Look, a lot of fuss has been made about the film adaptation of Cats. The trailer is bonkers. The movie is also bonkers! It’s famous people, digitally enhanced to look like cat people. That’s a whacky situation. Even through all that, this movie has a lot of heart, gut-wrenching performances, weird choreography, and great songs (I am still singing Mr. Mistoffelees). Sure, I guess it’s not for everybody. Like I said before, it’s famous people, digitally enhanced to look like cat people.

So umm, “digital fur technology.” This marketing for this movie has long been touting the tech used to make the famous humans look like cats. And for almost as long, everyone has been making fun of the idea of tech used to make people look like cats. Honestly, I thought it was pretty impressive. Like sure, should we be inventing technology for this purpose? Probably not. Was it something I will never forget? Absolutely. The cats in this movie are something to behold. You know those memes of the Old Masters trying to paint cats?

It looked like the movie version of that.

So yeah, digital fur technology is not 100% all the way there - but I am happy someone is trying it out. Movies these days are full of people that look exactly like people. But they sure as hell are NOT full of people that look almost like cats.

And the performances! Meow! Jennifer Hudson deserves an oscar because, oh my gosh, she delivers. The fact that she has to sing and emote through all that digital fur tech and green screen and still make me cry is a feat of acting mastery. Remember how good she was in Dream Girls? So good! Jennifer Hudson is transcendent as a human or a cat and when she sings it always breaks my heart.

Sir Ian McKellan is in this movie. And he fully embodies his feline persona as Gus The Theater Cat. Like, he is rubbing on posts, scratching behind his ears, and when everyone else is singing a song he’s just sort of meowing to himself. I loved every minute of it and wish he had more screen time.

Also, Jason Derulo and Idris Elba seem like they are having a lot of fun in this movie and I liked that.

The plot of Cats is loose. It’s more or less about a street cat death cult on the night of their annual feline sacrifice. Every cat is auditioning for Dame Judi Dench, who will decide which cat gets to “ascend to the Heaviside Layer” i.e. ride to heaven in a balloon. Most of the movie is just the cats introducing themselves, one by one, through song. Some songs are better than others. “Mr. Mistoffelees” and “Memory” are the real show stoppers. Also, Taylor Swift sings “Macavity” in a scene that is what I imagine “Climax” would have been like if it had digital fur technology.

Is Cats perfect? Obviously not. It’s the movie adaptation of Cats. It probably could never have been perfect. BUT - it has so much heart and everyone involved really commits to being cats. That’s really special. At the end of the movie, everyone in the theater erupted into applause. It has been so long since I have been in a movie like that. We all had so much fun and were really connected in the fact that we were seeing Cats and not Star Wars. Cats the movie is unlike anything else out there. We should celebrate that. So, if you’re feeling curious (like a cat), go out and see it. It’s a wholly unique experience that you will not forget - for better or for worse :)

CATS: I had fun!