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CATS the movie (2019) review

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Today, at 3pm, I decided to watch the musical film CATS in the theater. I have seen the stage musical of CATS at the OC Performing Arts on my birthday in around 1997 or 1998. So, I wanted to compare the live stage performance with the musical movie.

While waiting for the movie to start, I read some reviews on my iPhone, and it was mixed. Some people loved it, while others said it was confusing and scary.

As I watched it, I enjoyed it. It was entertaining, but I thought it was different from the stage musical. I remember the stage musical was depressing, especially at the end. This musical movie had some hope because it appeared all the abandoned street cats banded together to help each other out like a family.

Jellical Cats are like a street gang who live on the street, although most had name tags, which might indicate they were abandoned in alleys.

Macavity, a black cat played by Idris Elba, looks like a sleek pimp.

Old Deuteronomy, played by Judi Dench, looked like a Queen Cat with a long fur coat trailing behind her. She also reminded me of the lion in the Wizard of Oz, but she had more pride and power, which appeared like she was once a pampered fluffy cat.

Grizabella, played by Jennifer Hudson, seemed like a jaded has-been, always wandering on her own, feeling unwanted and lonely. Her character looks sad and homeless, similar to a cat bag lady.

Bombalurina, played by Taylor Swift, seemed sleek and sexy cat. I think Taylor Swift gave a good performance in this musical. She seemed like the star.

Bustopher, played by James Corden, was a fat cat who enjoys eating a lot of food.

Jennyanydots, played by Rebel Wilson, was another fat cat, who lazily lounges indoors on the couch, entertaining herself with mice and cockroach army.

Gus, played by Ian McKellan, is a sad old cat.

Victoria, played by Francesca Hayward, is a domestic cat who gets abandoned, thrown, and discarded into an alley, inside a bag.

Mr. Mistoffel, played by Laurie Davidson, is the magician cat, and he has a crush on Victoria.

There are other cast members.

The story starts out with an antique car parking in the alley, a rich woman gets out from the car, and throws a bag into the alley. The woman disappears. Something is wiggling inside the bag, and the Jellical cats move slowly towards it to check it out. They tear it open, and a young white scared cat crawls out, looking at the street cats. The Jellical cats assess her to see if she belongs with them, as they sing and dancing introducing themselves. They teach her the life on the street, and she becomes their friend. Because, after all, they were all abandoned and unwanted, and they need each other to survive.

I thought it was a fun movie.

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What do you think?

5 Comments

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  1. I have never seen Cats even onstage but I would like to see this movie out of interest since I am a cat person. I will keep an eye out for it there are sites online that often show movies that have recently been released. I am alone and have not movie theater near me to go to and it would be too expensive for me. Thank you for the review,

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    • i thought it was interesting because it was told in the eyes of abandoned street and feral cats trying to survive on the street, which is sad, especially the Jennifer Hudson cat. but the stage setting looked like Wizard of OZ, Alice in Wonderland, and almost Tim Burton setting, which made it a fantasy story about life of street cats.

    • i dont know, but i think they did it different from the stage version because i have seen the Cats on stage in OC Performing Arts Center. I have also see Ghost on Stage, which is also done differently from the Ghost movie.

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