NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

preston_peace Sure, it's beautiful. Music, costumes, and make-up are incredible. But you might as well watch a painting for two hours because there is no story to hold onto. Apparently reading T.S. Eliot's book on which it's based will fill things out, but art needs to stand on its own, and this just falls down. It's hard to believe that Cats is the second longest- running Broadway musical of all time. (Phantom is still going.) Perhaps repeat audiences kept watching Cats, hoping they would eventually understand the point some day.Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat was better. Sure, it also had the silly genre collections such as country western and calypso, but they worked to tell a story and were funny. For example, in Cats, Rum Tum Tugger tries to employ an Elvis Presley style, but it's just kind of gross. Whereas the Pharaoh in Joseph is built up as "The King," an allusion to Presley that makes sense and delivers humor.I suspect there was a good story that could have been told, but it fell short because there was no real context presented.

TxMike I am a fan of real cats, I enjoy musicals, and the musical "CATS" has been a favorite of mine for years. In the theater you are far enough away that you don't see a lot of what is going on, especially details of the make-up and expressions on the characters.This 1998 film production was made especially to create a version on film. It is simply the stage musical masterfully performed, but with cameras set up from various points to get both full, wide shots and very intimate close-up shots. There is no audience applause at all, so it was probably filmed only with the cast and crew present. It runs 2 hours and all the performances are outstanding. If you could say any two are featured it would be Ken Page with his wonderful, full bass voice that goes all the way up into the lower part of the tenor range, as Old Deuteronomy, who gets to choose which cat goes up to the "heaviside layer" to be reincarnated. And Elaine Paige as Grizabella the Glamour Cat, no longer young but aged and tattered. Both of them render their songs wonderfully and with the right emotion.I found it at my public library on DVD in Widescreen and with Dolby 5.1 sound. I first saw this film version several years ago and again today.Note: The "heaviside layer" is is a layer of ionized gas occurring between roughly 90–150 km (56–93 mi) above the ground — one of several layers in the Earth's ionosphere. The "Heaviside layer" is used as a symbol for heaven (in the afterlife sense) in the musical "Cats."

Jessica000 I always lack words when I'm going to describe CATS... It's simple and pure movie magic! So mysterious and exciting. It makes me wanna see more and more and never enough. It's night, the Jellicle Moon is shining bright and it's time for the annual Jellicle Ball, where the cats of the Jellicle Tribe gather together to dance and sing. And when the dawn comes, the Jellicle leader will choose the cat who will go to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn and come back to a different Jellicle life. Who will it be?The music and dancing will have you captivated and will make it impossible to look away. You will be amazed by the actors performances as they transform into felines right before your very eyes. There's nothing like CATS and there never will be.

mmka1 I know that most others will strongly disagree with my comments, and I have waited quite some time to to express them.Very poor camera work. (Always a problem with musicals on film.) I expected far more from this cast. Despite the most welcome presence of Elaine Paige and John Mills, there are some truly disappointing performances.The intentional omission of some pieces was a deplorable decision. (As was re-working the score.)Having seen other staging and casts I am shocked at this presentation by Andrew Lloyd Webber.