Cats

Who knew a spontaneous decision to see the terrible CG nightmare fuel CATS adaptation would make me watch the 1998 CATS-- and then become a fan of this weird, weird musical?

The new movie truly is bad, but the original material, much maligned over time, is actually pretty amazing. I love the variety of musical styles in all the songs, the sense of community among all the characters, even those bizarre stylized costumes and make-up. This is a fun musical, all around, and I can see why trying to make it more "cinematic" does not suit the material. The 1998 adaptation seems to essentially just shoot the stage show as it is, with a few close-ups and cinematic flourishes for good effect.

While I would recommend the 2019 movie for those who love hilariously bad films, the 1998 film is the better choice if you want to see just why CATS made billions of dollars.

Veteran David Mallett, who directed many music videos for great artists such as Asia, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, David Bowie, Queen, Blondie, U2, AC/DC, The Who, Rod Stewart, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Tina Turner, Madonna, Erasure, Rush, Roxy Music, etc., is doing a great job here, directing Andrew Lloyd Weber's wonderful music. An extraordinary distribution, excellent choreography, superlative costumes and makeup, everything superb. One of John Mills' latest films.

Something for all ages; my children (3 and 5) get a huge kick out of this, and have the lyrics memorized. Unlike some movie musicals (JC Superstar, A Chorus Line), it really doesn't try to adapt to "being" a movie, but settles for being (mostly) just filming folks on stage performing in a musical. Some of the movie-style cuts are, IMO, a bit disconcerting (Rum Tug Tugger to Grisabella's entrance, Theater Cat to Shimbleskanks), and I'm not familiar enough with the musical itself to know if the cuts are part of the original or were bad edits unique to the video itself. You do get any number of close-ups to admire the costuming and make-up, and the casting is superb. Enjoyable for audiences of all ages if you like musicals.

I have long enjoyed the musical 'Cats', both in several attendances at live productions and simply listening to the music on CD. 'Cats', the movie, was created in 1997, a full 16 years after its debut on stage. This isn't simply the taping of a stage performance. For the movie they assembled the best cast they could from among 'Cats' stage veterans. The set was designed especially for the movie, the makeup was toned down to look better in the closer perspective of the movie, especially the close-ups, a full orchestra was used, songs were recorded in a studio, and conventional movie techniques were used for the filming -- multiple angles, close-ups, cameras moving on tracks, etc. What we get is a movie that is does not have the realism of a stage production, and it is fairly obvious most times that singers are lip-syncing their own recordings, but a movie nonetheless that is a superb supplement to the live performances. The DVD has a very nice 'making-of' special, we see Andrew Lloyd Weber personally supervising the musical numbers, we see some of the makeup artistry at work, and a few before/after shots of actors and their characters.

Overall a fine DVD of a superb movie of perhaps the most entertaining stage musical of all.

Since I first saw the musical, "Cats", in 1987, I have always wanted to see it on video. I was thrilled when it finally arrived. I immediately bought it.

The video performance was terrific: better than I expected. Instead of seeing it from the viewpoint of being in the audience, cameras were actually on stage, moving throughout the performers! The sound is terrific, and it played on my audio system wonderfully.

Of course, there is a flaw in the video. To me, it is actually a glaring flaw: a major segment of the musical, my favorite sequence in fact, is missing. Maybe it was cut for time, but I was very disappointed. "Growltugger's Last Stand" is one of the more elaborately staged portions of "Cats". For it to be removed from this performance will certainly upset many of the true fans of "Cats".

I was prepared to score a 10 out of 10 for this show, but with the editing, I can only score it a 7. Andrew Lloyd Webber himself produced this video. He should have left that portion in.

George