Cats review

Based on the world wide known musical of the same name Cats is a musical unlike anything you'll not only see in 2019 but for quite some time. With a star studded cast including Taylor Swift, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Hudson and newcomer Francesca Hayward. Cats tells the story of a tribe of Cats called the Jellices who every year decide which member of the tribe will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellice life. The story in itself is pretty basic and loses track of itself far too often to be honest. But really what the main attraction here is the musical numbers feature an abundance of singing, dancing and just general madness. 

First off however there is the discussion of the CG fur onto the actors bodies. At the beginning it's quite a lot take in as really we're thrown right into Cats from the start with no real sense of ever slowing down from the get go. It does take some time to adjust to the design of the characters and world as a whole and while it is visually stunning at times at others it's downright horrific with characters becoming these cat-human hybrid creatures. Performance wise Cats is actually really good for the most part. Francesca Hayward is fantastic throughout with a soft and caring nature really shining through. The rest do a good job here too with Taylor Swift actually being easily the greatest part of the movie in my opinion. Her scene is short but she delivers it so effortlessly. Not surprising given her musical background. 

In a nutshell Cats isn't bad per say and it isn't amazing either. It's unlike anything you'll see for quite some time and offers plenty if you're big into musicals. The effects are great at points and laughable at others as really it's not as consistent as I would have hoped. Cats is a fun movie for all the family just don't expect to be blown away or anything.

★★★