[Review] Cats (5.5/10)

Title - Cats
Studio - Universal Pictures, Working Title
Starring - Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, Francesca Hayward, Jason Derulo, Laurie Davidson, Robbie Fairchild, Ray Winstone
Writer - Lee Hall
Director - Tom Hooper
Release - 20 December 2019

I don't know what these bad reviews are about because Cats was not that bad.

What clearly contributed to its downfall was the CGI effects that looked unfinished. The actors' faces sometimes shifted out of their frames, some actors still had rings on their fingers, and I have to believe that the filmmakers and producers' vision for these characters didn't have human hands for their hands.

The movie had a very respectable cast here. Stage actors Hayward and Fairchild gave very memorable performances, and veterans McKellen and Dench adding to the talent list. However, Taylor Swift and Jason Derulo were the main detractors as over-acting came into play. I am not sure if I didn't like Elba's performance or was it the CGI that made him worse than he was.

The original stage musical didn't really have a story per se, it was just introductions after introductions to the many feline characters. That is why Cats the musical isn't ranked high in my list of favourites.

This movie has the same story, which brought along the same problem. But as a movie, it was adequately entertaining. So I honestly don't know why all the scathing reviews.

Universal should have pushed this movie back by another quarter to give more time for the finer detailing. Because they aimed for the Oscar glory, this movie instead became one of the biggest flops of the year. It's not even the case of Suicide Squad which went on to win on the technical side of the award ceremony.