Uncanny Cats: Why is the Movie Disturbing?

After reading a series of scathing reviews, I saw Cats last week - and liked it. In fact, I found the movie just about as entertaining as the reviews.

Especially the bad ones.

The film had hit a nerve. Reviewers seemed to be questioning all the life decisions they had made that lead them to the theater. The thing is, as much as they hated it, a lot of them really liked to, too. And they had a good deal of trouble making sense of the experience. (I loved this YouTube review - it's great entertainment in itself, but it's full of spoilers.)

What's this about? I think it has to do with our ideas about sex, animals, and the way our brain processes ambiguous information. It gave me an opportunity to

in an essay not so much on the film, but on the critical reception.