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41 years after its release, there's not a lot to say about this movie.

I absolutely love it, since I saw it in a theater in 1982, when I was a student at the Graduate School of Theology of Oral Roberts University, and I loved it immediately!

Just a couple of notes:

Watching the play of emotions on James Garner's face is always a treat. How can one face show so much feeling, and so many feelings, that fast? The man was brilliant. I miss him.

Henry Mancini's music was always worth the price of admission. The song "Crazy World" is so beautiful it is almost heartbreaking.

"Victor's" first musical number, "Le Jazz Hot", is one of the most wonderful musical numbers in the history of movies.

Lesley Ann Warren EARNED the Academy Award nomination she got for this. Every word, every facial expression, every movement, is PERFECT!

Today is my birthday. I asked myself, "If I could watch any movie in the world, what would it be?" Going through what is available to me in the streaming services I have, I came on this and chose it. My favorite movie of all time? No. But a fine birthday treat.

A medical doctor who belonged to a local church was asked to join the committee whose job it was to evaluate the pastor. The doctor refused, explaining that no lay people, but only other doctors, are competent to judge a how doctors carry out their profession.

Competence in critiquing one genre does not necessarily mean the critic is competent to critique another. Musicals and science fiction have been areas of specialization of mine for nearly a half century, and I find many critiques of music or science fiction reveal not any defect in the subject, but the incompetence of the critic.

When Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to translate T. S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Guide to Practical Cats" into a musical, surely his friends told him he had finally lost his mind (As if "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita" weren't proof enough of that). "Old Possum's" is not a story, it's a collection of silly poems about cats, not great literature, but fun to read to little children. There is no plot there, no story. "Cats", the resulting musical, is wondrous and magical, not because of the story, but because of the brilliant music, the supernatural dance moves, the scenery, the staging, and the orchestration. Somehow, they added a gossamer framework of a story, having the cats coming up before Old Deuteronomy to see who gets to go to the Heavyside Layer for a new jellicle life. Let's face it, going from cat to cat, poem to poem, is a bit tedious at moments. Personally, I found Bustopher Jones and Jennyanydots a bit boring. It feels as if we're enduring those to get to the beautifully satisfying emotional ending.

To translate the play into a movie, Tom Hooper has added another layer of gossamer: Macavity kidnapping (catnapping) other contestants for the prize hoping to have it himself. Having enlisted Judi Dench (Old Deuteronomy), Idris Elba (Macavity), Ian McKellen (Gus), Rebel Wilson (Jennyanydots), and James Corden (Bustopher Jones), he had to expand their parts at least a little. But he has had the advantage of CGI, which he uses brilliantly. I loved the CGI helping turning the characters into cats. It was excellent.

The brilliance of "Cats", as I said, is the musical performance, the staging, the dance. Hooper has given us a brilliant musical performance, brilliant staging, and amazing dancing. The story, alas! is inferior. But that's not what I paid to see.

Poor Judi Dench and Ian McKellan! When they're brilliant, I think, "Ho hum. Brilliant again." They handled their parts very well.

James Corden is always charming, always worth the price of admission. He is again.

Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, Taylor Swift, none of them disappoint.

But Francesca Hayward was a revelation to me. A sweet face, a lovely silvery singing voice, and (to me, an amateur at critiquing dance) some brilliant ballet technique. She carries the movie as the abandoned kitten Victoria, and she carries it well.

Despite my fear of being stoned as a heretic, I daresay Jennifer Hudson was born to play Grizabella, and I would put her rendition of "Memories" against anyone's. Who but "Dreamgirl"'s Effie White could properly render that magnificent number? It has never been done better.

Final word: If you don't like musicals, don't go see "Cats". And if you don't like musicals and you go see "Cats", don't pass yourself off as a competent critic.

DISCLAIMER: I am head-over-heels in love with Emma Watson. I am predisposed to love anything she does because she does it.

DISCLAIMER: I am head-over-heels in love with Alan Menken. If he writes the music, I'm there.

DISCLAIMER: I love loving things. I hate hating things. It makes no sense to me to equate intelligence with the ability to find fault. Sometimes I see what they were going for and applaud the effort. Sometimes I see what they were going for and weep at how badly they missed it.

That being said, I LOVED the new "Beauty and the Beast". I was wiping tears from the corners of my eyes frequently for sheer beauty.

The original cartoon I loved. Even though there were holes in the plot you could drive a battleship through. They fixed all the plot holes! Go see it, if only for that!

Okay, okay, Emma Watson isn't a classically-trained coloratura soprano. She's no Paige O'Hara vocally. For that matter, I missed Jerry Orbach when Ewen MacGregor was singing "Be Our Guest" and I missed Angela Lansbury in Emma Thompson's "Beauty and the Beast". I understand Orbach is no longer available and the supernatural Ms. Lansbury, in her 90's, probably couldn't do the song the justice she did a quarter of a century ago. Guess what. I DON'T CARE! They did justice to the songs. They didn't do brilliance with the songs. I don't care.

Emma has a divinely expressive face that carries her emotions perfectly for the big screen. Her Belle was glorious.

Is it possible to miscast Kevin Kline? He is brilliant. And his Maurice is delicious. His singing, still not New York Metropolitan Opera quality, carries the song.

Luke Evans does just the lightest touch of camp in playing Gaston. I reveled in it! Once again, not the vocal quality of Richard White, and I did miss that amazing bass. But the baritone/tenor carried it off.

Now, let's get to Josh Gad.

Bill Condon did the lightest hat tip to the Gender Community with Josh Gad's Lefou. If you blink, you might miss it. If you're terrified your little ones might get gay cooties on them and grow up "perverts", by all means skip this show. But you'd probably better not let them watch any television, listen to any music, or attend any movies, because the portrayals there are not teensy hat-tips. They are full-body bows and curtsies.

Now for the real star of the show: The music.

Alan Menken is a living miracle. He does things with a musical score and songs that blow me through the wall! All the new songs are brilliant! Beast's song of pain over Belle is stunning. THOSE vocals are magnificent! I've always loved the opening number of "Beauty and the Beast". It is full-blown grand opera, and makes me wish Alan Menken would write a sure-enough opera.

This movie dazzled me visually, musically, and emotionally. Yes, there are some things that seemed to me flaws. Guess what. I don't care! You have my highest recommendation.