Before CATS came to Broadway, Harold Prince was talking with Andrew Lloyd Weber and asked if it was about Queen Victoria and her life and India and all of that, and Lloyd Weber looked at him and said, "No Harold, it's about cats, they are just cats." I feel that sums up this musical better than anything else. It's not deep, there is no metaphor, it's just cats.
Well it's supposedly based on a bunch of poems for children that Andrew Lloyd Webber strung together without any cohesion so really what did anybody expect when they tried to adapt that mess into a three act screenplay
Fun story Cats actually in a way saved my life. My mom was pregnant with me and they saw cats. My mom knew something was wrong because I wasn't bopping along to the music. The next day she went to the doctor and one emergency C-section later I was born. Wild right.
Ally C I can attest to that, my partner and I have seen this TWICE (we are not dancers) because dancer friends were in it. Urgh seeing it the second time is worse as you know what is coming
I grew up on CATS and find it extraordinarily beautiful but having shown the 1998 one to many of my friends growing up I became very aware of the fact that it is seen as hella odd to people who are not familiar with it 😅
I can only assume that Andrew Lloyd-Webber got into dance because of his great love for Sarah Brightman, and went onto base a lot his shows around dance, to an unnecessary extent.
In one scene they walk by a martini glass and it's like bigger than the cats, and then a couple scenes later they hold up the same glasses and they're like normal sized. Nothing in this movie makes sense
The cats in one scene are like miniature and then they are just as large. I mean, even those mice and roaches or way to big. This was just really bad directing! This movie should have NEVER been made!
I've seen CATS like a thousand times and the main thing is that the ladies and gents are in really great shape and wearing head-to-toe spandex with no underwear :V oh and everyone wants to die
Cats was never going to be a success when transposed to Movie. it is too much dancing and introducing cats for general audiences. it might have been better, but it just isn't a show that is going to translate well to Movie form. for one thing, it has very little plot. since the plot is really just there to provide an excuse for characters to sing about themselves and dance.
@@thomasplummer8103 also, on stage works, because these are actors and dancers who are wearing cat costumes and it's more acceptable, because in theater, people wear costumes, in movie it will always look weird and CGI
The entire 80s wae doused in catcaine it's no wonder this kind of thing got made. Guys, I'm glad this version was made if only to give the dance cast enough money to put down payments for their first houses. Dancers work hard, brief careers and don't normally get Hollywood money for it.
The one thing I really loved about the Cats musical was the costume and makeup design. I'm so disappointed that the movie didn't hire theatrical costumes and makeup designers, putting dancers in cat costumes would've made the world way more believable.
The musical is... * fine *. But this movie was batshit, esp to people who have no warning. If you were exposed to the 1998 VHS as a child you now have some immunity and the movie can't hurt you.
The musical is not fine, it's terrible with no plot and so fucking weird, it's always been that way, this movie is nothing new, except now it's reaching a wider audience.
It ran for 19 years on the West End, parker. It has merits - but it heavily relies on performers with intuitive stage acting abilities, where everyone on the set and the audience interact with each other, admiring or being fascinated by the face paint being part of it. It also needs to actually be a bit sexy, unlike the toothless U certificate movie. And, of course, it needs great stage show singers. Taylor Swift was a terrible Bombalurina. Idris thought he was in Shakespeare. Rum Tum Tugger was American - apart from R.E.M., British people overall do the rock star attitude best ever since Jim Morrison died! It is a British-originated show after all - and supposed to be set in London.
@@Picnicl : Which is a major reason I prefer the original London cast recording to the Broadway one -- Drives me crazy how they're all singing in blatant American accents in the latter... Fortunately the video used mostly performers from West End productions.
Dan Murrell of ScreenJunkies has been doing a Meowntdown to Cats for the past couple months and in one of the last ones he counted out that they say Jellicle almost 100 times and Cats almost as much in the first like 15 mins of this musical. We the viewers appreciate you taking this hit to your sanity for our sakes! OH and the ring was a CGI error! They are sending a VFX update to theaters ASAP to fix that along with some other problems!
Victoria does have a couple lines at the Jellicle Ball. "The Jellicle moon is shining bright. Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball." "...and pleasant to hear when we caterwaul."
Becauae the musical didnt try to make them realistic... when they wore a fancy fur coat or a fucked up fur coat represents THEIR fur AND their personality... the movie was fucking stupid trying to make it a superpower
Came here to find this comment, all I could think when they were talking about Lloyd Webber’s best work was ‘oh god, I wish I could tell you guys about Starlight Express. It’s about trains and everyone is on ROLLERSKATES!!’ And then drifted off into imagining Judy Dench’s face on a train like Thomas the Tank Engine.
My big takeaway with everyone complaining about Cats is that we could have had starlight express with horrifying human train hybrids so people should be thankful for that...although I would love to see what Hollywood would do with starlight express.
In NYC, Cats was a mainstay for tourists. Yes, it was a safe show to bring anyone to. Also, one could ALWAYS get tickets to it. Plus, people love that freaking Memory song - they heard it and thought the music would all be wonderful.
I was once in a “youth” production of _Cats_ (It was for school aged “kids” 9 to, like, 22.) and it was the single biggest clusterfuck I’ve ever taken part in *or* seen. The dude who directed it had zero idea what he was getting himself into when he chose _Cats_ as the show. But I’m sure that anyone who has seen the movie or stage show can only imagine what a version comprised _and choreographed_ by a bunch of unwitting kids and teens (and a handful of young adults) was like. I was one of the oldest at about 20 at the time and had *no idea* what I’d gotten myself into either. But looking back I really have to laugh at what the parents of the many, _many_ children involved had to have been thinking at the time. Mainly “Who the fuck is that? Where the fuck are we? And what in the actual fuck is going on?!”. Hahahahaha. Having said all of that, I will say that 75% of the older performers, who were basically all of the named cats, were fairly talented and turned out some pretty good performances. (Myself included, as _Rum Tum Tugger,_ duh. Haha.) Still, what a total fucking trainwreck. I really like to think of this as the motion picture equivalent of that performance. (Just with all professional adults and way, way, *way* more money.)
Wait, but we’re you....uh.... I guess...... horny???? Cuz cats the musical is 5% singing 5% dancing and 90% horny cats. Why would you do cats with kids? I don’t get it. I just don’t!
If you want to see a cat dance orgy watch the original filmed version. its basically all the guys and Victoria. As a kid watching I had no clue what was happening but I wanted to be Victoria. Also I totally thought Munkastrap and Mistoffelees were gonna be together in the end. mistoffelees has always been a gay cat to me and I was upset they put him with Victoria.
When the trailer came out, the first thing that came to mind was “Why couldn’t Tim Burton direct this ?” He would’ve leaned in as well as give it some sort of plot and it might have been watchable!
Actually Grizabella ascending to the Heavyside Layer in a balloon makes more sense because that was T.S. Eliot's original intent. (Source: Valerie Eliot's preface to "CATS: The Book of the Musical".)
"Dear little cat" as said by a child, it sounded more like Jellicle. I remember reading years ago that it was actually "jolly good cat" which sounds more like Jellicle to me.
T.S. Eliot stated in a written explanation that jellicle cat is how his very young godchildren would pronounce "dear little cat" and pollicle dog was "poor little dog."
I would just recommend skimming the straight to video version because yes Cats is not a very good musical but it at least has personality, great dancing, and quality ensemble vocals. The movie is nowhere near as good as that musical and that's seriously saying something. Also, John Partridge is the only human who can play Rum Tum Tugger successfully.
I saw the show years ago and it was actually pretty good. It translates much better on stage with actual Broadway singers and great theater decorations.
As you’ve inserted clips from the 1993 version I’m sure you’ve seen some of the songs in full and of course they are a lot better in the musical but I must talk about - mungojerrie and rumpleteazer in the film is like the original version slow and creepy but in the 1993 one and most modern versions it’s a lot more jovial and fun Mistoffelees Song is more confident and he’s much more theatrical and it’s sun by Rum Tum Tugger
Yes, they actually went back to the original music for M & R that can elsewhere only be heard on the Original London Cast recording. So I thought that was interesting. Maybe because they decided in this film to make the two of them more explicitly Macavity's henchmen. And I definitely prefer the theatrical "Mister Mistoffelees" -- He and the Tugger are BFF's (some would say lovers!), and the stage Mr. M. has no self-esteem issues whatsoever!
I've never seen the stage version, but I watched the movie yesterday and the whole time I was asking if Rumtum Tugger and Mistofolees were lovers 😂 but then Mistofolees almost kissed Victoria a billion times and Rumtum always stopped him? I was like, what in the feline bicurious hell am I watching? 😂😂😂
Jacob Brent, who was Mistophelees in the Broadway show, said Mistophelees is one of Old Deuteronomy's sons, making him Munkustrap and Rum Tum Tugger's little brother.
So.... the Broadway musical is terrible!! As a former New Yorker who had to go see it too many times as different friends were in featured roles. The only time I enjoyed it was the last night Lillias White performed "Memory." She improvised and riffed and got a standing ovation. It was almost "I am telling you" she belted it so hard. She supposedly was almost blackballed from Broadway because you are NOT ALLOWED to alter your performance from what has been rehearsed. No one over 10 years old should ever have to watch this show.
Right! The musical is so boring and has no story. The only saving grace is Memories and the reprise (I think it's a reprise... But one of the other cats sings along... I don't know, I've repressed a lot of this show from my mind) but outside of that Cats is an absolute bore.
This might be the first review ever where Averyl is more confused than Andrew and I don’t blame her. I was a theater kid and I didn’t even understand Cats after I had to watch it.
Filip Sundqvist I’m guessing they’re making fun of people that mix up TS Eliot with TS Madison, who has probably said she is a size queen at some point...?
Cats the musical is bad, and i love it, the costumes are kinda tacky, there is no plot, and everything is kinda TOO sexy, BUT the tecnical aspect is perfect, everyone in the stage is such a good dancer and singer, and they are SO into the universe they created is charming, and the songs are catchy. The movie made the plot worse, most people were terrible, humiliatingly fatphobic and visually terrifying
The Heaviside layer is the part of the ionosphere about 100-150 km up from which short wave radio signals bounce off, making communication across vast distances possible. That was a big deal at the time when Elliot wrote the poems. Remember, that was the age of AM one-way and two-way radio.
Queen Victoria is mentioned in the Old Deuteronomy song, who has lived many lives in succession, meaning she's old enough to have lived the first of her nine lives in Queen Victoria's days or even earlier. It's 1939 in the movie. Cats can live up to 20 years, times nine, that would put her first life well before 1837.
Matt Muschick Right? They just kinda blend right in! Maybe it’s because the light pink is closer to the tan(ish) color of the painting behind her, but I kept catching myself noticing Andrew’s blue cat ears and then looking at Avaryl to see if she was wearing a pair as well! Regardless, she really pulls them off! _(Her black headband also blends into her hair pretty well while Andrew’s clearly doesn’t. But still. Haha.)_
"You're welcome"-us to you, for watching this train wreck of a movie. The theater we were in, everyone knew it was going to be bad and we were all on board. At the end, when it just cuts off so suddenly after a thousand reprises, everyone clapped and we were laughing so hard! It was THE BEST.
I really don't know what the producers were thinking releasing this in 2019, it honestly boggles the mind. The musical is oft derided as a fluff piece meant to showcase dancers and singers. I don't mind Lloyd Webber but in terms of musical theatre he's no Sondheim quite often the musical choices are at odds with the action on stage with a notable exception of phantom.
Really? I've seen the musical 3 times (West end late 80's, Nottingham 1995 and Hull 2013), I love the musical. Saying that, I'm fully aware that the musical is literally gibberish based on gibberish poems. But for some reason it is wonderful to me. The movie looks horrendous though, I have no intentions of paying to watch it! If it comes on TV in the future I may have a look, but I'm not going to go out of my way to watch it.
I agree, love it for its childhood nostalgic shit but its a nonsense story line and i won't waste my money to watch it. I wish they did a story line to roll on from the 1st show.. not just a remake, I'm getting really sick of remakes.
I saw it when I was a kid and have seen the recorded version a few times as an adult. It works because it doesn't try to be anything other than nonsense I think. It's mostly the dancing, singing, costumes ect you go to see it for.
"We watched this movie for you cünts!" 😂 yes you two did and I love you two for taking that bullet for me!!! In return, I shall watch one movie you two wish to never see and review it just for yall!! 🙏🙏
It's such a weird show, but it's so fun and the dancing is pretty wonderful. It's all just spectacle and such. We saw it when it opened as a high school trip (I was a freshman, but that still makes me feel really old) and it was an amazing experience. Honestly, for all us theater nerds, it was so different than anything else we'd ever seen. Still, it makes no sense and is legitimately silly, which I kind o love.
i genuinely enjoy the musical because i’m a theatre kid and i love whimsical no-plot bullshit but the fact that made me so upset with this monstrosity was that what little plot there is in the stage show is nowhere to be seen here. also they tried to make mistofelees straight. that would NEVER happen. in the original rum tum tugger sings mr. mistofelees’ song and i believe that in the cats fans it’s common knowledge that they were lovers/boyfriends/mates/whatever
Macavity is in the musical - in the show it’s like a whole thing where Demeter and Bombalurina are obsessed with him and every so often the lighting goes red and they shout his name then about halfway through all the female cats sing a song about him like they all wanna bang him it’s weird and then he appears and has a fight with Munkustrap so like macavity is the villain of the show cos he captures Deuteronomy and everything like he’s a massive part so whoever said he wasn’t in the show was lying
Is everything “cat named” because it’s like the cats perspective, like is that meant to be explained through the changing wanted poster. So like Milk Bar could be just Something Bar in the humans perspective... I feel like I’m reading to much into it. Now I’m confused.
Yeah as a British person How do you solve a problem like Maria is the best thing Andrew Lloyd Webber has created just the concept that when someone is eliminated they sing a farewell song is both ridiculous and amazing.
I want less CGI and more Jim Henson Company. I can't with all these movies that splurge on CGI when Jim Henson's Creature Workshop could've done it a million times better.
Have you guys seen the Cats bit from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, where Titus dresses up like a cat and sneaks onto the stage and introduces himself and it turns out that’s what the whole cast has done?
A teenager who babysat me and her younger brother liked Cats. We met their family through a homeschool group. They were unusual people who made poor choices.
Disclaimer on TS Eliot's behalf, Jellicle cat comes from children saying dear little cat when they couldn't quite speak yet, and the poems were written for children (specifically his nieces and nephews)
I just directed the show CATS on stage, oddly enough we got great reviews and audiences left happy. This movie though, I saw it today. Good lord. I have no clue what they were thinking
The whole point about Jennyanydots is that she leads a double life, as this lazy, low-energy cat by day and a control freak chaperone and choreographer of mice and roaches by night. So in that context it makes sense that what her owners think is regular fur is really just a disguise, under which she wears a vaudeville costume, under which there would be her real fur.
I saw the recording of the stage musical when I was in middle school (against my will), and the only thing I remembered was that Macavity was present and he looked like a freaking demon. Like he looked distinctly different from all the other cast members and it was alarming. That’s why when I saw the trailer and that Idris Elba was playing Macavity and saw he was just a slinky shiny brown cat, I was like “.....no, that is incorrect. I have precisely one opinion about Cats and you RUINED it”. I’m sorry the movie broke you guys. Have a relaxing Christmas break to regroup!
when that clip of Keanu Reeves trying to shakespeare played I, out loud, said, "Nooooo, why would you do this to me Avaryl!" so that's how this review watch is going so far :')
My memory of Cats was the seemingly never ending PBS telethon with clips of a taped performance that happened once a month. I watched a lot of PBS as a kid and never understood Cats or why it existed lol
I love the Broadway production of CATS, but am terrified of this movie. I like the play CATS (that's how I discovered Bernadette Peters) the makeup is amazing and I love the dancing. I thought the play was about the cats competing to move on to their next of their 9 lives. Thank you for suffering through this movie though, cause as much as I love the play I do not want to see the movie, the cgi cats freaks me out.
The Heaviside layer, sometimes called the Kennelly-Heaviside layer, named after Arthur E. Kennelly and Oliver Heaviside, is a layer of ionised gas occurring between roughly 90 and 150 km (56 and 93 mi) above the ground - one of several layers in the Earth's ionosphere.
as someone who ADORES the musical, the most disappointing thing about the movie is probably the weird sound mix and rebel wilson butchering the old gumbie cat. but i didn't think it was that bad, i'm prob gonna buy it when it goes digital so i can watch it again
Yas! Been so excited for this camp mess! AN HOUR?! Girl, lemme get some diet coke (can't have wine because I'm ill which sucks). Can't wait for you guys to cheer me up. Love you Bhunts! #HaveSomeMore
I found an article from Vulture titled, "We’ve Been Thinking a Lot About the Size of the Cats in Cats". It's a good read: "When the Cats trailer first dropped earlier this year, my colleague Katie Heaney at the Cut tried to discern exactly the size of a Cats cat. 'Maybe this is how they get you: You have to watch the full movie to learn the cats’ true size,' she mused. Well, I have seen Cats. I have seen it twice. And I can tell you a cat is smaller than a fork and a knife. I can tell you it is as large as a trashcan, smaller than a single human boob, and approximately 300 percent bigger than a mouse. (The mice are CGI’ed children who stand on two legs and have functional human hands.) I can also tell you nobody involved in the making of Cats has ever seen a cat before."
I love how pretty much EVERY review of the movie I've seen on UA-cam has been from people who don't know that this musical is based on a collection of poems about random cats 🤣🤣
I saw the play for free at a cruise and after the intermission less than half the audience came back. The performers were as good as they could be, I guess, but not enough to carry a plot-less musical. I wanted my money back but it was free.... (-_-)... Then this movie came out and someone invited me to it and I accidentally screamed, "NO!" at them. Merry Christmas!
‘They kept their wedding secret; the ceremony was held in a church at 6:15 am with virtually no one in attendance other than his wife's parents. Eliot had no children with either of his wives and was a notorious size-queen...’
"I gotta say, Rebel Wilson is on my last nerve" Avaryl you legend
Fully
Just? She's played the same damn person in every one of her films but I guess she's in fur bondage in this one
MOOD
Agreed then & agree now, particularly when paired with James Corden 😵💫
I think she is like this in every movie she is in. Or just for me?
Before CATS came to Broadway, Harold Prince was talking with Andrew Lloyd Weber and asked if it was about Queen Victoria and her life and India and all of that, and Lloyd Weber looked at him and said, "No Harold, it's about cats, they are just cats." I feel that sums up this musical better than anything else. It's not deep, there is no metaphor, it's just cats.
Well it's supposedly based on a bunch of poems for children that Andrew Lloyd Webber strung together without any cohesion so really what did anybody expect when they tried to adapt that mess into a three act screenplay
@@carolinashoemaker5938 from T.S Eliot
Fun story Cats actually in a way saved my life. My mom was pregnant with me and they saw cats. My mom knew something was wrong because I wasn't bopping along to the music. The next day she went to the doctor and one emergency C-section later I was born. Wild right.
Rachel Frumkin CATS as a musical is so terrible that it almost killed you.. lol
@@alexanderluna4598 I like this interpretation better lmaooo
I'm glad you're still with us but I'm pretty sure no self-respecting fetus would ever bop along to this musical.
@@alexanderluna4598 so very true my friend. So true.
@@GLamoRousCooKie you made me choke 😂
pitch perfect 1: isn't it funny that rebel wilson can't sing?
hollywood for the next decade: YES. HILARIOUS.
98Clank98 I hate that whisper thing she does while she sings
She can do some pretty good riffs and is pretty good at acapella. It's just she tends to overdo it for comedic effect.
Agreed, she was cringy in this film.
The musical is sacred for dancers - it’s a really, REALLY good show if you’re a dancer.
It is a LOT if you’re not.
Ally C I can attest to that, my partner and I have seen this TWICE (we are not dancers) because dancer friends were in it. Urgh seeing it the second time is worse as you know what is coming
I grew up on CATS and find it extraordinarily beautiful but having shown the 1998 one to many of my friends growing up I became very aware of the fact that it is seen as hella odd to people who are not familiar with it 😅
I can only assume that Andrew Lloyd-Webber got into dance because of his great love for Sarah Brightman, and went onto base a lot his shows around dance, to an unnecessary extent.
In one scene they walk by a martini glass and it's like bigger than the cats, and then a couple scenes later they hold up the same glasses and they're like normal sized. Nothing in this movie makes sense
The cats in one scene are like miniature and then they are just as large. I mean, even those mice and roaches or way to big. This was just really bad directing! This movie should have NEVER been made!
Did you ever see The Wizard of Oz? There are these trees that talk. What's up with that?? It makes no sense!!
@@PaulSmith-kw6we oh man, you're gonna be pissed when I tell you about the trees in Lord of the Rings...
@@rocksgio also the Tree in Guardians of the Galaxy...
“Rebel Wilson is on my last nerve” has to be the most relatable thing I’ve heard this year.
but did they ever mention that ian mckellan cat's full name is "Asparagus"...it's important to me that y'all know this
I've seen CATS like a thousand times and the main thing is that the ladies and gents are in really great shape and wearing head-to-toe spandex with no underwear :V oh and everyone wants to die
Domorrigana no underwear :3 :3 :3
Oh yeah, dancing keeps you in great shape & are you serious no one in the Broadway musical was wearing underwear?
Watch the 1998 one. It's a trip.
@@Domorrigana I'll give it a look is it on UA-cam?
It is actually! Search "cats musical full" and there's a playlist with all the songs in order.
The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that this would’ve been much better in Baz Luhrmann’s hands
Cats was never going to be a success when transposed to Movie. it is too much dancing and introducing cats for general audiences. it might have been better, but it just isn't a show that is going to translate well to Movie form. for one thing, it has very little plot. since the plot is really just there to provide an excuse for characters to sing about themselves and dance.
@@thomasplummer8103 also, on stage works, because these are actors and dancers who are wearing cat costumes and it's more acceptable, because in theater, people wear costumes, in movie it will always look weird and CGI
these thing is his type of material
Idris Elba cat looked like if you glued a bunch of crushed velvet to a hairless cat
The entire 80s wae doused in catcaine it's no wonder this kind of thing got made. Guys, I'm glad this version was made if only to give the dance cast enough money to put down payments for their first houses. Dancers work hard, brief careers and don't normally get Hollywood money for it.
i ordered Chinese food for this
Dae-Dae omg. I literally did the same thing. Spooky.
I ordered Asian adjacent food for this, does that count?
The one thing I really loved about the Cats musical was the costume and makeup design. I'm so disappointed that the movie didn't hire theatrical costumes and makeup designers, putting dancers in cat costumes would've made the world way more believable.
Ironic isn't it how their use of CGI to make it more "realistic" actually made it less so.
The actors didn’t want to spend hours in makeup every morning to film this. I guarantee that’s why they did CG.
@@hothotheat3000 The make-up they use in the Broadway show only takes minutes to apply.
Fun Fact: The Heaviside Layer is a meteorologist term for an upper layer in the atmosphere where radio waves disappear
English Major alert: Most of what T.S. Eliot wrote was garbled nonsense. A musical based on his work was fated to be garbled nonsense.
Disagree... Elliott's "Love song of AJP" is freaking brilliant and beautiful.
"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men." -- Anonymous
demidaemon1982 Correct.
My brother, a lover of T.S. Eliot, would fight you. But "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" was 100% garbled nonsense.
Opens the video, sees the video length, sees what shirts they're wearing. Oh, this is gonna be good.
I can't believe you went this whole review without bringing up a Jujubee's "meow diva" reference
The musical is... * fine *. But this movie was batshit, esp to people who have no warning. If you were exposed to the 1998 VHS as a child you now have some immunity and the movie can't hurt you.
The musical is not fine, it's terrible with no plot and so fucking weird, it's always been that way, this movie is nothing new, except now it's reaching a wider audience.
It ran for 19 years on the West End, parker. It has merits - but it heavily relies on performers with intuitive stage acting abilities, where everyone on the set and the audience interact with each other, admiring or being fascinated by the face paint being part of it. It also needs to actually be a bit sexy, unlike the toothless U certificate movie. And, of course, it needs great stage show singers. Taylor Swift was a terrible Bombalurina. Idris thought he was in Shakespeare. Rum Tum Tugger was American - apart from R.E.M., British people overall do the rock star attitude best ever since Jim Morrison died! It is a British-originated show after all - and supposed to be set in London.
@@Picnicl : Which is a major reason I prefer the original London cast recording to the Broadway one -- Drives me crazy how they're all singing in blatant American accents in the latter... Fortunately the video used mostly performers from West End productions.
As someone who watched the VHS on repeat at age 6, I'm now unbreakable. 😆
I actually enjoyed the original musical. I liked the cat personalities and the songs were catchy and funny.
Dan Murrell of ScreenJunkies has been doing a Meowntdown to Cats for the past couple months and in one of the last ones he counted out that they say Jellicle almost 100 times and Cats almost as much in the first like 15 mins of this musical. We the viewers appreciate you taking this hit to your sanity for our sakes! OH and the ring was a CGI error! They are sending a VFX update to theaters ASAP to fix that along with some other problems!
The episode of unbreakable kimmy Schmidt with the truth about ‘cats’ feels more and more true every day!
I've been convinced that is the real deal since seeing that episode.
You can't convince me that episode didn't expose the truth about Cats!
omg yesss😭😭😭the episode of unbreakable kimmy shmidt is the only CATS related thing i wanna see
"It's Miami in June, not even Cats are wearing fur." from Golden Girls.
The first time I heard the big group number at the beginning I was convinced they were called 'genital cats' and I had an excuse your mouth moment.
It’s because they are all wearing spandex and no underwear.
in the stage musical Victoria doesn't even speak- she's a dancing only role. they added a lot of stuff to the movie for... reasons.
Victoria does have a couple lines at the Jellicle Ball.
"The Jellicle moon is shining bright. Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball."
"...and pleasant to hear when we caterwaul."
The Rebel Wilson reveal is a direct pull from the musical but it makes no sense from a skin suit to another
That's some Silence of the Lambs right there. Fifififififi
Sister act innit
Becauae the musical didnt try to make them realistic... when they wore a fancy fur coat or a fucked up fur coat represents THEIR fur AND their personality... the movie was fucking stupid trying to make it a superpower
So in the next few years when are we getting Starlight Express? Cats but they are all TRAINS
Cecelia Mabee this comment made my day😂😂😂
Dont joke about this........Starlight Express is EPIC!
@@fybromon1409 oh I love starlight express, it would be a hotter mess than this but I'd pay top to see some celebrities as CGI trains lol
Came here to find this comment, all I could think when they were talking about Lloyd Webber’s best work was ‘oh god, I wish I could tell you guys about Starlight Express. It’s about trains and everyone is on ROLLERSKATES!!’ And then drifted off into imagining Judy Dench’s face on a train like Thomas the Tank Engine.
My big takeaway with everyone complaining about Cats is that we could have had starlight express with horrifying human train hybrids so people should be thankful for that...although I would love to see what Hollywood would do with starlight express.
In NYC, Cats was a mainstay for tourists. Yes, it was a safe show to bring anyone to. Also, one could ALWAYS get tickets to it. Plus, people love that freaking Memory song - they heard it and thought the music would all be wonderful.
I was once in a “youth” production of _Cats_ (It was for school aged “kids” 9 to, like, 22.) and it was the single biggest clusterfuck I’ve ever taken part in *or* seen.
The dude who directed it had zero idea what he was getting himself into when he chose _Cats_ as the show. But I’m sure that anyone who has seen the movie or stage show can only imagine what a version comprised _and choreographed_ by a bunch of unwitting kids and teens (and a handful of young adults) was like.
I was one of the oldest at about 20 at the time and had *no idea* what I’d gotten myself into either. But looking back I really have to laugh at what the parents of the many, _many_ children involved had to have been thinking at the time. Mainly “Who the fuck is that? Where the fuck are we? And what in the actual fuck is going on?!”. Hahahahaha.
Having said all of that, I will say that 75% of the older performers, who were basically all of the named cats, were fairly talented and turned out some pretty good performances. (Myself included, as _Rum Tum Tugger,_ duh. Haha.) Still, what a total fucking trainwreck.
I really like to think of this as the motion picture equivalent of that performance. (Just with all professional adults and way, way, *way* more money.)
Wait, but we’re you....uh.... I guess...... horny???? Cuz cats the musical is 5% singing 5% dancing and 90% horny cats. Why would you do cats with kids? I don’t get it. I just don’t!
If you want to see a cat dance orgy watch the original filmed version. its basically all the guys and Victoria. As a kid watching I had no clue what was happening but I wanted to be Victoria.
Also I totally thought Munkastrap and Mistoffelees were gonna be together in the end. mistoffelees has always been a gay cat to me and I was upset they put him with Victoria.
Zachary Skurka as someone whose never seen the play or movie I thought I was having a stroke while I was reading these names lmao
to me, in the original, it seemed like victoria andMistoffelees were good friends than a pair
@@sillytoy I thought they were brother and sister in the original
Zachary Skurka OMG YES I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO THOUGJT THWY WERE GAY TOGETHER
Its a musical... errybody gay
When the trailer came out, the first thing that came to mind was “Why couldn’t Tim Burton direct this ?” He would’ve leaned in as well as give it some sort of plot and it might have been watchable!
I've been saying this for weeks!
What if he didn't want to do it?
If it was like the plot he gave Alice (twice) and Dark Shadows...you know, "Cats" comparatively is not that bad.
Rebel Wilson’s “comedy”
Musical uses a tire not a chandelier
Haha. Does it matter? It’s still stupid either way.
Actually Grizabella ascending to the Heavyside Layer in a balloon makes more sense because that was T.S. Eliot's original intent. (Source: Valerie Eliot's preface to "CATS: The Book of the Musical".)
"Dear little cat" as said by a child, it sounded more like Jellicle. I remember reading years ago that it was actually "jolly good cat" which sounds more like Jellicle to me.
Sounds more like a garbled version of 'angelic cat' than anything.
T.S. Eliot stated in a written explanation that jellicle cat is how his very young godchildren would pronounce "dear little cat" and pollicle dog was "poor little dog."
Most of the extras were actually in the Broadway and West End productions of Cats. That's why they actually sold it more
I would just recommend skimming the straight to video version because yes Cats is not a very good musical but it at least has personality, great dancing, and quality ensemble vocals. The movie is nowhere near as good as that musical and that's seriously saying something. Also, John Partridge is the only human who can play Rum Tum Tugger successfully.
I saw the show years ago and it was actually pretty good. It translates much better on stage with actual Broadway singers and great theater decorations.
As you’ve inserted clips from the 1993 version I’m sure you’ve seen some of the songs in full and of course they are a lot better in the musical but I must talk about
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mungojerrie and rumpleteazer in the film is like the original version slow and creepy but in the 1993 one and most modern versions it’s a lot more jovial and fun
Mistoffelees Song is more confident and he’s much more theatrical and it’s sun by Rum Tum Tugger
Yes, they actually went back to the original music for M & R that can elsewhere only be heard on the Original London Cast recording. So I thought that was interesting. Maybe because they decided in this film to make the two of them more explicitly Macavity's henchmen.
And I definitely prefer the theatrical "Mister Mistoffelees" -- He and the Tugger are BFF's (some would say lovers!), and the stage Mr. M. has no self-esteem issues whatsoever!
Knowing basically nothing about Cats the fact that one is named mungojerrie fucks me up
I've never seen the stage version, but I watched the movie yesterday and the whole time I was asking if Rumtum Tugger and Mistofolees were lovers 😂 but then Mistofolees almost kissed Victoria a billion times and Rumtum always stopped him? I was like, what in the feline bicurious hell am I watching? 😂😂😂
Heather MayLeigh people in the fandom like to think they are boyfriends
Jacob Brent, who was Mistophelees in the Broadway show, said Mistophelees is one of Old Deuteronomy's sons, making him Munkustrap and Rum Tum Tugger's little brother.
So.... the Broadway musical is terrible!! As a former New Yorker who had to go see it too many times as different friends were in featured roles. The only time I enjoyed it was the last night Lillias White performed "Memory." She improvised and riffed and got a standing ovation. It was almost "I am telling you" she belted it so hard. She supposedly was almost blackballed from Broadway because you are NOT ALLOWED to alter your performance from what has been rehearsed. No one over 10 years old should ever have to watch this show.
Right! The musical is so boring and has no story. The only saving grace is Memories and the reprise (I think it's a reprise... But one of the other cats sings along... I don't know, I've repressed a lot of this show from my mind) but outside of that Cats is an absolute bore.
That Casio keyboard is also part of the musical soundtrack
This might be the first review ever where Averyl is more confused than Andrew and I don’t blame her. I was a theater kid and I didn’t even understand Cats after I had to watch it.
NOTORIOUS SIZE QUEEN TS ELIOT
Is this a reference to something? Cause I feel like I've missed something 🤔 please let me know xD
I WANNA KNOW TOOOO
Damn it! I wanna know too!
Filip Sundqvist I’m guessing they’re making fun of people that mix up TS Eliot with TS Madison, who has probably said she is a size queen at some point...?
@@SpaceIsThePlace_ omg ahusuashuashuahus
Cats the musical is bad, and i love it, the costumes are kinda tacky, there is no plot, and everything is kinda TOO sexy, BUT the tecnical aspect is perfect, everyone in the stage is such a good dancer and singer, and they are SO into the universe they created is charming, and the songs are catchy.
The movie made the plot worse, most people were terrible, humiliatingly fatphobic and visually terrifying
The cat ballet orgy number toward the end somehow managed to be more terrifying than the Volk scene in Suspiria (2018)
The Heaviside layer is the part of the ionosphere about 100-150 km up from which short wave radio signals bounce off, making communication across vast distances possible. That was a big deal at the time when Elliot wrote the poems. Remember, that was the age of AM one-way and two-way radio.
3:18 - Will you ever do a retro review of Disneys The Emperors New Groove? :-D
Queen Victoria is mentioned in the Old Deuteronomy song, who has lived many lives in succession, meaning she's old enough to have lived the first of her nine lives in Queen Victoria's days or even earlier. It's 1939 in the movie. Cats can live up to 20 years, times nine, that would put her first life well before 1837.
My ad under the “suggested videos” is for “wet food for cats”. Which I found pretty amusing.
I’m so going to get plastered and go see this.
This was the most confusing and intriguing review yet. All I could think of was: “MEOW MEOW CONGRATULATIONS DIVA MEOW MEOW MEOW”
Cackling at Taylor Swift saying "Really?"
Why do the cat ears just look so natural on avaryl...
Matt Muschick Right? They just kinda blend right in! Maybe it’s because the light pink is closer to the tan(ish) color of the painting behind her, but I kept catching myself noticing Andrew’s blue cat ears and then looking at Avaryl to see if she was wearing a pair as well! Regardless, she really pulls them off! _(Her black headband also blends into her hair pretty well while Andrew’s clearly doesn’t. But still. Haha.)_
Because she’s always serving PUSS !! Lol
I was halfway into this before I noticed she was wearing them
My friends and I were in an "altered state" when we saw it and I highly recommend it!
"You're welcome"-us to you, for watching this train wreck of a movie. The theater we were in, everyone knew it was going to be bad and we were all on board. At the end, when it just cuts off so suddenly after a thousand reprises, everyone clapped and we were laughing so hard! It was THE BEST.
I need a super cut of all the different versions of the cats' names you guys came up with- I was DYING- so good!!!
I really don't know what the producers were thinking releasing this in 2019, it honestly boggles the mind. The musical is oft derided as a fluff piece meant to showcase dancers and singers. I don't mind Lloyd Webber but in terms of musical theatre he's no Sondheim quite often the musical choices are at odds with the action on stage with a notable exception of phantom.
Really? I've seen the musical 3 times (West end late 80's, Nottingham 1995 and Hull 2013), I love the musical. Saying that, I'm fully aware that the musical is literally gibberish based on gibberish poems. But for some reason it is wonderful to me. The movie looks horrendous though, I have no intentions of paying to watch it! If it comes on TV in the future I may have a look, but I'm not going to go out of my way to watch it.
I agree, love it for its childhood nostalgic shit but its a nonsense story line and i won't waste my money to watch it. I wish they did a story line to roll on from the 1st show.. not just a remake, I'm getting really sick of remakes.
I saw it when I was a kid and have seen the recorded version a few times as an adult. It works because it doesn't try to be anything other than nonsense I think. It's mostly the dancing, singing, costumes ect you go to see it for.
"We watched this movie for you cünts!" 😂 yes you two did and I love you two for taking that bullet for me!!! In return, I shall watch one movie you two wish to never see and review it just for yall!! 🙏🙏
It's such a weird show, but it's so fun and the dancing is pretty wonderful. It's all just spectacle and such. We saw it when it opened as a high school trip (I was a freshman, but that still makes me feel really old) and it was an amazing experience. Honestly, for all us theater nerds, it was so different than anything else we'd ever seen. Still, it makes no sense and is legitimately silly, which I kind o love.
Man, what are they going to talk about for an hour, NOTHING happens!
I like Cats. Have seen it live and own the DVD. :d It is terrible and confused and a mess and I love it.
No Juju riding a little horse meowing!! 😲 I’m a little disappointed! Congratulations Diva Grizabella
Saw it two days ago. It certainly was an experience. I live for Andrew saying authority like Cartman.
i genuinely enjoy the musical because i’m a theatre kid and i love whimsical no-plot bullshit but the fact that made me so upset with this monstrosity was that what little plot there is in the stage show is nowhere to be seen here. also they tried to make mistofelees straight. that would NEVER happen. in the original rum tum tugger sings mr. mistofelees’ song and i believe that in the cats fans it’s common knowledge that they were lovers/boyfriends/mates/whatever
My cat on my lap did NOT like the theramin meowing. Too authentic. 🤣
Macavity is in the musical - in the show it’s like a whole thing where Demeter and Bombalurina are obsessed with him and every so often the lighting goes red and they shout his name then about halfway through all the female cats sing a song about him like they all wanna bang him it’s weird and then he appears and has a fight with Munkustrap so like macavity is the villain of the show cos he captures Deuteronomy and everything like he’s a massive part so whoever said he wasn’t in the show was lying
1. The musical it is set entirely in a junk yard.
2. Macavity appears to kidnap Old Deuteronomy and then returns to impersonate OD.
The musical is so good, especially if you can appreciate the poetry and dancing and costumes
Is everything “cat named” because it’s like the cats perspective, like is that meant to be explained through the changing wanted poster. So like Milk Bar could be just Something Bar in the humans perspective... I feel like I’m reading to much into it. Now I’m confused.
Avaryl is one of those people that can pull off minimal makeup
Yeah as a British person How do you solve a problem like Maria is the best thing Andrew Lloyd Webber has created just the concept that when someone is eliminated they sing a farewell song is both ridiculous and amazing.
I loved it. Also The Oliver one.
as a non british person who listen to british pop groups like boyzone, "no matter what" is the best thing webber has done
In the musical, macavity just scares the cats and kidnaps deuteronomy
James Corden looks like the penguin from Batman with that suit on
I wouldn't touch him to scratch him.
I need someone to edit the background meowing to just Jujubee saying “meow” in untucked
I want less CGI and more Jim Henson Company. I can't with all these movies that splurge on CGI when Jim Henson's Creature Workshop could've done it a million times better.
Yeeeeaassss!!! Give me the puppets and good-old tomfoolery!
Have you guys seen the Cats bit from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, where Titus dresses up like a cat and sneaks onto the stage and introduces himself and it turns out that’s what the whole cast has done?
After this we definitely need a Watch Party / Retro review of the Cats filmed version
Yes!!!! Please please please!!!!
A teenager who babysat me and her younger brother liked Cats. We met their family through a homeschool group. They were unusual people who made poor choices.
Disclaimer on TS Eliot's behalf, Jellicle cat comes from children saying dear little cat when they couldn't quite speak yet, and the poems were written for children (specifically his nieces and nephews)
I just directed the show CATS on stage, oddly enough we got great reviews and audiences left happy. This movie though, I saw it today. Good lord. I have no clue what they were thinking
Aww congratulations man!
The whole point about Jennyanydots is that she leads a double life, as this lazy, low-energy cat by day and a control freak chaperone and choreographer of mice and roaches by night. So in that context it makes sense that what her owners think is regular fur is really just a disguise, under which she wears a vaudeville costume, under which there would be her real fur.
I saw the recording of the stage musical when I was in middle school (against my will), and the only thing I remembered was that Macavity was present and he looked like a freaking demon. Like he looked distinctly different from all the other cast members and it was alarming. That’s why when I saw the trailer and that Idris Elba was playing Macavity and saw he was just a slinky shiny brown cat, I was like “.....no, that is incorrect. I have precisely one opinion about Cats and you RUINED it”.
I’m sorry the movie broke you guys. Have a relaxing Christmas break to regroup!
“What in the FUCK is a jellicle cat?” - me throughout the entire movie
when that clip of Keanu Reeves trying to shakespeare played I, out loud, said, "Nooooo, why would you do this to me Avaryl!" so that's how this review watch is going so far :')
Averyl nearly went full Bjork with the 'its cats and they sing about cats' moment
My memory of Cats was the seemingly never ending PBS telethon with clips of a taped performance that happened once a month. I watched a lot of PBS as a kid and never understood Cats or why it existed lol
I love the Broadway production of CATS, but am terrified of this movie. I like the play CATS (that's how I discovered Bernadette Peters) the makeup is amazing and I love the dancing. I thought the play was about the cats competing to move on to their next of their 9 lives.
Thank you for suffering through this movie though, cause as much as I love the play I do not want to see the movie, the cgi cats freaks me out.
“Zumbo’s Just Dessert’s Cat!” I died!! Also I met him once when I worked at a bookstore for his book launch and he was rude as lol
My asshole detector is always right! I saw his picture once and said "I bet he's full of himself and rude"
The Heaviside layer, sometimes called the Kennelly-Heaviside layer, named after Arthur E. Kennelly and Oliver Heaviside, is a layer of ionised gas occurring between roughly 90 and 150 km (56 and 93 mi) above the ground - one of several layers in the Earth's ionosphere.
I just had the worst day of my year (and this was a shitty year) and this video saved my night. Thank you so much
I’m so glad someone else noticed the sneakers because I saw the movie a week ago and I’m still thinking about them
I am rewatching this, and guess which movie is in the ad before your video...? Yes. Cats. 😂
Andrew, your cat ears headband should be *behiiiinnd* your ears.
Time Stamps for review:
00:35: Gellical cats, Gellical cats, cats
07:45: Gellical cats, cats, cats Gellical cats, Gellical Gellical cats
23:00: Gellical cats, Cat Cat, Gellical cats
23:01: Gellical cats. Gellical Cats
Gellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical CatsGellical Cats.
as someone who ADORES the musical, the most disappointing thing about the movie is probably the weird sound mix and rebel wilson butchering the old gumbie cat. but i didn't think it was that bad, i'm prob gonna buy it when it goes digital so i can watch it again
Yas! Been so excited for this camp mess! AN HOUR?! Girl, lemme get some diet coke (can't have wine because I'm ill which sucks). Can't wait for you guys to cheer me up.
Love you Bhunts!
#HaveSomeMore
I found an article from Vulture titled, "We’ve Been Thinking a Lot About the Size of the Cats in Cats". It's a good read:
"When the Cats trailer first dropped earlier this year, my colleague Katie Heaney at the Cut tried to discern exactly the size of a Cats cat. 'Maybe this is how they get you: You have to watch the full movie to learn the cats’ true size,' she mused. Well, I have seen Cats. I have seen it twice. And I can tell you a cat is smaller than a fork and a knife. I can tell you it is as large as a trashcan, smaller than a single human boob, and approximately 300 percent bigger than a mouse. (The mice are CGI’ed children who stand on two legs and have functional human hands.) I can also tell you nobody involved in the making of Cats has ever seen a cat before."
I love how pretty much EVERY review of the movie I've seen on UA-cam has been from people who don't know that this musical is based on a collection of poems about random cats 🤣🤣
I'm looking forward to MagicCatJenny's review, as she's probably the biggest expert/devotee of CATS the musical on UA-cam!
I saw the play for free at a cruise and after the intermission less than half the audience came back. The performers were as good as they could be, I guess, but not enough to carry a plot-less musical. I wanted my money back but it was free.... (-_-)... Then this movie came out and someone invited me to it and I accidentally screamed, "NO!" at them. Merry Christmas!
Google image Studio 54 Moon and Spoon to see where the TSwift number got its inspiration.
Ha! I should have waited three minutes before posting.
‘They kept their wedding secret; the ceremony was held in a church at 6:15 am with virtually no one in attendance other than his wife's parents. Eliot had no children with either of his wives and was a notorious size-queen...’