40.6 million earned against its 95 million dollar budget. That’s how much Cats made in the box office since it has been released. What was expected to be a truly strange yet-well produced film flunked in the theater upon its release. The concept was already controversial. Men and women disguised as cats singing and in alley ways about ascending to heaven. Andrew Lloyd Weber, the mastermind behind the Broadway masterpiece would definitely have been disappointed with the results of a film meant to be one of the show stoppers of the year. 

On Christmas Day, when the film was released the only joy brought to the people was the laughter gained from reading the bad reviews. Scoring a 20 % on Rotten Tomatoes, the film was accompanied by a host of reviews by movie critics that did not approve of the Broadway remake. “Mostly, “Cats” is a confusing litter box of intentions, from its crushed-velour aesthetic to its strip-bar sensuality to its musical cluelessness. ” claims John Anderson of the Wall Street Journal. 

An audience member claims: “I feel like my brain went through a blender. I saw the movie twice and I think it finally broke me. The walls are closing in. ”

Most claim that the film did so poorly because of a lack of plot.  This assertion is wrong. The entirety of the movie involved a variety of cats auditioning for Old Deuteronomy, the Mother Theresa of cats, to see who will be awarded the opportunity to be sent to heaven to be reborn. The type of cat that is given this honor is a jellicle cat, and in the midst of this annual ball the jellicle cats gather towards, Macavity is the antagonist that wants to ascend as well but not fairly. Macavity, played by Idris Elba, kidnaps Old Deutoronomy and this leads to a major conflict within the story. Additionally, as the cats are preparing for the ball, a stray cat who is dumped in an alleyway at the beginning of the movie is introduced to the life of the cats in the community. 

The true disappointment was in the poor CGI. There were so many mistakes that there was a renewed version released into movie theaters correcting some unavoidable mistakes. There was also the expectation that the film would’ve been amazing due to the plethora of famous celebrities involved. These names  included Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Taylor Swift, James Corden, Rebel Wilson and more. When it comes down to it, Cats was bad because it was just a weird film. I went to see it because all the bad review intrigued me. But if it a well developed, comedic and artistic film you desire Cats is not the option for you.