. Even within this critical piece the comments seem to be more about qualifying or disqualifying the premature judments of the film instead of just trying to accept the art as presented and making judgment on the film as presented on its own. Is it weird to see humanbeings as cats??? Umm, is that not the point?
I remember about 10 years ago, when PBS aired a recording of the 'live' stage production, during one of their pledge drives. I was busy doing something else in my apartment at the time, but had the TV on in the background.....only paying half-attention to whatever was happening on the screen. I thought if SUCKED. Certainly NOWHERE near the quality of Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables (.... .the 10th Anniversary Concert featuring the Dreamcast....)
@@Indiegirl007 To be honest, you really have to dig deep to get the full experience of Cats. If you're half watching it, you're not going to get everything, and there's a lot there.... in the play. But also, the play was a huge "wtf do we do" experience for the creators, and a lot of the subtext and nuance is through the performances of the actors. It is an actor's musical, and writers or directors can only take it so far. That's why there are a number of videos on RU-vid comparing the song "Memory" as done by different actors or singers - every one has something different, whether it be sheer skill or pure emotion. And when you go in with that, watching Cats in the hands of skilled performers is like a perfect orchestrated piece. If something is off, you can see it immediately.... and from the trailer of the movie, everything seemed wrong.
The directors must have seen the Korn Word Up video and thought "Hey, Korn did it with dogs - let's do it with cats!" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--M7vOnlcLbo.html
I LOVED it! What I wish i could understand is how did this show that was the longest running beoadway show , and flew off the shelves as a video of the play, scare so many movie goers! Especially when we live in an age of Alien movies everywhere. Lord of the Rings creatures! The show has always been human actors acting and made up as Cats . This has always been a super art piece. There isn't an artist that doesn't KNOW that poetry and Dance and then a Musical is a hard sell. So Here is the Deal ! If you saw the musical on Broadway( which clearly this guy never did) Then you will love it! The plot is stronger with the villian McCavity appearing throughout instead of once. Rather than have all the "Cats" talk to the audience,they extend the character of Victoria and tell the story to her as a young abondoned cat! Since TS Elliott is dead and the poetry is used in the play,a new song was written by TS . I wasn't a Super fan of Taylor Swift before this but, her ability to write a seemless poetic "TS ELIOTT" type of lyric has made me a fan. Her new song tells Grizabella, this life you have led is harsh and cruel but you have been in beautiful places with beautiful moments of "Memory" so dance with the beautiful ghosts in your memories and remember the good. Ian McKellan is brilliant as Asparagus the old Theater cat and uses his old character to triumph over the villian! It is a theater lovers tender justice. So THIS MOVIE REQUIRES IMAGINATION!!!!! oh and EMPATHY! it means you are going to believe the story of actors telling you about the inner circle of living as a cat which in a way parallels our own. It means thinking! So it is not going to be a simple dialouge with a laugh @t is POETRY. So admittedly it is for the king of person who appreciates Shakespeare. The kind of Person who understands why the Mona Lisa has it's own wall at the Louvre! So if you are used to paying 200 dollars to see Hamilton or Les Mis or Wicked on Broadway Pl:EASE Ignore the world who scoffed at the Eiffel Tower and come see innovative dance and Poetry ! MR. Mistoffoles is amazing!!!!! Skimbleshanks in a Broadway house would stop the show with his number,and Fancesca Hayward(The principal Ballerina for the Royal Ballet in London) as Victoria would amaze you! Someday this movie will hopefully get another life the way Van Gogh's paintings did. When the audience matured to see what was accompished.
I'm just curious. Are these zealous critics getting PAID big money to go after this guy Tom Hooper? I mean. What ever happenend to letting the audience make their own decision? No plot? Really? C'mon....the plot is about REINCARNATION. How hard is that to figure out? I mean, when you think about it. Cats, with that whole 9 lives thing and all. I'm just saying.
That's the gimmick behind the musical. It's not a real plot, as there's no story that develops along a narrative structure. Because it's not supposed to have one. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Cats the musical is just T.S. Eliot's Book of Practical Cats poems put to song and, like all collections of lyrical poetry, it has no story or plot whatsoever. The movie's fault (besides the atrocious CGI and nightmarish character design) was precisely trying to introduce a plot, with MaCavity kidnapping cats to be the one to ascending and Mr. Mistopheles stopping him with his magic. But that's so loosely grafted onto the actual non-plot structure of the musical that it makes things a lot worse. Also, some favorite songs were cut because they were not deemed PC by Disney. So, yes, it's a terrible movie that should never have been made and makes no sense either as a movie or a musical.
Aretha Morgan no one is paid to go after him. People legit hate this movie. Audiences aren’t being kept away from this movie. They are choosing not to go. Glad I could help clarify this.
Interesting how people that never seen the Broadway performance of Cats is interested in seeing a movie version. How did the play run for decades? How?
Broadway had better songs (more than half of the songs are cut out from the movie which cuts the plot and flow of the story) choreography, introductions (characters that were already in the background are presented), practical effects, story consistency (characters don't just dissapear, the characters themselves would continue to act in the background or put on plays and different costumes and act while still being in character), and audience interaction (the actors would go into the crowd, play with props, play with kids, mess with the orchestra, let you pet them etc.) It was a SHOW. That's why it lasted for so long.
@@sierralovat5498 I like the movie, but respect your opinion & that of musical theatre geeks who don't like the changes made in the adaptation. But negative reviews from people who don't care for musicals in the first place are worthless. That would be like me, a non-sports buff, talking about how lousy the World Series or Superbowl is.
@@sierralovat5498 The only song the cut was the Pollicles song and they made Growltigers song shorter. Certainly not more than half. And a majority of Cats fans only experienced it by watching the film. It's compelling on its own.
These uniformly bad reviews give critics the opportunity to harp about "bad CGI" as though there has not been some wonderfully good CGI (often lurking unnoticed in the background of some unsuspected "high-brow" movies) with us for decades. But it's fashionable( *still* apparently!) to shout it down in favor of practical effects or 2D animation or claymation or sock puppets! Geeez, it's 2019! If the CGI in *CATS* 2019 ain't perfect, stick around; by 2022, it likely will be. Not that you critics will admit it, of course. How tiresome and tedious.
First the trailor and later the film* Also, something tells me there was a contrived movement formed against the director as per personal dislikes of his choices in previous film adaptations of broadway classics. Essentially, someone spent time and large effort in sending a message to studio heads that they dont want him working on anymore broadway afaptations. It is always suspicious when positive first reactions suddenly change to devestating criticism as the story.
i think the haters or most people in general who know about the movie only looks at one perspective to this movie, aka: the bad cgi. i do admit that it could be improved to make the characters more “cat” like but i think everyone should look at the weird and “horrifying” parts as an art. the cats musical itself isn’t supposed to be a dramatic play like phantom of the opera, it’s more like on the comedic and weirdly entertaining part. it’s just my opinion but i think people have to be a bit more open minded to watch this movie. the musical numbers in the movie are bomb too.
The stage show is pretty amazing. I don't know why people are so freaked out by people playing cats. The movie is called Cats..... That beings said, this movie looks awful and I'm not watching it.
Indiegirl007 my thought about Cats when I heard there was going to be a movie was always that it works on stage with the forced perspective and the expectations of people being in costume. But putting it on a big IMAX screen just wasn’t going to work. Sometimes the medium makes all the difference
Oh! Horror of horror! They made the actors in "Cats" look like cats! O.K., you don't like the stage show, what made you think you would like the movie? Of course, you never saw the stage show, but that did not stop you from disliking it. What hubris! You don't even see a show before slamming it. If this is how you do reviews, I am not subscribing to your chanel.
Tj Streak Stop being so outraged. 1. You shouldn’t have to see a stage show to be able to understand/enjoy a movie. That’s ridiculous. 2. What’s horrible isn’t the idea of actors being made to look like cats, it’s the fact that the made actors look like fucking mutants, is what’s horrible. I work with CGI, and this is awful CGI. 3. Cats (the show) is absolute nonsense anyways, it shouldn’t have been made into film (a medium which required actual plot).
If only they didn't CGIed everyone that much and came up with the better idea for cat costumes to this movie... The sets and overall atmosphere of the movie was good but it was just too weird for general audience. I just feel like poor decisions were made.
Wait! Let me do the review for you. You two are just following the party line so I don't need to listen I will just tell everyone what you are going to say. It will give you nightmares, it came off as porn, the people were stupid and the songs were long and boring. Nuf said. We're done
