Lizzie Swanson

Fantastical in every meaning of the word! Like Mark Twain and Halley's Comet, Cats the musical and I came into the world the same year, and it's truly my favourite musical. I've seen the stage production more than 10 times, owned both the vhs then dvd of the 1998 movie, I know every song by heart, and even learnt a few on piano from my Andrew Lloyd Webber songbook. To say I'm a fan puts it very mildly. I was rather apprehensive finally watching this adaptation after all the negative reviews, memes, and internet bashing, but it was wonderful. There were new jokes, different song arrangements than I was accustomed to, some storylines changed, but they only add to this being it's own version. This film inhabits an unusual area between seeing Cats Live, and if they had animated it by Studio Ghibli with the same stellar cast. I'm a fan of anime, so anthropomorphic cats living a secret life hidden from our world, like in The Cat Returns, wouldn't be too unreasonable. The CGI was able to do things with humans in costumes portraying cats that the stage production cannot. The world that's created visually, which is colourful and vibrant, fills in the gaps the audience has to do with their imagination. The twitching tails and ears are adorable, the textures of the furs are lush, these are things we can only get with CGI animation. The big name stars were perfectly cast for their leading roles. Wilson and Corden brought the laughs; Davidson brought heart; Elba, Derulo, and Swift brought sexy; and Dench, McKellen, and Hudson brought the tears. The lead dancers I was unfamiliar with prior, but Fairchild, Hayward, and all the others brought this part of the stage show to life beautifully. Winstone as Growltiger was very underutilized, but I understand the removal of his big song because of the out dated language, and derogatory racial stereotypes attached to Siamese cats in his big battle. If you're a fan of the musical I hope it brings you all the happy tears and henflesh it gave me. If you're new to this musical, I hope you fall in love with it as I have, and try to see it performed live. So this is this, and that is that, and this is how you review a Cats. 😉

Truly spectacular ending to this superhero origin story trilogy! What started with a unique story in Unbreakable, continued the strong narrative and amazing acting in Split, met all my expectations and more with Glass. I cried more the last act of this than in Avengers: Endgame. Mr. Shyamalan doesn't get the credit he deserves, and sadly sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic have poisoned the collective psyche of cinema watchers with their low numbers. Glass might not be for everyone, and that's okay, but to write a scathing review because you didn't understand it, or didn't understand the actions of the characters, or ddont understand overarching themes taken from comic book culture just means don't watch it. I don't like romcoms, will I watch them and write reviews about how droll or cliché they are? No, because other people enjoy them and like them, and my bad review doesn't need to derail the popularity of something that isn't for me. A film like Glass isn't straightforward, but that's what we expect from Mr. Shyamalan. It's nuanced and that just makes them more enjoyable to watch a second or third time. If you've never seen them...get the trilogy and watch them!