Cole S

Look, I know I'm supposed too, but I just can't seem to hate it. I've been a long-suffering fan of Cats, which is undoubtedly one of the strangest musicals ever to grace a Broadway stage, so obviously I was immediately nervous when I heard about the film adaptation of the play. The musical is practically all that the word musical implies, MUSIC! The lack of spoken dialogue is obviously a problem for everyone who doesn't love a good musical, and then to top it all off, the songs in Cats are a little more complex than your typical musical and are somewhat hard to follow. So with this ball of worry forming I waited patiently for a trailer to arrive, and boy oh boy did it arrive. It was BAD! BAD BAD! My worry grew, but as the date grew closer I made arrangments and dragged myself to the movie theater with the cheapest tickets me and my friends could find and sat my happy butt down to see the film in all its glory. The movie begins by descending down upon a street in London, immediately I LOST IT laughing in the theater. What was so funny about this scene you ask? I have no clue. Perhaps it was the few humanoid cats already running around, or maybe it was the giddy anticipation I was feeling in my chest because I was so nervous that I was about to see the only broadway play that I truly loved publicly butchered. Nevertheless, the film persisted. The plot begins with Veronica, a cat that's thrown into the street and soon finds herself in a strange new world with cats practicing a religious faith of sorts. These cats celebrate their main holiday on this night, and they bring veronica along for the ride. The film progresses and honestly, the plot is well put together and it has a lot of heart. The music is good, and the cast never shies away from delivering a strong performance, no matter how strange the moment. Honestly my only issue with this film is the CGI. I feel like if the film had used original costumes from the broadway play instead of the CGI monstrosities we were left with then the film would not be recieving the widespread hatred it has currently garnered. Simply put, sometimes simple is better, but cats is still a pretty good film.