‘Cats’ stays out of the litter box
Brian Truitt
A furry Taylor Swift sprinkles the contents of a bedazzled can of catnip to create a fog of intoxicating magical dust, and that’s not even in the top five truly insane things that happen in “Cats.”
A bunch of well-known celebrities are turned into singing, scenerychewing digital kitties in the utterly absurd yet oddly charming movie musical version of the Broadway hit. Director Tom Hooper brought a very earnest Oscar-nominated take on “Les Miserables” to the big screen, and with “Cats” (★★g☆; rated PG; in theaters nationwide Friday) he embraces the nonsensical, out-there nature of the original show while raising the spotlight of a supporting character who’s now the eyes, ears and paws of the audience through one strange journey.
“Cats” the stage production doesn’t have much of a plot and neither does the movie: It’s the annual night of the Jellicle Ball for a tribe of Jellicle cats, and one of them – “the Jellicle choice” – will be picked by wise Old Deuteronomy (Judi Dench) to be reborn into a new life. It’s a hairball-raising situation that brings out a bunch of contenders singing their Jellicle tunes as auditions, and Victoria (enchanting newcomer Francesca Hayward) witnesses it all with wide-eyed curiosity after being dumped in a back alley by a human.
(At this point you may be wondering what a “Jellicle” is. It’s a name coined in the works of T.S. Eliot, whose cat-themed poetry was a basis for the original musical. In other words: Just go with it.)
Victoria meets a wide variety of colorful personalities, including Jennyanydots (Rebel Wilson), a prat-falling gumbie cat who uses her tail as a faux microphone; the flamboyant Rum Tum Tugger (Jason Derulo), who struts and preens at the local Milk Bar; Gus the Theatre Cat (Ian McKellen),