There were about twenty people at my showing of CATS. Seven walked out. Some people were in fits of laughter by the end. It is shockingly bad. I really don’t think you can understand how freaky and wrong it is until you see it.
I am no fan of CATS the play but the movie makes the worst possible choices in adapting it. The visual effects are truly nightmarish. They feel sloppy and yet luridly overdone. The humanoid dancing cockroaches begging Rebel Wilson not to eat them will haunt me forever.
The CGI is noticeably glitchy—apparently the studio is sending out a corrected cut, which is disappointing because the buggy visuals really add to the chaotic evil vibe.
Also Judi Dench may be de-knighted.
Also Judi Dench may be de-knighted.
The proportions are all wrong, inconsistent even within individual scenes. Sometimes the cats look like furry little demonic humanoids crawling around, sometimes they are human-sized. NO ONE who made this movie knew how big these cats are supposed to be.
Taylor Swift descends from a prop crescent moon, drugs a theater full of cats with “catnip” (that seems more like chloroform), and fakes an awful British accent. She is one of two cats who wears shoes (high heels)—the other does a (weirdly long) tap routine on train tracks.
A hissing, faux-flamboyant James Corden eating rotten shrimp from a dumpster while making fat jokes is a fitting end for the decade.
Also a key scene in the climax revolves around Rebel Wilson unzipping her cat suit to reveal a different cat suit underneath ☹️
Also a key scene in the climax revolves around Rebel Wilson unzipping her cat suit to reveal a different cat suit underneath ☹️
If you’re wondering “do all the CATS haters really just hate the source material?” then I promise you, no, the movie is bad in totally avoidable and haunting ways. I think I’m glad I saw it but the thought of sitting through it again makes me almost nauseated.
Ugh this is right, my mistake, but the shoe situation is confusing because most cats are barefoot (bare-pawed?) and then a few have shoes yet it doesn’t seem like a big deal
