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Cats Movie Review

admin — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 16:59:42 +0000

As popular culture continues with its tradition of circling back on itself, in the year 2019, we get a new film version of a musical that hit its zenith of popularity back in the eighties, Cats. This retro vibe is reflected in the overall feel and in many of the odd creative choices that are peppered throughout the film’s 110 minute running time.

Oddest choice of all is not utilising the current state of the art for cinema sound with its amazing ability for massive soundscapes. Instead we often get thin eighties sounding synth line based music. Also very few of the cast members have strong voices, with the exception of Jennifer Hudson who gets to belt out the thrice repeated hit, Memories.

Keeping things very stagy, most of the cast is adapt at the sinuous physicality and dance movements needed to ply the boards and bright lights. There is also a reliance on keeping the action of the large cast to a minimum number of sets. To highlight where the film’s main priorities lie is the casting of Francesca Hayward, a Royal Ballet Principal Ballerina as the female lead, Victoria. Her on-screen gracefulness is something to behold.

This generation’s film version of Cats is indeed an irregular one. From the bordering on creepy rendition of our fury friends to adhering to a simpler Broadway mentality with regards to staging and sound design. Where this fits in with current movie trends remains to be seen and the challenge will be for it to find a place in today’s multiplicitous society.

Rob Hudson
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Watch the first tailer for Cats – staring and all-star cast and in Australian Cinemas this December!

admin — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 16:07:24 +0000

Universal Pictures and Working Title’s Cats is a most-unexpected film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s beloved smash musical “Cats” and the poems from “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” by T.S. Eliot. Oscar®-winning director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Misérables, The Danish Girl) brings astonishing new technology to transform his cast members. Acclaimed casting director Lucy Bevan is casting the film adaptation.

The epic will be produced by Hooper and Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, as well as fellow Les Misérables producer Debra Hayward—who brought the idea to Working Title. CATS will be produced by Working Title Films in association with Monumental Pictures and The Really Useful Group and executive produced by Lloyd Webber, Angela Morrison and Jo Burn. Hooper and Lee Hall (Billy Elliott, War Horse) have adapted the story for the screen.

One of the longest-running shows in West End and Broadway history, “Cats” received its world premiere at the New London Theatre in 1981—where it played for 21 record-breaking years and almost 9,000 performances. The groundbreaking production based on T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” was the winner of the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical. In 1983 the Broadway production became the recipient of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and ran for an extraordinary 18 years.

Cats is coming soon – December 2019!
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