Cats (2019) Review

Cats takes the viewer into a world of fantasy, comprised of neon colors, whimsical buildings, and anthemic music. This movie had classic songs and sound mixings that many viewers can appreciate. The score is a well down modernization and reboot of the original soundtrack. This movie, featuring renowned actors such as Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, and Rebel Wilson, had a breakout star: Francesca Hayward. She delivered a beautiful performance complete with magnificent dancing.Unfortunately, these elements were overshadowed by the unsettling special effects used on the actors to create a cat-like design. This caused the people to resemble strange half-cat half-human creations. The motions of the actors is also a bit unsettling. The CGI causes the motions to look choppy and manufactured; the effects significantly affected the fluidity of the actors’ movements. The other troubling aspect is that the actors all went through “cat school” where they learned to move like cats. The problem is, these actors were still portrayed as partially human in the film, so this caused the motions to seem unnatural and creepy. Another problem with the effects is that they were not finished by the premiere. At the first showing, the feet and hands of the actors were still fully human which created a very strange image. However, plot-wise, the movie was able to hold up on its own.  They introduced a new character which was an odd choice given the universal belovedness of the play. However, the introduction of this character did not harm the plot in any way, besides deviating from the original source material. It may be hard to understand the setting at the beginning of the movie if the viewer is not familiar with the story of Cats. Although, by the end of the movie, the story is fairly clear.   One thing Cats does do well is capture the atmosphere and mood of the original play. Cats has always been a slightly surreal production and, although it was not executed in the best way, the movie definitely captures this element.