CATS (2019) - WTF Is Happening? - A Movie Review
Vložit
- čas přidán 28. 12. 2019
- David and @joyofnapping discuss Tom Hooper's newest film, the movie musical CATS.
Follow David on Twitter: / davechensky
Follow @joyofnapping: / joyofnapping
Subscribe to David's emails: davechen.net/letters
Listen to David's interview podcast, Culturally Relevant: culturallyrelevantshow.com - Krátké a kreslené filmy
I think most people do not understand the concept of Cats which explains some of the confusion. The musical is based on a collection of poems, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by TS Elliot, and these poems provided the lyrics for the songs. This is why there is no plot in the original musical. The perspective is a human projection of how they think cats see the world, so Skimbleshanks is a cat that has been adopted by railway workers and rides the trains, but the cat thinks he is running things. To give an updated example, sometimes I might turn and see my cat appear from seemingly nowhere and call him a ninja, so there might me a poem about a literal ninja cat. Actually, that is the origin of Mr Mistoffelees doing magic. The way cats seem to appear from nowhere. This logic applies to all the cats in the book.
Thank you for sharing this.
Cats is Rube musical with tickets bundled into tourist packages. Lord Taylor Swift can't sign well enough to be in any musical. Watch out Wicked another mediocre musical will be next .
@@davechensky do not buy the DVD of that movie.
@@keithparkhill8546 go see kinky boots then! Cats is for a sophisticate groupe of upper crusties 💚
@Charles Bronson I'm not saying it doesn't suck, just explaining a point of confusion mentioned in the video.
"Please stop saying the plot of Cats is confusing. The plot of Cats is that they're cats and they introduce themselves until one of them gets permission to die."
heiro
Okay than what is the story
Because plot is different from story
That's not a plot
@@waterpenny6907--I suggest that you read "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats". The cats about which he wrote are kind of generic cats anyone would have seen out and about any city or farm. Then watch the DVD of "Cats" that Andrew Lloyd Weber produced a few years ago. He managed to take a book of poems and put it into a cohesive story form as a theater musical. The roles are actually quite athletic and there are stories of Broadway actors who got hurt during the show's rehearsals and/or performances. The cats are trying to prove to "Old Deuteronomy" that they are worthy of being selected to go to the "Heavyside Layer" (Cat Heaven) and return as a different cat. So, each song and dance is designed to make a cat or group of cats worthy of a new life. "Grizabella" is the one who is finally chosen and the rest of the cats wave her on to her new life.
I've been binge-watching Cats reviews the past couple days, and this is my favorite review. I like their analysis and the way they interact with one another. They're intelligent, respectful, no histrionics or hyperbole, just well-articulated opinions.
These two balance each other so well. Please have JoyOfNapping on /film more often Dave.
i read that as "JoyOFapping"...
Victoria isn't actually that new. She was a character in the original stage musical, but not as prominent.
Quick sidenote: She's the white cat that comforts Grizzabella first by the end of the show
This was delightful. I'd love an entire series of you both talking about bad movies.
There are literally hundreds of other broadway shows they could’ve made into movies, and they picked Cats 🤢.
still waiting for wicked
@@alipr2928 Yes! Wicked would be a perfect use of CGI.
Im waiting for pokemon on broadway. Also im waiting for jumanji on broadway and Naruto on broadway. Im a time traveler so remember be
Yyyyyep. 😩
ali pr - wouldn’t Wicked just end up being the prequel to Wizard of Oz...but with music? 🙃😊
I’ve seen Cats on Broadway in the 90’s. Yeah I was confused when I saw it because I really didn’t know what was going on. But I still enjoyed it because of the talented singing and great choreography dancing. The movie however was a different story. I got over the CGI look so that didn’t really bother me. Seriously half way thru I was bored. What worked on stage just didn’t translate on the screen.
My daughter saw it and said it was the worst movie she’d ever seen. I have no desire to see if but I enjoyed listening to you two chat about it. Was the food good?
😂😂😂 my brother watched it and told me the same thing: Cats is the worst movie ever. And we have watched Hercules (with Kelan Lutz as the lead...and that movie was so baaaad😂)
She needed stop texting and watch the movies from beginning to end.Very nice movie.
@@aatiti2011 Can it be worse that female Ghostbusters doing fatjokes -I should have had left that movie but didnt...
@@jari2018 after watching hours of reviews on Cats, I think it is😂😂😂
Thanks for this!!!! I know this won’t be reviewed on /Film so I appreciate one-third of the crew!!! JoyofNapping is awesome.
uncatty valley
I saw the movie the night before it officially opened. The show was at 10 pm and there were about 20-25 of us. The show received a round of applause at the end. I just saw it a second time a couple of days ago, with a friend who had never seen the stage production. She loved it, and I enjoyed trying to see things I missed the first time. There was a woman with her kids who absolutely loved it, and wanted to see it over and over again. Her daughter was a budding young dancer, and she loved the dancing! I noticed one girl came in carrying a violin case, so I figured she was a musician....I’ve seen the stage production about 5 times over the years, and enjoyed both, whereas, when the movies of Evita with Madonna, and Phantom, with Gerard Butler came out, I liked the movies better, because I thought they told the stories better, and you could do a lot more with the environment, that you just can’t do on a stage.....I feel that people should just ignore the reviews, go see Cats, and decide for themselves!
I actually bellowed "OMIGOD!!!" during the movie--it was involuntary! Like Tourette's Syndrome! I walked out of the movie feeling dazed and confused!
This sounds amazing. Your review makes me want to see this trainwreck of a movie.
I've been following /Filmcast for years and am now watching your CZcams channel. Adding @joyofnapping on your show is like mixing peanut butter and chocolate. Awesome pairing. Keep it going!
This movie sounds like a cat wrote it.
Getting virtually all negative reviews, somebody at Universal Pictures is watching their
career evaporate. Since Universal is owned by Comcast, I think their cable customers
will seeing rate increases to pay for the huge loss Universal will see with this movie.
I heard Jennifer Hudson sing Memories. Ouch.
The thing about it is - when you go see it on stage, you're drawn by the performers selling themselves as cats. They lean to move and behave like cats, they ARE cats. With CGI, you can do all that. I could do that. I may not be able to sing but you could 'cat' me up to look just that sellable.
I had a good morning laugh with you guys. Thank you :)
You did a good job explaining the strange things of Cats. I've watched a lot of reviews and this is one of the best 👍
I'd love to hear @joyofnapping and Dave talk about TROS and the sequel trilogy. I can just imagine the fireworks now.
David, why haven’t you made more videos. I would really like to see you two together reviewing more movies
I‘ll take Joyofnapping’s initial face as the entire review... thank you.
You have encapsulated the problem with Cats: Everyone who hasn't seen the musical are, "Is that the plot of the musical?" and everyone who's seen the musical are, "That's not the plot of the musical!", so everyone is unhappy.
@jaquari · Well, yes.
@jaquari · that is really not true. they explain the plot in a few of the songs. cats does have one guys. I saw the original play when i was 4 and i understood the show, is really not that hard.
Dave's reaction at 20:58-21:03 is gold.
A lot of the cats have collars, so clearly domesticated. I don’t know about cockroaches, but my cats will catch and eat bugs and spiders.
I heard a child in TS Eliot’s life said “jellicle” when she tried to say “dear little”. (“Pollicle” dogs came from “poor little” dogs.) So to him, all cats are jellicle cats.
Also, Francesca Hayward who plays Victoria the White Cat is actually a principle dancer with the Royal Ballet in London, so she's good.
You guys are hysterical, you had me laughing so hard... and now I wanna see this movie, but maybe at home 😆 ( I don't want to pay money for it)
The scenes I’ve found look bad as in worse than the cgi from late 90s made for TV movies. And Taylor Swift’s accent makes you wonder if they couldn’t have spent some of the budget on an accent coach instead of cat school. They don’t look like cats or sound British. Or even look good in any way.
The first cat that befriends Victoria in the film straight-up has a collar on with his address on it. No way he's a stray.
T Swift was awful in this. I'm actually surprised you guys thought her # was good lmao. Jason derulo was Horrid. Idris Elba.. was just.. himself.
Lol Jenifer Hudson was okay, but her acting didnt help the tone of the film. Y'all were pretty spot on for most. But the T Swift thing... nah.
EXACTLY, Thank you!
She is so awful in it and hopefully doesn't make another foray into movies
The one thing I LOVEEEEEE is the synth in the music in the movie. That was a nice choice. Here’s the deal with cats that people dont know usually. So Cats actually does have a meaning. The original T.S. Elliot poetry is inspired by biblical events. Old Deuteronomy is Moses, Grizabella is Mary Magdalene, and each cats color actually represents something about their character. Victoria being white is a reference to the biblical verse “and the victor wil be clothed in white” or something. Mestofelees is a tuxedo cat which is the most ancient and wise of the real life cat breeds, therefore they chose that cat to represent a magical character who is also someone important and magical in the bible but I cant remember. Mary Magdalene was shunned and cried out “Touch me” and so does Grizabella during “Memory” verbatim.
Really enjoyed this! Thanks.
Can't wait to see it on Netflix in a few weeks.
you guys made me want to watch it.
Everything you've said makes me want to see this movie even more. lol. I do love weird. I did see the show on Broadway and liked it okay.
I feel like you could play a convincing Christian Bale.
Also, good video.
Ah, this is a movie to remember. A CULT hit, truly this will become that Sing-A-long experience movie.
Anybody who hasn't gone yet GO! Seriously... WTF? I love it!
Yes drinking will help, and yes going with friends helps a lot. Also you'll be one of the few to see it... for obvious reasons.
You can say what you want, this movie is an EXPERIENCE... not sure if good or bad!
Of course the stage place was also an EXPERIENCE... not sure if good or bad. but you'll remember it.
SERIOUSLY GUYS WATCH THIS MOVIE!
Have you watched the movie yourself and what did you think?
i’m going with my friends to laugh abt it
@@dami5154 its hilarious for all the wrong reasons. Rebel wilson looks like a joke . slimmed down and reshaped. Its a shame the level of professional superstars were in this film.
@@sarahpfeuffer1396 I been THRICE to the theater.
Now I usually don't go to movie theaters... most movies are so loud, brash and stupid and you are stuck in an almost full seated area. GUH! I rather stick with netflix or streaming so i can take a break, get something to drink that is cheap and so on.
But this... THIS was an EXPERIENCE. And I yet can't say if it is good or bad, it just IS an EXPERIENCE. WOW! Movies like these are made once in like 10-15 years... Hey say what you want. THIS will be remembered.
And in the end once I got through the WIERD... I liked it! I liked it a lot!
CATS has forced so many straight men to confront something they never thought they would ever have to confront, Andrew Lloyd Webber.
I saw Cats in London many years ago at the West End theatre where the play originated. I left the theatre truly puzzled at why the play was so popular and long-running. I had zero desire to see the movie, but after so many horrible reviews I'm half-way tempted to check it out just out of curiosity.
I saw a Broadway Touring company in 1991 and thought the same thing. I came to the conclusion it’s the dancing and one phenomenal song. The dancing mostly distracts from the mediocrity of the rest of the songs. And since they leave the theater on a high from that one song, many people were able to convince themselves the play was incredible.
Word spreads, more people buy tickets, but they don’t want to be uncultured swine and confess it’s no good, so they praise it, too. And the cycle continues.
But now the show is being presented to a public beyond the theater critics and people who can afford Broadway prices, people who aren’t afraid to speak their mind. Not to mention, Hooper made some choices that did not make the show at all appealing, which doesn’t help.
My daughter saw it ironically last week. Disturbing was the word she used, but she had fun making fun of it. I’m waiting until I can avoid movie theater prices myself.
@@AnotherJenn42 Count me among the"uncultured swine" lol because I didn't like it. It ran 18 years on Broadway and 21 years in the West End. smh
@@Cloudancer2024 we can count you among the "uncultured swine" then lol
Cats are opportunity eaters. They will eat insects. Flies, moths, bugs, if they can catch them. I saw our late cat do it many a time.
My cat won’t eat bugs but he will kill them. Once he kills them tho he loses interest.
I think they're in cat purgatory? So, that's why there's not really any people. Then Old Deuteronomy decideds who gets to try again in the living world? Idk. That was my understanding.
I was the only one in the theater; and I loved it. Gotta see it again!
Omg this is the funniest review I've seen 🤣
Cats will eat good smelling food from the garbage even if they have a home & my cat throws up when she eats a cockroach or spider (Australian)
This review made me LOL! After seeing this, there's no way I"m NOT having an edible and watching this cgi acid trip! 😂😂😂😂 This will eventually come full circle to a cult classic one day. I really enjoyed this review. Hilarious
I’ve seen enough reviews that I’m convinced this would be a great movie to watch high as fuck and tripping lol
It's great! It's so ridiculous - it's not "so bad it's good" but more "so crazy it's hilarious".
This isn't a 3 act story, but more like a concept album with a different music video for each song. They are very loosely connected and I imagine when this comes out on blu ray people will watch the same way they listen to albums- skipping and listening to the favorite songs.
Yes, this will be great for the purpose you're thinking of.
Dave I loved the Simpsons reference (winner by de fault)
Yesssss! Glad you noticed.
The idea of Jennyanydots being able to shed her fur to reveal an outfit and other, bedazzled fur underneath is simply to underscore that she leads a double life. She's a mild-mannered, lazy, underachieving house cat by day and a control freak chaperone and choreographer of mice and roaches by night. So what her owners think is her real fur is in reality a disguise she can shed in an instant -- like a comic book superhero wearing a costume under his regular street clothes.
It's all cartoonish exaggeration.
They should have made it like the great mouse detective
The Uncanny Valley doesn't apply only to robots, it refers to any organism or non-human character. It's a sort of scale of how "human-like" they look or act. The more human a character is, the easier it is for us to empathize with them, until they reach that point where they're so close to us, but not quite, that they just become disturbingly off-putting.
I completely agree with your commets at about 3:40 that they either should have made this an animated movie with the big named stars as voice talent or just put them in cat costumes similar to the musical, either option would have been better. But what they did was the worst possible choice.
Cats love roaches. They're like little treats that run and hide. It's horrible but true down here in FL.
yes but jennyannydot would have never make a feast out of them lol
Yes. I did catch that: White cat saves homeless Black cat thing.
It's a non issue. White/black cats aren't the white/black race of felines. In fact, I believe the person playing the white cat is a non-white person (not that it matters). I'm over-explaining this nonsense.
In most movies, indeed most phrases in the English language, white represents good and black represents bad. It's so common and pervasive that most people don't give it a second thought.
The white cat in Cats is played by Francesca Hayward, who's biracial. So it's the symbolism and not the "race" that the reviewers were alluding to. The movie is apparently so bad, though, that the black/white symbolism is the least of the movie's problems.
Mark Burns At least Les Twins didn’t play Siamese cats.
My wife and I walked out at the seven minute mark and got our money back. It was absolute garbage.
The worst part is: The movie was so bad, we marked the play off our bucket list. We may never get this taste out of our mouth.
I have house cats and while we don't have cockroaches(thank goodness!) mine will eat a fly or spider if they catch one. So I suppose a cat would eat a roach. They never try to get in the garbage but our adopted stray boy will eat just about anything we give him.
Longest running litter box in musicals
and then you have the one who thinks is a special one and always has to piss outside the litter box just to prove a point. must be a dog
My friends thought we should rent this to see how bad it was. I was paralyzed and uncomfortable the entire time. The sexual tension was not the good kind at all. It was constant and very disturbing. I did not comprehend one bit of the plot the entire time. The 1st 20 minutes I could barely even look. I didn't want to. I also had trouble understanding a single word or lyric of the entire movie, probably because of the anxiety attack I was experiencing for its duration. The movements especially in the first act were just off putting to the degree that it was just terrifying but not straightforward enough to elicit a response. It was fight or flight but never deciding on either reaction.
Milk spurting everywhere-wait, what now???😱🙀🙀
Why would you wear a tuxedo when going dumpster diving? Of course you'd take it off beforehand. Duh!
And as for Macavity, I guess he figured he wouldn't need to take his coat with him to the Heaviside layer.
See? It all makes perfect sense.
The craziest thing, while admittedly a low bar, is that MPAA rated CATS(2019)...PG. BTW I have 2 cats (real non-mutant ones) who ignore bugs unless said bugs can fly, torture mice (again non-mutant ones) and will only steal food from my plate, the kitchen counter or the table because like all (real) cats they feel entitled.
The human people are actually just even larger cat people
I am not into musicals at all. Rocketman was great though. But I have to say I enjoyed Cats and don’t understand why people are giving it such low reviews. Acting, cgi, choreography and music all was at least good if not very good.
You have to be a cat person to understand a lot of the style choices... cats think everything is about them.
So, this movie is more like "Planet Of The Cats"? Perhaps they should have recorded the stage production and showed that instead.
Your wife is absolutely delightful.
I'm will fully admit that I didn't hate this movie; it's less boring the musical at least.
I loved the Movie!!
I did some research it took about 90 million dollars to produce. And it made 17.9 million. This movie really flopped this is opening week so as of today Monday the 29th
📝
All the dancing and singing actors have stage careers and will simply return to the stage. I wouldn't worry about them. There's a market for their skills and they got paid whether the movie makes money or not.
The most insulting thing was the cinematography.
Just bland, stoic close-ups of singer's faces for what are supposed to be emotional moments (e.g. both "Memories").
It felt like I was just watching a theatre show, which made me question why bother even making it a film if they're not going to take advantage of the medium.
Very nice movie.
Jennyanydots - Fur- ception.
I think the biggest problem with the movie was that each actors portrayal of a CAT was different. Like noone was on the set together, thats what a director os for, guidance. This film is all wrong.
The guy who gave the thumbs up for this movie must’ve been high asf......
My friend and I went to see the film this afternoon. She wanted to leave within the first five minutes but I made her stay to see if it got better.
It did not.
However, we did a lot of cringe-cry-laughing because it was just so awful.
Others may like it though (but I doubt it) 🤷🏻♀️
I have zero desire to watch it, but I did try to listen to the soundtrack and just couldn't handle how terrible it sounds. There are a few bright moments, but the general mixing and performing sounded bad.
In theater, the sound was mixed well, the surround put you/audience in the center. Sound panned in sync with cinematography. It was immersive.
@@BlackPhillip666 I'm glad it works in the theater. I was just plain listening to the soundtrack, and that didn't sound good to me.
The songs are not good.
Bottomline: the director's use of surrealism was never meant to be dissected or judged by the audience. Biggest mistake.
Hey, if you're interested in another perspective on this you may want to check this review:
czcams.com/video/lBno3KNFcew/video.html
cats don't eat garbage, domesticated cats just like other larger cats aren't scavengers and will get ill! Dogs however, and genetically related animals are scavengers (hyenas, wolves)
Animation would be terrible! "Cats" Needs the dance scenes, and animation wouldn't do it.
For probably the most useful perspective on this movie, check out Filmmaker IQ's take on it. No, the book/story/plot does not make sense - never did. It's about the songs and dance. BTW, the original material was written by a devout christian guy. "jellicle" = evangelical, "pollicle" (dogs) = political. T. S. Eliot liked his religion and cats, disliked the political world and dogs.
Stop talking over your partner and let her finish her thought. Frustrating to watch.
Cats don’t eat garbage
Don't take it so literally, it should be approached as a slicker version of the theater version...... Saying that, I'll be seeing it in an hour.... So....
So? How was it?
@@sofiaguicking81 it was fine, it's impossible to top Elaine's rendition of Memories, but I enjoyed the magical atmosphere of singing, dancing cats, portrayed by talented humans. It is what it is. Didn't regret seeing it. My son, said that there was "no threat" - which is what he's used to with Action Movies... So it was nice to broaden his experience
This was why I hated SPLICE... shudder .. cringe ...
They should have just filmed the broadway...on broadway...with broadway. No one would have questioned it and they wouldn't be losing 71 million dollars.
There’s actually is a 1998 Broadway Movie version. The reviews I watched trashing this movie had it in my recommendations and I watched a few clips I can see why people enjoyed it it’s a damn WTF spectacle with some amazing dancing. But I also immediately saw that this does not translate to a movie at all.
@@theshevirgo I had no idea! That's amazing I need to hunt it down. Yeah the reason it's in the broadway world is because of the talent and the portrayal. I don't see how they thought it would work as a movie when it's certainly not known for its plot lol
FaePlays yea I think it can be rented on CZcams
Disclaimer: les twins did nothing wrong in the creation of this nonsense.
Power couple
If cats ate garbage? It depends -You an learn a cat eat human food even cooked potatoes -they would eat butter ,fat from beef -fish heads and skin.
Cat’s is dreadful
No i do understand !!! Its shit , they try to hard in thinking what people , so please dont patronize us saying we dont know wats shit or good , this time its garbage
It was wonderful!!!!!!! I have no idea where the critics are coming from. I am going for the second time! There is NOTHING erotic about this! The is immensely better than any stage production I've seen. The casting, voices are amazing. This is theatre on screen. The dancing phenomenal! Please go, you'll not regret it!
This movie was great the plot is fine.
Taylor's swift movie career is scratched
Gay werewolves.
Good review. Can I suggest that the woman (joyofnapping?) include us in the conversation by looking into the camera more? Would have been much better.
This film is an unmitigated disaster! Most people who see it have not seen the original theatre production of cats or read TS Elliot's book. You can't hear most of what is being said in the songs so people who have never seen the play do not understand what is going on. They think cats are going to die. They are not going to die, they are going to a cat like afterlife. (which also includes a element of reincarnation). Anyhoo! it's ridiculous, overtly sexual, the meaning is totally lost, in the play they only had one set, in this movie, somehow they are transported to these different areas Kitchen? Boat? train station. To top it all off the CGI was horrific and rushed. Toy Story's post production takes 4 years between movies to get it right. They did this in 7 months. An the most I mean most, moronic thing is that they put it out in the cinemas on the same day as (a little known movie) STAR WARS! Who was the genius moron that made that idiot decision!!! My overall recommendation. You will never be able to un see this. Do not go and see it!!! :(
wasnt that cats?,,, very sexual?
pre AIDS
If there was a person in charge of "continuity", please fire them and blacklist them. The damn movie jumps around in location and scale and costume with zero context. Maybe Donald Trump was in charge of continuity, it was so bad.
Gary Wheeler Think of it less of a movie and more like a concept album where each song has its own music video. I think it's wonderful