Dame Judi Dench criticises the Cats movie as 'a waste of goodwill and talent' and says she's never sat through the whole film

Dame Judi Dench has criticised the Cats movie as a 'waste of goodwill and talent'.

The actress, 91, portrayed Old Deuteronomy in the 2019 film, which was based on the 1981 musical of the same name by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

It featured a star-studded cast including James Corden, Taylor Swift, Idris Elba and Jennifer Hudson.

 The film was derided by critics and went on to gross $76million (£61million) on a budget of $100million (£80million).

Dame Judi called the movie a complete catastrophe and even admitted to having never seen the finished version.

Writing in her memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It?, she wrote: 'Oh God, I can't bear it - and [Lloyd Webber] had waited so long for it to be made.

'What a waste of all that goodwill and talent. I understand the critics were rather hostile to the film.

'I never saw the final cut so I can't judge.'

Despite her reservations, she insisted the star-studded cast did their 'best'.

Dame Judi added: 'All I'll say is nobody sets out to give a poor performance or make a bad film.

'You do your best, offer something up and hope that people will get on board and join the party.

'Sometimes things just don't work out: the timing's wrong, the cast don't gel, the elements don't coalesce.

'But people's intentions are mostly honourable. There were no villains in the making of Cats. 

'And if something isn't a success, then there are always things you can say you've learnt.'

Meanwhile, Lloyd Webber said the film adaptation was 'as exciting as what we did years ago', and credited the work of the cast for that. 

After the film, the actress was nominated for Worst Supporting Actress at the Golden Raspberry Awards.

When asked about her nomination in 2020, she said on BBC Radio 4's Front Row: 'Oh, am I? That would be good. As far as I know, that's a first!'

She added: 'I'm not big on reading reviews, anyway.... you kind of know, yourself, about something, I think.'

At the 2020 Razzies, Dame Judi lost out in the Worst Supporting Actress category to her Cats co-star Rebel Wilson, who portrayed Jennyanydots.

Cats won Worst Picture at the ceremony, and Tom Hooper was named Worst Director, while Cats star James Corden landed the Worst Supporting Actor accolade for playing Bustopher Jones.