L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
Cats: A review by someone who knew nothing before seeing it.
- Thread starter Leatherhead
- Start date
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Yes, my girlfriend loves musicals.
If they mentioned it in verse, I might not have been able to understand it. But that's a me problem.
Eltab
Lord of the Hidden Layer
I've seen a video of the stage version, and see no need to go to a theater to watch the cast perform while wearing Robes of CGI.
Cats is primarily character introduction, not much plot. As noted above, there is a plot that could be brought to the forefront if half the characters were discarded to make some time.
I found the stage play an evening's entertainment, something different from the norm, not horrible - but certainly not what a generation raised on Action Movies is going to expect to see at a theater.
P.S. How out-of-it am I? I thought the character that sings "Memory" was acted on Broadway by Barbara Streisand, because hers is the most-radio-played version of the song.
Cats is primarily character introduction, not much plot. As noted above, there is a plot that could be brought to the forefront if half the characters were discarded to make some time.
I found the stage play an evening's entertainment, something different from the norm, not horrible - but certainly not what a generation raised on Action Movies is going to expect to see at a theater.
P.S. How out-of-it am I? I thought the character that sings "Memory" was acted on Broadway by Barbara Streisand, because hers is the most-radio-played version of the song.
The role was originated by Ellen Page in the West End production in Britain (May 1981).
The role was first played on Broadway by Betty Buckley (October 1982)
Barbara Streisand never played the role. She released a version of the song (which was produced by the composer Andrew Lloyd Weber), that was released in 1982, if I recall correctly. Your typical radio station does not play Broadway cast recordings. They play Streisand.
Cleon
Legend
To each their own, I just saw Cats last night and found it great fun, nor did I see the CGI cat suits as being "uncanny valley" creepy. It was basically the stage musical with some computer-generated costuming and background added and if one's OK with that it's fine.
Indeed I enjoyed it more than Rise of Skywalker, maybe because I found myself "taken out of the picture" by questioning what was going on on screen a lot less. Which is a bit bizarre if you think about it.
If I were to make a few constructive criticism it's that I though Idris Elba (Macavity) was somewhat miscast / miscostumed. Just compare the way they're described in the songs and how they appear in the film.
Elba's Macavity (who's basically feline Professor Moriarty) is a hunky chocolate-furred cross between a pimp and a drug lord, he doesn't give the vibe of being an intellectual mastercriminal nor does he match the character's description IN THE MOVIE of being very thin, ginger furred, and swaying his head from side-to-side like a snake.
I wasn't that fond of the version of Mister Mistoffelees in the movie, but that's just a matter of personal preference. I'd have preferred someone confident in their magical abilities (as the "original conjuring cat") with a rather androgenous appearance (to riff on the most probable reason how a "Mister" could make seven kittens appear out of a hat). I'd have also preferred him (her?) to be an all-black cat like in the poem but will accept that he's a tuxedo-cat like in the musical.
Oh, and for the CGI fur suits I thought they were fine except they looked too coarse. There were a couple of ads before the movie with real cats in them just to rub it in that the CGI fur should have been much finer. Similarly, their ears seemed a bit thick and "canvasy" in texture, the edges should have looked more delicate. Also thought their CGI appendages were too over-animated, which is a common fault with creature special effects. Real animals tend to only move their tails and ears WHEN THEY NEED TO, not constantly to give the animators something to do. The tails were worse than the ears. They kept on curling up the ends as if they were chameleons or something - I've never seen a cat do that!
Indeed I enjoyed it more than Rise of Skywalker, maybe because I found myself "taken out of the picture" by questioning what was going on on screen a lot less. Which is a bit bizarre if you think about it.
If I were to make a few constructive criticism it's that I though Idris Elba (Macavity) was somewhat miscast / miscostumed. Just compare the way they're described in the songs and how they appear in the film.
Elba's Macavity (who's basically feline Professor Moriarty) is a hunky chocolate-furred cross between a pimp and a drug lord, he doesn't give the vibe of being an intellectual mastercriminal nor does he match the character's description IN THE MOVIE of being very thin, ginger furred, and swaying his head from side-to-side like a snake.
I wasn't that fond of the version of Mister Mistoffelees in the movie, but that's just a matter of personal preference. I'd have preferred someone confident in their magical abilities (as the "original conjuring cat") with a rather androgenous appearance (to riff on the most probable reason how a "Mister" could make seven kittens appear out of a hat). I'd have also preferred him (her?) to be an all-black cat like in the poem but will accept that he's a tuxedo-cat like in the musical.
Oh, and for the CGI fur suits I thought they were fine except they looked too coarse. There were a couple of ads before the movie with real cats in them just to rub it in that the CGI fur should have been much finer. Similarly, their ears seemed a bit thick and "canvasy" in texture, the edges should have looked more delicate. Also thought their CGI appendages were too over-animated, which is a common fault with creature special effects. Real animals tend to only move their tails and ears WHEN THEY NEED TO, not constantly to give the animators something to do. The tails were worse than the ears. They kept on curling up the ends as if they were chameleons or something - I've never seen a cat do that!
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
TL;DR -- I laughed, I cried; it was worse than Cats.
trappedslider
Legend
Here's what Macavity looks like on Stage
If I had to list my top 3 Favorite songs from Cats :
Memory (duh)
Beautiful Ghost (written just for the movie by Swift and composed by Webber )
Macavity or Railway cat
Cleon
Legend
Yes, that's fine. [EDIT]In the sense that it actually resembles how the character is described.[ENDEDIT]
I'd have way preferred a Moriarty of a similar body-shape and fur-pattern/coloration for the movie, but what we got was:
Last edited:
Are you going to see it again and again?
Similar Threads
