Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Warning:
I'm spoiling the heck out of this movie.
Disclaimer: I'm not big into musicals. I find it harder than it should be to figure out what people are saying when they are singing. Possibly due to slight hearing loss.
There are a number of people online who say that the movie has no plot. I can only assume this is due to their brains protecting them from the memory of what the plot was:
A cult of cats is organizing a ball in order to choose whom amgonst them is going to be ritually sacrificed, by flying the lucky winner of the ball up into the stratosphere on a balloon. But wait, there is more! Throughout the night, the cat equivalent of the Devil tries to rig the ball so that he will win, because it's said that the one who goes to “The Heavyside Layer” will be reborn into the ideal life of their choosing.
Yes, that's the plot.
Your current reaction is most likely the same as mine was during the movie. Though mine was probably more extreme due to the CGI-suit humans doing (intentionally) gross cat things on screen.
Along the way we get to see the titular cats perform various song and dance numbers in an attempt to convince the rest of the cats that they are the one true cat.
Memorable cast members include (but are by no means limited to)
The contestants:
Macavity (Idris Elba) The cat Devil who has magical powers, a bunch of minions, and a stash of Catnip that would make cartels jealous.
Jennyanydots (Rebel Wilson). A cat seeking to win the ball. Her ball number includes trained singing mice and an army of dancing roaches, which she snacks on all throughout her song.
Bustopher Jones (James Corden) A fat cat in spats. His only goal in this life and the next is to eat as much as felinely possible. At least he knows what he is about.
Skimbleshanks (Steven McRae) A tap-dancing railway cat. Not really much more to say about him because he gets catnapped during his song.
Gus (Ian McKellen). A theater cat who acts like a stereotypical Boomer.
Grizabella (Jennifer Hudson). An abused cat. Most of the other cats despise her for no given reason. She wins the ball. Before you get your hopes up at there being some kind of moral victory here, there is some subtext that implies she wins only so the Judge of the Ball doesn't have to let Macavity win by default.
Other characters:
Old Deuteronomy(Judi Dench) The Judge of the Ball and Matriarch of the cult. Eventually gets kidnapped by Macavity when he finally figures out he won't win the ball. Is then rescued by Mistoffelees.
Mistoffelees (Laurie Davidson). Spends the first part of the movie giving off “Nice Guy” vibes. Then he has the gaul to save the day more than once, because it turns out he actually is one of the few cats who isn't a jerk. Also has cat magic. Is the default love interest of the POV character.
Our POV character, Victoria (Fancesca Hayward) spends her first night after being abandoned by her human owner by being tied up in a sack in an alleyway, with this cult. Victoria is implied to be a kitten, and for some reason half of the male cats want to get with her. Victoria is a jerk who busts in to song to tell Grizabella that she shouldn't be so sad because her life used to be good, and Victoria has no happy memories to fall back on, and therefore she has it worse.
Basically most of the the cats are jerks. Which I suppose is in character for a cat, but it makes it a bit hard to latch on to the character. Even more so when they are doing gross cat things like lapping up drinks, grooming themselves, or casually abusing their background dancers via implied cannibalism.
That out of the way, lets take a moment to talk about the CG body suits. Yes they do look naked. Surprisingly it wasn't the cat ears or obviously animated tails that threw me off, it was their fur. Any cat that was wearing clothes or a fur coat looked fine. Even the ones who transitioned back an forth between having clothes and not. It was only the “nude” cats who looked wrong.
In summary, if you want to experience a trip without taking inebriants, this movie is for you. But maybe wait till it's on netflix or redbox because you are going to need some moments to pause and let your brain process what you just saw.
I'm spoiling the heck out of this movie.
Disclaimer: I'm not big into musicals. I find it harder than it should be to figure out what people are saying when they are singing. Possibly due to slight hearing loss.
There are a number of people online who say that the movie has no plot. I can only assume this is due to their brains protecting them from the memory of what the plot was:
A cult of cats is organizing a ball in order to choose whom amgonst them is going to be ritually sacrificed, by flying the lucky winner of the ball up into the stratosphere on a balloon. But wait, there is more! Throughout the night, the cat equivalent of the Devil tries to rig the ball so that he will win, because it's said that the one who goes to “The Heavyside Layer” will be reborn into the ideal life of their choosing.
Yes, that's the plot.
Your current reaction is most likely the same as mine was during the movie. Though mine was probably more extreme due to the CGI-suit humans doing (intentionally) gross cat things on screen.
Along the way we get to see the titular cats perform various song and dance numbers in an attempt to convince the rest of the cats that they are the one true cat.
Memorable cast members include (but are by no means limited to)
The contestants:
Macavity (Idris Elba) The cat Devil who has magical powers, a bunch of minions, and a stash of Catnip that would make cartels jealous.
Jennyanydots (Rebel Wilson). A cat seeking to win the ball. Her ball number includes trained singing mice and an army of dancing roaches, which she snacks on all throughout her song.
Bustopher Jones (James Corden) A fat cat in spats. His only goal in this life and the next is to eat as much as felinely possible. At least he knows what he is about.
Skimbleshanks (Steven McRae) A tap-dancing railway cat. Not really much more to say about him because he gets catnapped during his song.
Gus (Ian McKellen). A theater cat who acts like a stereotypical Boomer.
Grizabella (Jennifer Hudson). An abused cat. Most of the other cats despise her for no given reason. She wins the ball. Before you get your hopes up at there being some kind of moral victory here, there is some subtext that implies she wins only so the Judge of the Ball doesn't have to let Macavity win by default.
Other characters:
Old Deuteronomy(Judi Dench) The Judge of the Ball and Matriarch of the cult. Eventually gets kidnapped by Macavity when he finally figures out he won't win the ball. Is then rescued by Mistoffelees.
Mistoffelees (Laurie Davidson). Spends the first part of the movie giving off “Nice Guy” vibes. Then he has the gaul to save the day more than once, because it turns out he actually is one of the few cats who isn't a jerk. Also has cat magic. Is the default love interest of the POV character.
Our POV character, Victoria (Fancesca Hayward) spends her first night after being abandoned by her human owner by being tied up in a sack in an alleyway, with this cult. Victoria is implied to be a kitten, and for some reason half of the male cats want to get with her. Victoria is a jerk who busts in to song to tell Grizabella that she shouldn't be so sad because her life used to be good, and Victoria has no happy memories to fall back on, and therefore she has it worse.
Basically most of the the cats are jerks. Which I suppose is in character for a cat, but it makes it a bit hard to latch on to the character. Even more so when they are doing gross cat things like lapping up drinks, grooming themselves, or casually abusing their background dancers via implied cannibalism.
That out of the way, lets take a moment to talk about the CG body suits. Yes they do look naked. Surprisingly it wasn't the cat ears or obviously animated tails that threw me off, it was their fur. Any cat that was wearing clothes or a fur coat looked fine. Even the ones who transitioned back an forth between having clothes and not. It was only the “nude” cats who looked wrong.
In summary, if you want to experience a trip without taking inebriants, this movie is for you. But maybe wait till it's on netflix or redbox because you are going to need some moments to pause and let your brain process what you just saw.
