Cats Review

Writer/director Tom Hooper's atrocious rendition of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats has undoubtedly become a late contender for the worst film of the decade. Perhaps the only way to explain Cats' complete lack of redeeming qualities is to assume that Hooper and his team purposely made the film as appalling as possible. The glaring absence of a compelling narrative and basic story structure leaves what events that do take place feeling witless and devoid of engrossment. While the film flexes the talented depth of actors and some well-produced songs, Cats drenches its few competent elements in grotesque and noticeably unfinished CGI. The entire experience is a cataclysmic catastrophe that unfortunately must be seen to be believed, and an incredible misfire from a cast and director that know better.

Cats follows Victoria, a young white cat who is abandoned by her owners on a damp night in London. Soon after, Victoria runs into a group of alley cats that call themselves the Jellicles, a tribe who deicide annually for a cat to ascend to a mystical place called the Heaviside Layer. Victoria starts to befriend the Jellicle cats as she tries to earn her place in the tribe, but the looming vote for the next Jellicle Choice becomes dangerous for the group as a maniacal cat Macavity plans on becoming it through forceful measures.

Hooper and co-writer Lee Hall have crafted a nightmare that becomes perpetually worse. A fever dream that manages to accomplish very little in its nearly two-hour duration, insisting on spending much of its time on songs that lyrically serve no purpose other than to introduce a shamefully designed character that becomes insignificant almost instantaneously. The disturbingly sexual moments and themes that are strangely injected throughout only add more to the film's torturous and agonizing qualities, surely testing the patience of most audiences.

While the performances are nowhere near as bad as the visuals of the film, the efforts given are still incredibly underwhelming except for Jennifer Hudson and Taylor Swift, who outshine the rest of the cast due to their more capable musical abilities. Cats finds itself at its lowest points whenever James Corden, Jason Derulo, or Rebel Wilson are on screen. At the same time, the acting from Judi Dench and Ian McKellen feels exhausted and painfully uninspired.

Layered atop Cats poor performance efforts are the deranged special effects that act as the film's most glaring flaw. Noticeably poor and unfinished CGI fuel the unearthly appearances who romp unsettlingly through abysmal sets and backdrops that distractingly fluctuate in size and perspective. It's baffling how anything featured was ever deemed passable — surely leaving many who sit through the entirety of the film questioning why something of this quality needed to be released theatrically, or at all.

Cats is a rarity that doesn’t come often, a big-budgeted film accompanied by a vast collection of accomplished cast and crew that’s somehow incapable of conjuring anything endearing or likable. Overall, Cats is unforgivable from a filmmaking perspective and will survive as a critical example of how not to make a movie. While Cats has the potential to become a celebrated bad movie similar to 2008’s The Happening or 2004’s Catwoman, many who endure it will surely wish it to fade into insignificance.

The inexcusable execution of nearly every element easily make Cats a rare film that hits laughably woeful lows.

Produced By: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 102 minutes
Rating: PG