Jason Derulo has hit back at scathing reviews the new Cats film has received.
Cats has been met with a largely negative response from critics, with the Daily Telegraph even giving it a zero-star review.
The film’s visual style – employing CGI human-cat hybrids – prompted particularly strong criticism, despite having an all-star cast including Taylor Swift, James Corden, Idris Elba and Dame Judi Dench.
However, Jason, who plays Rum Tug Tugger, told US website TMZ “reviews don’t matter”, insisting the film takes viewers to “another dimension”.
He said: “I am just excited for the people to actually see it because reviewers, I mean, what the hell do they know? Have they made a film ever in their life?”
He added: “Any time you defy what an art form is, any time you defy all rules, there’s going to be some push-back, obviously. But it’s an incredible piece of art done by some of the best people in the world.”
Jason also suggested the Cats stage musical also had mixed reviews when it opened on Broadway before it became one of the most successful productions ever, before hailing director Tom Hooper as a “class act”.
The reviews were published on Thursday with Daily Telegraph’s Tim Robey gave it zero stars, writing: “Once seen, the only realistic way to fix Cats would be to spay it, or simply pretend it never happened.”
Writing for Variety, Peter Debruge described the film as an “outlandishly tacky interpretation” of the musical, predicting it will become “one of those once-in-a-blue-moon embarrassments that mars the resumes of great actors”.
HuffPost UK’s Daniel Welsh also said: “Disappointingly, Cats is a mess at best and a chore at its worst.”
Cats is in cinemas now.