Cats (2019) and Scrooge (1970)

This past holiday season I watched two musicals set in London.

Scrooge was good; I had never seen this version in its fullness. My favorite part was when Scrooge dies and goes to the underworld and sees Marley again and the devil's slaves bring him his chains. I don't think that is depicted in another other version. I really like the songs including Thank you very Much and December the 25th. Albert Finney was really good and miserly, and I was impressed with the dialogue written by Leslie Bricusse; some expressions I had never heard of such as "prevaricating fraud" and Scrooge is described as "parsimonious" (obnoxious). I liked Alec Guiness as Marley and it occurred to me that he played a spirit ghost long before he did in Return of the Jedi as Obi Wan Kenobi.

It was only made as recently as 1970, but something about it feels so old-fashioned. Maybe that's a good thing, since it's set in the 19th Century anyhow. But everything from the expressions used to the costumes to the toys in the store (below) - everything feels so old-fashioned.

I liked Cats but didn't love it; it probably won't become a favorite of mine. It has a "modern" feel even though it could just as easily have taken place 100 years ago.

I never saw the original show so I don't know what changed. Almost every cat gets their own song and has their own personality, and I liked that; I liked Jennifer Hudson singing "Memory" . There are some dumb jokes, like when Rebel Wilson's cat says to the cockroach, "don't get cocky!' and in another scene says "watch out for the crazy cat lady". She and James Cordin seem to ad-lib some stuff and that's okay but felt the movie could have had more punch to it, and the cats seem to keep changing size; at first they seem like the size of real cats but then they seem to shrink down at times. Also I didn't like the garbage and cockroach scenes. I saw this in one of those "dine-in" theaters and you don't want to see that while eating.

I'd like to see a "making of" documentary about this movie and see how they added in the special effects; every tail and ear moves and wiggles and it's pretty cool. All the actors could have just worn suits and masks.