Quartile rating: 4.5/10 · 1 rating
A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.
Cats (2019) is widely regarded as a cinematic catastrophe. The plot is virtually non-existent — a thin, episodic series of musical numbers strung together with no real dramatic tension or coherent narrative logic. The acting ranges from bewildered to campy, with even talented performers like Judi Dench and Ian McKellen unable to elevate the surreal material. The cinematography and visual effects are notoriously troubled, particularly the uncanny-valley CGI fur that unsettled audiences worldwide, making the film technically below average despite some ambitious staging. Novelty gets a slight bump because the sheer audacity and bizarreness of the production makes it genuinely one-of-a-kind — no film quite like it exists, and it has achieved cult 'so bad it's good' status. The ending is weak and emotionally hollow, failing to land the cathartic send-off the musical demands.