The Movie Cats: So Bad It’s Bad but Really Kinda Good?
Cats (2019)
Directed by Tom Hooper
Starring James Corden, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen and Taylor Swift
By Tim Basaraba
If you’d rather watch author Tim Basaraba lip sync to someone else’s voice reading this review than reading it, watch this video on our YouTube page.
Wow! Have you ever gone to see a film based solely on the hope that it would be so bad that it was good? Meow!
Incoherent story, freakishly sexual, and CGI that only confuses: that’s the 2019 movie Cats, based on the Broadway musical of the same name.
Tom Hooper won Best Achievement in Directing The King’s Speech (2010) and followed it up with an almost perfect adaption of Les Misérables (2012). So why risk it and take on this unenviable job? Maybe it was the cast?
The Voice of Jennifer Hudson and Taylor Swift! The all-time greatness of Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen! The hilarious comedy of Rebel Wilson and James Corden! The insane dance talent of Daniela Norman! What could go wrong? Apparently, everything.
Adapting a beloved play that, in hindsight, wasn’t that beloved, and adding strange set pieces and CGI that repulsed audiences, led to what may be the worst film of 2019. For some reason, I sill couldn’t look away, and, even though I had no idea what was happening, I still wanted to know what came next. When the credits rolled, I leaned over to my wife and said, “That was so bad, it was good!” To which she replied, “Just like you.”
If The King’s Speech and Les Misérables are both a B+, then Cats was a solid C….meow!