By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
?Cats,? the big screen adaption of Andrew Lloyd Webber?s Tony Award-winning hit musical is far from "purr"fect and at times feels a hairball away from being a "cat"astrophe.
Did I love it? No. Did I hate it? No. It?s just weird and weirdly mesmerizing at the same time. I?m still trying to process it all.
Based on T.S. Eliot?s poetry book, ?Old Possum?s Book of Practical Cats,? this re-imagined ?Cats? tale boasts an impressive cast. James Corden, Jennifer Hudson and Idris Elba are my favorite felines of the bunch. However, it sure does take some getting used to seeing these digitized furry humans prancing around. Their ears and whiskers twitch and their tails have a mind of their own. And you really can?t un-see those anthropomorphic mice and dancing cockroaches either.
As I?ve mention before, every theatrical production--or book for that matter--doesn?t always need to be adapted to the big screen particularly when they?re of this magnitude. And ?Cats? is one big, sprawling production. Having said that, director/screenwriter Tom Hooper (?Les Mis?rables?) and co-writer Lee Hall (?Rocketman?) deserve credit for their ambitious passion project.
?Cats? opens with pretty, na?ve kitty, Victoria (Ballerina Francesca Hayward/The Royal Ballet) hanging out in London?s West End theater district. She?s approached by a tribe of street cats. They?re all gearing up for the big ?Jellicle Ball.? It?s a talent show of sorts that culminates with the judge, ?Old Deuteronomy? (Judi Dench ?Murder on The Orient Express?) determining which cat will rise to the ?Heaviside Layer? and get an extra life.
Meanwhile, lurking in the shadows is a bad cat named Macavity (Idris Elba, ?Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw?) who has magical powers along with ulterior motives for disrupting the ?Jellicle Ball.?
The music in ?Cats? is hit and miss. Hudson does shine with a blistering version of ?Memory? and Taylor Swift as Bombalurina, delivers with "Macavity: The Mystery Cat.? Swift also co-wrote ?Beautiful Ghosts? with Andrew Lloyd Webber and it?s performed by Francesca Hayward. Jason Derulo unleashes as Rum Tum Tugger with a provocative song and dance routine.
Overall, ?Cats? is just a bizarre head-scratcher. Yet, because it dares to different, die-hard fans of the musical still may consider this adaptation the "Cat?s" meow.
Editor's Note: Check out my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 1530 AM and 93.1 FM.
Check Out This Trailer For
"CATS"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
