LEAP INTO THE THEATRES FOR CATS | MOVIE REVIEW

Meeeemoryyyy turn your face to the moooonliiight…

This singalong classic has been covered by many from Celine Dion including her full set of diva hysterics and riffs, to viral sensation Ms Susan Boyles surprise rendition on Xfactor UK and now by Oscar winner (Dream Girls alumni) Jennifer Hudson in Andrew Lloyds Weber stage musical movie adaption of CATS.

Having discovered the original movie adaptation, in turn based on the poetry collection Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Elliot at the tender age of 10 via VHS, all I could remember was feeling fully immersed and simply moved… and so with that and a nearly empty serving of popcorn I was ready for the movie to begin and re-live some memories.

The musical follows a tribe of cats called the Jellicles who must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new and improved Jellicle life where ‘when you fall on your head you land on your feet and your bite is worse than your bark!’

The movie features numerous sub plots, played by perfectly chosen ca(s)t members introducing themselves or telling a story about their life.

No one but Dame Judi Dench could possibly play the deeply respected, soft senior cat Old Deuteronomy or Rebel Wilson as the hilarious and lazy Jennyanydots who loves to sit and sit and sit.

Despite the movie at times leaving you perplexed as if you were trying to make sense of the string theory behind a cat playing with a long continuous length of Yarn and the sometimes questionable CGI not sending shivers down my spine the way that Andy Serkis’ crawling Gollum did, I would definitely recommend letting go of sense and instead embracing anti logic (I mean who cares that the Cats have hands and feet, but also claws?).

Leap paw first into a visually fun and delicious journey full of catchy songs, powerful Grande Jetés & graceful Arabesques with the cats’ roguish personalities and cheeky exploits purring through.

As Nobel prize winner Albert Schweitser put it “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats”