Cats

THE GIST: A tribe of street cats called Jellicles has a yearly ball where contestants compete to be chosen by the tribe's leader, Old Deuteronomy, to undergo reincarnation.

Cats, the film version of the wildly successful homonymous theater production, was my chance to acquaint myself with a story I long heard about but never saw. Alas, sometimes ignorance is bliss...

Certain things worked just fine: the script doesn't introduce any new elements to the well-known story; the songs range from beautiful to passable; and the sets are pretty stunning, although I'm assuming a lot was done on green screen.

Other things don't really pass muster. The acting for me is one, even though the cast features heavyweights such as Dame Judi Dench and Ian McKellen, and other proven talent such as Idris Elba and Jennifer Hudson. Maybe the issue is that a lot of the cast is straight from the theater production (which makes sense, since they'd know their parts already) and are therefore used to a different kind of acting. They frankly come across as way too theatrical than what we're used to seeing on screen.

The other problem is the all-too-perfect visual effect of the fur; it is so lifelike that it becomes a distraction for the viewer. More than likely, regular faux-fur skintight suits would have worked just fine. Even the obviously computer generated movements of the ears and the long hair around the noses were off; here there was sort of a disconnect between the actors' facial expressions and what the rest of their faces were doing.

Finally, I noticed more than once VFX flaws, where you see something you shouldn't, for example in the dancing sequence on the train tracks. I'm sorry, but for a production with such an enormous budget, mistakes like these are hard to forgive.

THE BOTTOM LINE: I knew the reviews were terrible, but since I likely will never be able to attend a theater performance of it, I decided to watch it anyway. My guess is a lot of other people did and will do the same, and will likely be disappointed like I was. Consider yourself forewarned.

PS: Aside from all the flaws that can be found with the movie, Jennifer Hudson's renditions of "Memory" (she sings it early on and then at the end) are pretty much worth sitting through the whole darn thing.

Grade: 3