CATS the movie musical

I'm participating in the Sunday Selfies hosted by the Kitties Blue at Cat On My Head. The selfie is at the bottom of this post.

(WARNING for those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet SPOILERS AHEAD!)

I’ve seen a lot of negative reviews about CATS the movie but I will tell you right up front that I enjoyed it – a lot. I’ll get a couple of negatives out of the way right now. I didn’t like the Mungojerry and Rumpleteaser bit. They hardly sang during the entire piece and when they did they weren’t on key. While I appreciate the changes they made in the movie, it helped those people who didn’t know there was a story to the whole thing, I think there was entirely too much talking though, as opposed to singing.

One of the changes they made is probably the major change from the Broadway play. When CATS was on the stage the cats actually interacted with the audience in various ways. They’d walk down the aisles and in some instances (at least I heard this) the cats might actually sit in the lap of audience members. The cats even addressed the audience as they went through the story of the cats who want to go to the Heavyside layer.

The movie is a little different in that they can’t interact in that way. Instead they’ve introduced a new character, Victoria. She is a kitten who, throughout the show, is learning the ways of cat society. The main cat, Munkustrap, introduces her to several cats such as Jennyanydots, Skimbleshanks, Asparagus, Bustophur Jones and Macavity, the villain of the show. This kitten even tries to make friends with Grizabella while other cats shun her. This is when Victoria sings the newest song, Beautiful Ghosts. I love this song. It is a wonderful addition to the show.

I also loved the SkimbleShanks number that included a lot of tap dancing and a jaunt on the railroad tracks. Really any dance number makes me happy. I was a little worried about Jennifer Hudson’s portrayal of Grizabella because I’m not a fan of her usual performances but she pulled this off perfectly. She brought out the emotion behind Grizabella’s plight nicely, even making me cry.

I’d never heard Ian McKellen sing before (has he ever had a singing role?) so I was waiting to see how he did. Gus was the perfect role for him. He sang and spoke interchangeably about his life in the theater. Rum Tum Tugger wasn’t quite the same as in the play but still a sexy tomcat performance.

Deuteronomy is normally played as a male cat but in the movie Dame Judi Dench plays “her.” It came off better than I thought. I once knew a cat I named Deuteronomy (long story) so this is probably my favorite character except maybe Munkustrap. Then there’s Mr. Mistoffelees. In the play this character is played as confident and magical. In the movie he’s not so confident, and he has a crush on Victoria.

Even with all the changes CATS the movie is worth a ticket. It was fun and mysterious and magical and depressing and uplifting all in the same movie. I hope you have the chance to enjoy it.

Mulberry Spot is our model today. He was too struck by the sunbeam to sit upright.